Phil Handy, the last assistant remaining from Jason Kidd's Dallas Mavericks staff, is finalizing a deal to join the Philadelphia 76ers, the Dallas Morning News reported Friday, citing ESPN's Marc J. Spears.
The move would leave new head coach Dusty May with a fully remade bench as training camp approaches next month, the Morning News noted. Sports Illustrated similarly described Handy as the final holdover from Kidd's staff and treated the report as a major continuity loss during the coaching transition.
End of the Kidd holdover line
Handy spent one season in Dallas as a player-development coach with existing ties to Kyrie Irving and Max Christie and a central role in ball-handling and shooting development, the Morning News reported. Sports Illustrated framed that single-season footprint as outsized because he was the last bridge to the previous staff.
Before Handy's reported exit, the Morning News listed assistants already gone in the May rebuild, including Frank Vogel, Jay Triano, and others who left as Dallas restocked the bench around the new head coach. Handy's departure completes that clean break: no remaining Kidd-era assistant is expected on the floor when May opens camp.
Where he is headed
Spears' report, as carried by the Morning News, places Handy under Nick Nurse with the 76ers. The deal was described as finalizing rather than already signed; the Morning News and Sports Illustrated both treated the destination as Philadelphia while the paperwork finished.
For Dallas, the practical effect is the same either way: the player-development seat Handy occupied will be filled by May's own hires when September workouts begin. The Morning News cast Handy as a pivotal development voice even in a single Dallas season. Losing that specialist as camp nears forces the new assistants to absorb those daily responsibilities.
