In the wake of the New York Knicks recently hiring new head coach Mike Brown, New York’s next steps include surrounding its new coach with a staff around him.
One name that has reportedly been mentioned of joining the Knicks’ coaching staff is a former assistant coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
According to a recent report from Marc Stein on The Stein Line, the Knicks have emerged as a suitor to add former Lakers assistant Phil Handy as an assistant to Brown’s staff.
“It’s believed that the Knicks also have interest in Handy for Mike Brown’s new staff in New York after they worked together with the Lakers and Cavaliers,” Stein said.
Stein added that Handy is also a candidate to join the Dallas Mavericks’ coaching staff.
Handy is currently the coach of Mist BC of the Unrivaled Basketball League. Handy has over a decade of experience as an assistant coach in the NBA. He was on the Cavaliers coaching staff from 2013-2018, where he helped coach Cleveland the year they came back down 3-1 in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
Handy also has had coaching stops as an assistant with the Toronto Raptors from 2018-2019 and the Los Angeles Lakers from 2019-2024, where he won a title at both places.
Handy and Brown have some familiarity with one another, having spent time together in both Los Angeles and Cleveland during Brown’s head coaching stints, as Handy even started his NBA coaching career under him with the Lakers in 2011 as a development coach.
