Jamahl Mosley fired as Orlando Magic head coach

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Orlando Magic fired head coach Jamahl Mosley on Monday morning, following the team's loss to the Detroit Pistons, ending their playoff hopes.

What they're saying:

"We're grateful to Jamahl for all he's done for the Orlando Magic," Jeff Weltman, president of basketball operations for the Magic, said in a statement. 

"We appreciate his leadership and the positive contributions he made as head coach. While this was a difficult decision, we feel it's time for a new voice and fresh perspective. We wish Jamahl and his family nothing but the best."

Statement from Jamahl Mosely

"It has been an incredible five-plus years, and this organization and city will always mean so much to me and my family. In my heart, I truly hope that during our time here we were able to impact the players, staff, and the Magic organization in a meaningful and lasting way. I want to sincerely thank the DeVos family for the extraordinary opportunity to serve as head coach of the Orlando Magic. To our fans, there is nothing but love in my heart. The joy I had coaching this team, in this city, for the people who live here is something I will never forget. All I ever wanted was to make you proud to be Magic fans, and my journey here will certainly stay with me forever."

The backstory:

It was Orlando’s third consecutive first-round playoff exit, and easily the most disappointing. Not only did the eighth-seeded Magic lose all three chances to upset the top-seeded Pistons, but one of those games saw Orlando have a 24-point second-half lead at home and still lose. Orlando missed 23 consecutive shots in that Game 6 loss on Friday, getting booed by fans when it was over.

That loss probably was the one that sealed Mosley’s fate, even though the loss in Game 7 at Detroit on Sunday was the one that ended the season.

Mosley is the third-winningest coach in Magic history, his 189 wins behind only Brian Hill (267) and Stan Van Gundy (259). He inherited a team that was in the early stages of a rebuild, with Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs entering the league as rookies in his first season and then the Magic winning the lottery to draft Paolo Banchero No. 1 overall before Mosley’s second season.

Orlando won 22 games in Mosley’s first season, improved to 34-48 in Year 2 and has been .500 or better in all three seasons since — 47-35 in 2023-24, 41-41 last season and 45-37 this season.

That makes the Magic one of 10 teams — Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma City are the others — to have not finished below .500 in any of the last three seasons.

It wasn’t enough. And with much of the team’s core — Banchero, Wagner, Suggs, Desmond Bane and more — under contract for the foreseeable future, the Magic clearly felt the best way to shake things up was to bring in a new coach.