Mavericks hiring two veteran assistants to coaching staff

The Mavericks are adding two more veteran assistants to their revamped coaching staff, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, who reports (via X) that Popeye Jones and Phil Handy have agreed to roles under head coach Jason Kidd.

A former NBA forward, Jones hasn’t worked with Kidd since they went into coaching, but actually played alongside him for two seasons in Dallas from 1994-96. Since transitioning to coaching in 2007, Jones has spent time with the Mavericks as a player development coach (2007-10) and with the Nets (2010-13), Pacers (2013-20), Sixers (2020-21), and Nuggets (2021-25) as an assistant.

Jones will be Kidd’s No. 3 assistant coach and will focus on defense, according to Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com.

Handy, meanwhile, is coming to the Mavericks after previous stints with the Lakers (2011-13), Cavaliers (2013-18), Raptors (2018-19), and Lakers again (2019-24). He and Kidd were both members of Frank Vogel‘s staff in Los Angeles when the Lakers won a championship in 2020.

According to Afseth, the expectation is that Handy will take over the player developmental role previously held by God Shammgod, who left Dallas this offseason for Orlando.

Kidd’s top assistants last season were Sean Sweeney, Alex Jensen, and Jared Dudley, but they’ve since departed for San Antonio, the University of Utah, and Denver, respectively. Two former NBA head coaches, Vogel and Jay Triano, have since been tabbed as Kidd’s new top two assistants, with shooting specialist Mike Penberthy also coming aboard.