ORLANDO — The Orlando Magic fired head coach Jamahl Mosley on May 4, less than 24 hours after the team fell to the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in Game 7 of its Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the move. The team confirmed the news shortly after the initial report.
Orlando held a 3-1 series lead against Detroit, but failed to become the seventh No. 8 seed to advance. Instead, the Magic exited the postseason in the opening round for the third straight season.
“The nice answer would be yes but, honestly speaking, I can’t say that we’re good enough to be in the Finals, or Eastern finals, because the last three years we’ve had the same result,” power forward Paolo Banchero said in a post-game press conference.
The Pistons won Game 7, 116-94, on May 3. However, the damage was done two nights before when the Magic surrendered a 22-point halftime lead and set an NBA record for the lowest-scoring half in a playoff game (19 points), missing an astounding 23 consecutive field goal attempts.
“We’re grateful to Jamahl for all he’s done for the Orlando Magic,” said Jeff Weltman, the Magic’s president of basketball operations. “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 five seasons as the Magic’s head coach, Mosley, 47, compiled a 189-221 regular-season record (.461 winning percentage). Orlando went 45-37 this season, defeating the Charlotte Hornets in the play-in game to make the playoffs.
Mosley had the Magic among the NBA’s best defenses in the two previous seasons, but the team ranked among the league’s bottom 10 offenses each of the last four years. Orlando traded four first-round picks last summer for Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane, who averaged 18.1 points per game in the series.
Star forward Franz Wagner, who held Cade Cunningham to 6-of-24 shooting as the primary defender, missed each of the final three games.
Dusty May a possible replacement as Orlando Magic coach?
Longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein wrote that the Magic are “admirers” of Michigan basketball coach Dusty May, who guided the Wolverines to a national championship in his second season.
Warde Manuel, Michigan’s athletic director, announced April 11 that May had agreed to a contract extension.
“He will be the leader of this basketball team for many years to come,” Manuel said at a championship celebration inside the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
Another popular suggestion is former Chicago Bulls and Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan, who just left his post after six seasons in the Windy City. Donovan, 60, has a 469-413 record across 11 seasons as an NBA coach, including a five-year run in Oklahoma City.
The Bulls missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year in 2025-26.
Donovan agreed to become the Magic’s head coach in 2007, following Florida’s second straight national title, but reached a settlement to be released from his contract and return to college basketball less than a week later.
“I feel terrible about it. (The Magic are) a great organization. They have great ownership, and they’re great people. I feel sorry and have apologized,” Donovan said at a news conference in Gainesville. “It was my decision, it was my mistake. I have to take responsibility for that, which I’m trying to do.
“Really, it was my decision. There were no lures, there was no pressure by anybody to come back. It was what was in my heart.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Orlando Magic fire coach Jamahl Mosley after Game 7 loss to Pistons
Reporting by Chris Boyle, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
