The Orlando magic are reportedly parting ways with head coach Jamahl Mosley, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. The news comes less than 24 hours after the Magic blew a 3-1 lead over the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Mosley released a statement Monday, in which he thanked the organization and its fans for supporting him, per Charania.
Mosley’s statement read:“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.”Though the team took a lead in the series, the Magic couldn’t close things out in the final three games.
An injury to forward Franz Wagner didn’t help matters, though Paolo Banchero tried to will the Magic to wins in Games 5 and 7, when he scored 45 and 38 points, respectively, in those contests. Despite the postseason appearance, Mosley’s seat has been hot for the last several weeks. At the end of March, on the heels of a six-game losing streak, Orlando suffered a brutal 52-point loss to the Toronto raptors, letting the Raptors go on a historic 31-0 run after initially going up in the first quarter.
After the loss, Mosley firmly blamed himself. “I’ve got to be able to do a better job of preparing them for what they were going to see tonight. We talked a little bit about it, but probably not enough,” he said.
“That’s on me.”That blame appears to have been shared by the magic front office, even as the team kept Mosley on through the postseason. Mosley was hired as the Magic’s head coach in 2021, after years as an assistant coach with multiple teams. The hiring came on the heels of Orlando’s rough 21-51 season in the bubble, but after a bumpy first year, Mosley raised the team’s win percentage and eventually led the Magic back to the playoffs in 2024.
Mosley and orlando agreed to a contract extension in 2024, which was set to expire at the end of the 2027-28 season But since then, the team has gone somewhat stagnant Though Orlando made back-to-back postseason appearances in 2024 and 2025, they failed to advance past the first round.
The magic have not made it past the first round of the NBA playoffs since 2010 – a pattern that Mosley was unable to break this season. In his five seasons as Magic head coach, Mosley led the team to a 189-211 record. Though the Magic made the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, the team failed to advance past the first round, giving Mosley a 7-12 record in the postseason.
