Magic fire Jamahl Mosley after another first-round playoff loss

Magic fire Jamahl Mosley after another first-round playoff loss

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.

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 new head coach in 2021, after years as an assistant coach with multiple teams. The hiring came off 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.