The California Redwoods finished the first two weeks of the season not just as the only undefeated team in the Western Conference but also atop the overall standings thanks to a league-best plus-nine goal differential. General manager Joe Spallina, however, said the team can’t “be eating the rat poison of people telling us how good we are.”
Spallina said he’s not going to make a trade for the sake of making a trade, but he’s always looking for ways to make his team better today and for the future. On Monday, he helped the Redwoods, who already boasted the highest-scoring midfield in the Premier Lacrosse League, get even deeper by acquiring Sam Handley in a trade with the Denver Outlaws. California sent Denver a third-round pick in the 2026 College Draft in return.
“I felt like he came out of college like a midfield version of Brennan O’Neill with the mammoth size and ability to change games,” Spallina said. “His upside, we felt, was too much to pass up. We feel like he’s going to mesh really well in our style of offense.”
Spallina and Outlaws head coach and general manager Tim Soudan connected while both teams were vying for free agent Jared Bernhardt. While Spallina was very active in his pursuit, he also had a feeling Bernhardt would want to play with one of his brothers. So, knowing the Outlaws would have to make a move to add Bernhardt to their roster, Spallina told Soudan he was “open for business.”
The fourth overall pick in the 2023 College Draft, Handley showed growth in his second season as a pro in 2024. Not only did he finish tied for fourth on the team in points (16), but he also improved his totals in points, assists and two-point shooting percentage while lowering his turnovers.
While Soudan hoped for that progress to build into something bigger in 2025, Handley went 0-for-4 shooting in Denver’s season opener against California and was then not on the gameday roster against the Carolina Chaos as the team activated Bernhardt.
Spallina believes Handley still has “star potential.”
“He’s not a guy you can just go in the waiver pool and find. This guy’s a monster,” he said. “I watched him play a lot in college. He was unguardable. When you put him with our squad, if he draws a pole, great. That means [Andrew] McAdorey and those other guys are going to have shorties. If he doesn’t, are you going to have a shorty that can D up his size, his athleticism and his ability to stretch a defense. He’s going to be a mainstay in our lineup.”
Spallina spoke with Handley over the phone on Monday, and he said the 6-foot-5, 235-pound midfielder was jumping through the phone with excitement. He also said he heard from a handful of players on the Redwoods roster who were equally enthusiastic about their new teammate.
The Redwoods general manager is looking forward to the chance to deploy his offense’s new weapon, potentially this Friday against the defending champion Utah Archers (8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+).
“He’s a First-Team All-American, the No. 4 pick in the draft, that’s going to go to a place that’s really excited to have him, and we’re going to empower the heck out of him,” Spallina said. “Our job is to empower him and get him playing at the star quality that we believe he is.”
