August 21, 2026
Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse has a new assistant on staff.
The Sixers are hiring Phil Handy as an assistant coach on head coach Nick Nurse's staff, according to a report from Marc Spears of Andscape.
Handy has multiple significant connections to the Sixers. He served as an assistant coach for the Cavaliers for three seasons; in Handy's first year in Cleveland, LeBron James led the team to a championship. When James left Cleveland for Los Angeles, Handy went to Toronto, where he spent a year on Nurse's staff and won a title with the Raptors. Handy then reunited with James as a Lakers assistant coach; in the first of his six years there the Lakers won it all.
Handy's time with the Lakers came to an end after the 2023-24 season; he did not work for a team in the following season. Last season, he worked for the Dallas Mavericks as an assistant to head coach Jason Kidd. Now, he is teaming with James for the third time and working for Nurse for the second time.
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