Many incredibly successful basketball coaches have started their careers at lesser-known schools and progressed into larger roles along the way. Greg Popovich, arguably the greatest NBA coach of all time, worked as an assistant professor and coach at Div. III Pomona-Pitzer colleges before beginning his illustrious coaching career.
Nate Tibbets, the head coach of a team that was on the brink of a WNBA championship this past season, started his career at the University of Sioux Falls.
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And now, Zak Buncik, assistant coach for the Los Angeles Sparks, is just another example of a burgeoning talent making the most out of humble beginnings.
Buncik worked incredibly hard from the very start of his basketball career, ultimately generating enough opportunities to lead him to Los Angeles, but not without his fair share of trials and setbacks along the way.
Falling for the Game
An Eastern Conference team that grinded out a seven-game series win against the New York Knicks. A Western Conference team that more or less breezed through the competition en route to its second NBA finals appearance in three years. Two shooting guards vying to be crowned the best player in the NBA, competing to bring a championship to their city. The 1992 NBA finals.
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This series was the first playoff battle that Buncik remembers, which caused him to fall in love with the sport. His admiration for a particular coach was rooted in the back of his mind.
“As a kid or a teenager, I was a huge Scotty Pippen and Michael Jordan fan. Phil Jackson was running the triangle, but I wasn’t consciously thinking about that,” said Buncik. “I guess subconsciously, and wanting to be a coach, I essentially looked up to [Phil Jackson].”
Education
Buncik attended Castleberry High School in Fort Worth, TX, excelling in history and social studies. He graduated in 2002 and began his first phase of life away from home; well, kind of.
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“I chose the University of Texas Arlington, simply because it was right down the road from my parents’ house,” Buncik said. “At first, I just wanted to be a high school coach. I wanted to become a high school P.E. teacher and coach on the side. My goal wasn’t to coach in the WNBA, or to coach professionals.”
He completed four years of education, receiving a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and a minor in pedagogy — the closest combination of degrees to help achieve his goal.
Setting the Stage for a Coaching Career
Even the most prominent basketball coaches have experienced modest starts before achieving legendary status. Greg Popovich and Pat Summit both started their journeys as “ball-boys” before rising to the pinnacle of the sport. During his time at UTA, Buncik would follow the same path, becoming the manager of the men’s basketball team.
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“I absolutely loved it. I did it for two-and-a-half years,” Buncik said. “The biggest thing that I took from it was that I had to do everything. Doing the laundry, I cleaned the floor, and I helped at practice with the players. You know, a lot of successful basketball coaches started doing just that. They weren’t the best basketball players, so they started as video guys or managers.”
At the age of 22, shortly after graduation, Buncik connected with Scott Cross, the head coach of the UTA men’s basketball team. Cross introduced him to a local high school coach, with whom Buncik would land an interview.
“They went a different direction with the teaching field,” Buncik said. “So I went back up to the University to thank [Scott Cross] for getting me set up for an interview. This was probably early August. He just said, ‘Hey, do you want to become a graduate assistant (G.A.) for us?’”
“It was a quick two-week turnaround. That’s really when the whole basketball coaching [came to fruition].”
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Climbing the Coaching Ladder
In the span of three years, Buncik transitioned from G.A., to the video guy, to director of operations, and finally to the full-time assistant for UTA.
“It was fast and exciting,” Buncik said. “I didn’t really notice at the time, but you go through every step of the ladder. It goes back to when I was a manager. I just did everything at my best, and when stuff hit the fan, I knew how to fix it and where to go, which was always beneficial.”
Working for Scott Cross for nearly a decade, Buncik was heavily influenced by his presence and being around him every day. Buncik was also influenced by Greg Young, who is now an assistant to Buzz Williams at the University of Maryland.
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The coaches developed at UT Arlington often went on to secure better coaching positions elsewhere.
“I would also include Andrae Patterson, who’s now the assistant general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers,” Buncik said. “[Patterson] gave me a perspective of being a player and switching to coaching, and that transition. In college, I was with them all the time. They all gave me a different perspective.”
A Blessing in Disguise
After spending nearly a decade at the University of Texas-Arlington, the team would go a different direction and move on from Buncik. It came as a surprise to everyone who was involved with the organization, as the entire staff was relieved of their duties.
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“We were really good, but we got let go,” Buncik said. “So I had to figure out what I was going to do. I tried to get back into college coaching, but it’s hard to get jobs. So I started my own development program. I really got to refine that, doing that 100 percent of the time.”
Back against the wall and out of complete necessity, Buncik launched his player development program.
His new business went very smoothly. Since he had already built those needed connections in the college basketball space, Buncik had the leg up when it came to fostering relationships with AAU coaches and players.
“I worked with Harrison Ingram, who’s now a player for the San Antonio Spurs, and a bunch of overseas guys,” Buncik said. “My program worked well through COVID, since Texas kept its doors open for the most part. Most players would come to Texas to work out.”
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The Dallas Wings’ players would practice and play at the UT Arlington building; soon, Buncik would benefit from this exposure, particularly from a promising young star in the league.
“Arike [Ogunbowale] had just been drafted, and at the end of her first year in Dallas, I would cross paths with her,” he said. “She was in town, and she kind of just popped into the gym where I was working out, and we started working out together. She was comfortable there, and we kind of just grew and grew together.”
First Shot in the League and a Promotion
Buncik gained the opportunity to work out with several Wings players who were sent to him for rehab and training. After the team posted a tumultuous 18-38 record over two seasons, Dallas underwent a complete makeover and would hire Vickie Johnson as the new head coach.
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During this time, Buncik continued his work with the players, and Johnson soon opened up a new player development position.
“Arike and Isabelle Harrison and those players had been with me in the offseason, and they just kept on giving a good word on me. Johnson gave me the chance to do it in Dallas, as a player development coach.”
Although Johnson led the team to the playoffs in consecutive years, since each ended in an early exit, the Wings believed that they needed more to fulfill their championship aspirations. After just two years with Johnson at the helm, Dallas replaced her with Latricia Trammel to take the reins of the up-and-coming team.
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“I’m grateful for [Trammel] because she gave me my first opportunity to be a front-of-the-bench assistant in the league,” Buncik said. “Luckily, I watch a lot of film and take this very seriously, and work on my craft a lot. [After my promotion], I was presenting not only to the scouts, but also to the head coach. I was doing less player development and more scouting.”
Minor Setback Lead to New Opportunity
The Wings would get off to an amazing start in their first season behind Trammel (2023). The team finished with its best record since relocating to Dallas, won a playoff series for the first time since 2009, and post the third-best offense in the league.
However, injuries would riddle Dallas’ second season with Trammell — the Wings would fall back into lottery position with a 9-31 record. The Wings endured another makeover of their staff, and Buncik was left contemplating what to do next.
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He ended up working as an assistant coach with Team Vinyl BC in the Unrivaled league.
“I didn’t know what my future held at that point,” Buncik said. “That was the main reason I got involved with Unrivaled. It was a good avenue to stay connected with people. So I got the Unrivaled assistant job.”
Still searching for a full-time job, Buncik reached out to Raegan Pebley, the Sparks’ general manager, and asked about the staff. Pebley passed his information along to Lynne Roberts, the Sparks’ head coach.
“Lynne called me five days before Christmas last year, and she offered me a job as an assistant. It was a new city, first time away from the Metroplex, but I was super thankful for it. I probably took the biggest leap as a coach this year, learning from Lynne Roberts.”
Give 5 Her Flowers!
A lot of times, L.A. Sparks forward Dearica Hamby can fly under the radar and not get the credit she deserves as a player. Hamby averaged 18.4 points on 57.2% shooting, 7.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, in addition to 1.6 steals on the defensive end.
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Buncik works with her every day and knows all about the slight “Mama D” receives on a daily basis.
“She does it every night, she’s so consistent,” Buncik said. “She’s going to play super hard every night and outwork you. It’s not super fancy or flashy; she just puts on her hard hat and goes to work. We work on footwork with her and she’s able to score against bigger opponents. Her level of consistency is underrated. I still don’t understand how she didn’t make Second Team All-WNBA this year.”
Superstar guard Kelsey Plum has enjoyed an excellent start to her career. She’s a two-time WNBA Champion with the Las Vegas Aces, the Sixth Player of the Year in 2021, a four-time All-Star, and a gold medalist. Her accolades speak for themselves, and it’s only a matter of time until she starts to enter her name into one of the greatest women’s basketball players of all time.
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“I don’t think you can look at Kelsey Plum and see that she has a deficiency in any area. She’s good at everything,” Buncik said. “When we start winning more, you will see her name up there with those MVP-caliber players.
Stevens has always been a great player. Just like Hamby, she does not get the love she deserves.
While she was in Most Improved Player conversations for the first couple months of the season, those conversations faded out as the season went on. Buncik worked with her throughout the season, and he doubled down on how good Stevens has been.
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“She took a big leap this year,” Buncik said. “Azura has been good for her entire career. Don’t get it twisted. She has been an unbelievable player and has won championships with Chicago. But for her to be so deep into her career and take this massive leap and show everybody how good she is with every offensive category being a career high, is a testament to show how much she works on her game.”
Resilient L.A. Sparks
The L.A. Sparks narrowly missed out on the playoffs this past year, literally by one basket. If the Storm had lost to the Valkyries in the last game of the season, the Sparks would have been in the playoffs.
They were so close, and it’s considerable for them, given that they haven’t reached the playoffs since 2020. The Sparks finished with the third-best record in the league in the second half of the season; a very resilient group, after an up-and-down, injury-filled first half of the season.
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“I think for us, it’s just continuing to grow as a group,” Buncik said on the team’s goal. “Getting our players like Cam [Brink] fully healthy and taking that next offensive step. [Rae Burrell] continuing to play a huge role for us.”
“I think it’s everybody having another year under their belt, and us as a staff learning what the players have to get better at. The growth together is important. You look at the top teams in the league, and they’ve had the same consistent staff for the past few years. That plays a role in the players trusting you and buying in. Then you just let the players be the talents that they are.”
Buncik’s Future Goals
Buncik’s hard work has propelled him from a team manager role at UT Arlington to an assistant coaching position with the L.A. Sparks. While this is a significant accomplishment, he views it as a building block to achieve greater things.
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“I want to be a head coach in the WNBA,” Buncik said. “I know that’s hard to do, because there are a lot of women who deserve to be a head coach in the WNBA. I’m not in a rush; everyone takes their own path. I love working for Lynne. My next goal is to be an associate head coach in the WNBA. I just want to keep learning and growing. Until that happens, I am going to help this team win as many championships as we can.”
Buncik’s Advice
Buncik’s journey has been defined by his steady improvement. What began as a leisurely interest has evolved into a dedication to the game, balancing film study with his personal passion. Despite facing significant adversity and setbacks throughout his career, he has consistently maintained his composure and used these challenges to accelerate his growth.
“There were a lot of ups and downs and a lot of long nights,” Buncik said. “It is important that you don’t lose yourself trying to become what you want to become. I’ll be the first to tell you that’s who I was as a young coach. When I was recruiting and coaching games, I stayed up for God knows how long some nights working on film. 20 years ago, I thought I was going to be a high school basketball coach. I never even imagined this was a possibility.”
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Currently, Buncik is spending time with his family and enjoying the time away from work. He’s still baffled at the lack of credit Dearica Hamby receives. Although he works in L.A., he still travels back to the Metroplex to visit.
Since his college coaching days, he has improved by leaps and bounds. It’s not a matter of if, but when he will become a WNBA head coach. His place among the best coaches in the WNBA is inevitable.
The post Sparks’ Assistant Coach Zak Buncik: The Next Great WNBA Coach appeared first on The Lead.
