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Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy apparently has a famous doppelganger: multi-hyphenate filmmaker Kenya Barris, an actor, producer, writer and director, perhaps best known for his shows “Black-ish” and “America’s Next Top Model.”
Bally Sports’ Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson spoke with his co-host Sandeep Chandok on their show Ballin With Bally Sports about the one time Handy came face-to-face with his celebrity lookalike.
“People in LA supposedly confuse Kenya Barris and Phil Handy,” Robinson revealed. “I’ve never seen those two guys in the same room at the same time.”
Barris has a new Netflix film out called “You People,” starring Eddie Murphy and Jonah Hill. Barris directed and produced the project, as well as co-writing its screenplay with Hill.
“So Phil told me this story. He said that one time, he ran into Delilah’s in LA. And basically Kenya Barris came up to Phil and said, ‘Man I’m a big fan of your work.’ Phil said, ‘Man I’m a fan of your work, but get out of my face, because people here think I’m you!’ And they both fell out laughing.”
Handy, now one of the most respected assistant coaches in the game, first served as a player development coach under Mike Brown and Mike D’Antoni with the Lakers from 2011-13. He then moved on to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he worked as an assistant coach under Brown, Showtime Laker Byron Scott, David Blatt, and former Shaqobe Laker Ty Lue, with whom he won a title in 2016 (while the team was fronted by now-Laker LeBron James).
He won a title coaching for the Toronto Raptors under Nick Nurse during the 2018-19 season, then returned to the Lakers in 2019, where he has served on the coaching staffs of both Frank Vogel (with whom he won his third championship as an assistant coach in 2020) and now Darvin Ham.
