ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Magic have fired its head coach, Jamahl Mosley, one day after the team was knocked out of the playoffs.
News 6 Sports Director Jamie Seh confirmed Mosley’s firing Monday morning.
Mosley coached the team for five seasons, which included three playoff appearances.
The latest appearance ended over the weekend with a Game 7 loss to the Detroit Pistons, who beat the Magic 116 to 94 on Sunday.
“We’re grateful to Jamahl (Mosley) for all he’s done for the Orlando Magic,” Jeff Weltman, president of basketball operations, said in a news release. “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.”
In a news conference Monday, Weltman told reporters that there was not a particular moment that led to the decision, but something the team considered throughout the course of the season.
“You’re always constantly evaluating and changing and, you know, it’s a crazy roller coaster ride, an NBA season, you know, and string five of them together. And it just felt like this was the right time," he said.
Mosley issued a statement to News 6 on Monday afternoon:
“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.”
Ex-Coach Jamahl Mosley
In Mosley’s time as head coach, the Magic recorded 189 wins and 221 losses.
Only seven coaches have been in their current jobs longer than Mosley was with Orlando — Miami’s Erik Spoelstra (hired in 2008), Golden State’s Steve Kerr (2014), the Clippers’ Tyronn Lue (2020), Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault (2020), Minnesota’s Chris Finch (2021), Indiana’s Rick Carlisle (2021) and Dallas’ Jason Kidd (2021).
Mosley spent 15 years as an assistant in Denver, Cleveland and Dallas — and was often mentioned as a candidate for head-coaching jobs around the league over that span — before Orlando hired him. He had a long relationship with Weltman, who first took note of Mosley when they worked together with the Nuggets.
Mosley was the 14th coach in Magic history, the 15th if counting Billy Donovan — who accepted the job in 2007, then had second thoughts and returned to the University of Florida. Donovan just left the Chicago Bulls after six seasons as their coach, which sparked speculation that he could be the frontrunner in Orlando if the Magic indeed would be moving on from Mosley.
As for who comes next, or at least what they’re looking for in a new coach, Weltman had no answers.
“Coaches come in a lot of different shapes and sizes and someone that kind of looks at our team in the way that we feel can help move us forward. Obviously, someone who understands where we are on our timeline that we’ve kind of tried to get past, like the growth stages of the rebuild,” Weltman said.
AP NBA contributed to this report.