Handy has been with the Lakers as an assistant coach since 2019, and Perk thinks he should have at least gotten an interview.

LeBron James and Kendrick Perkins played together during Bron’s second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The two maintained a cordial relationship in recent years, but with Big Perk’s criticisms of LeBron, L.A.’s King decided to unfollow his former teammate’s social media accounts.

That has led to a falling out between the two – at least on social media. During the latest episode of The Mark Jackson Show, Big Perk talked about his beef with LeBron and shared what pisses him most about King James.

“Like Bron bro, Phil Handy was on your bench,” said Perkins. “You won a championship with Phil Handy in Cleveland. You won a championship with Phil Handy in L.A.”

Handy has been with the Lakers since 2019

The 52-year-old Handy has been an assistant coach with the Lakers since 2019, when King James asked him to join him in LaLa Land. When he joined the coaching staff, Handy was coming off winning a second NBA title as an assistant for the Toronto Raptors. Phil was also on Ty Lue’s assistant roster when LeBron delivered Cleveland’s only title in 2016.

But despite his impressive resume, the Lakers never considered Handy to replace Darvin Ham. L.A. first offered the job to UConn head coach Dan Hurley, who turned it down. They then hired JJ Redick as Ham’s replacement, despite Redick’s lack of coaching experience.

“You asked Phil Handy to come to L.A. with you when he had a choice to go with Kawhai with the Clippers after he won it in Toronto with Nick Nurse. You mean to tell me, through all the BS, the Frank Vogel nonsense, the Darvin Ham nonsense, the Russell Westbrook drama that went on between the locker room, Phil Handy was the guy behind the scenes keeping this whole thing together or trying to keep it together, cleaning up a lot of people’s mess and he couldn’t even get a conversation?” added Big Perk.

Handy deserved at least an interview

Big Perk says that he has nothing against JJ’s hiring. However, he feels that the Lakers at least owed Handy an interview before giving the retired sharpshooter the job, considering that Phil had been around the team since 2019. For someone with LeBron’s influence, getting that interview wouldn’t have been difficult.

“And with your power, all you had to do was say ‘Hey look,’” continued the retired center. “You didn’t even have to do it publicly. But damn, Phil Handy can’t even get a shot. Give him at least an interview. The man ain’t even get an interview. This is an assistant coach that’s well-respected around the league, three NBA championships. He can’t get an interview with the same organization when he showed y’all nothing but loyalty. He’s been the guy that’s stuck around and kept it 100 with y’all. Not an interview? That’s crazy.”

Not only did Handy not get an interview, but he also caught a stray when the Lakers fired the entire coaching staff, including Ham. It’s unclear what Phil’s next venture will be. But you have to agree with Perk that he got the raw deal in L.A., and LeBron didn’t lift a finger to get him at least an audition for the starring role.