Orlando Magic fire Jamahl Mosley as head coach day after team eliminated

One day after the team was eliminated in a Game 7, the Orlando Magic fired head coach Jamahl Mosley on Monday.

"We're grateful to Jamahl (Mosley) for all he's done for the Orlando Magic," Orlando President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman 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."

Mosley had five seasons as head coach, and this team was eliminated in the first round each of the last three years. This move was expected and had been rumored almost since the season tipped off for three reasons:

• This team underachieved all season long, and frankly, for a couple of years. When Weltman and the front office sent out four first-round draft picks and a pick swap, they thought they had a roster that could compete with any in the East. Most pundits projected Orlando to hit 50 wins and push for a top-three seed in the East, instead they were the No. 8 seed and had to fight through the play-in just to make the playoffs. While the offense improved slightly, the team's defensive calling card fell way off this season. While injuries to stars like Franz Wagner had something to do with that, Mosley had not built a culture or system that overcame those issues, as we saw in Boston, for example.

• He did not have a good relationship with Orlando star Paolo Banchero. It was the worst-kept secret in the league and occasionally spilled out in public.

“Teams, a lot of times, adjust at halftime and I think that’s why we struggled a lot in the second half just cause we don’t really adjust to their adjustments,” #Magic forward Paolo Banchero said after Orlando’s loss to Detroit.

He mentioned the need for better communication: pic.twitter.com/IKGQhGv1rk

— Jason Beede (@therealBeede) March 2, 2026

In the NBA, star players have the power, and if there is a conflict with the coach, the player wins 99% of the time.

ª Orlando's offense was unimpressive schematically, something a lot of scouts were willing to talk about. While this season Orlando's offense finally moved out of the bottom 10 for the first time in a decade, it was still just 19th in the league. While the injuries to Wagner and Banchero this season played into that, a lot of people around the league have openly wondered whether a new coach could get more out of this roster.