Orlando Magic Fire Jamahl Mosley - Who Could Replace Him?

There was no coming back from Game 6.

The 8-seed Orlando Magic held a 24-point lead over the 1-seed Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of their first-round NBA playoff series last Friday night. Improbably, Orlando got out to a 3-1 series lead over Detroit, so even after the Pistons won Game 5, the Magic still had a close-out opportunity in their building.

All they had to do was hold a 24-point lead for two quarters to pull off the upset.

Instead, the Magic scored 19 points in the second half, shooting 4-of-37 from the floor, and lost, 93-79. Fates wouldn’t officially be decided until Game 7 on Sunday, but the Magic’s season essentially ended right then and there. Detroit cruised to a 116-94 Game 7 victory, and the Magic suffered a first-round playoff exit for a third consecutive year.

The Magic fired head coach Jamahl Mosley on Monday, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Squandering a 3-1 lead was the last straw, but Mosley had been on the hot seat all season. Orlando was viewed as an Eastern Conference contender entering this season, and while Mosley couldn’t help the injuries that held them back, he and franchise star Paolo Banchero publicly displayed fractures in their relationship.

Whatever the reasoning, Mosley is gone, and the Magic have to identify a coach who can maximize Banchero and get the Magic past the first round.

Billy Donovan has emerged as an early favorite, even while Mosley still had the job.

“There’s a lot of appeal to Orlando,” Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix said in late April on his podcast with Rachel Nichols, debating whether Donovan should consider Orlando or Golden State. “It’s an Eastern Conference [team]. A lot of young talent. Most of the core is 25 and under, including the two top stars in Paolo and Franz [Wagner].”

Nichols added, “Orlando has the higher percentage of winning in the short term, just because as a coach, we’ve talked about this, there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit to clean up on that team. I think that just with some veteran coaching decisions, that team could do better than it did this year, and so you’re going to look good next year.”

Donovan recently stepped down after six seasons as the Chicago Bulls’ head coach. At the time, Charania reported that Donovan “plans to continue his coaching career and will be a viable target moving forward in the NBA landscape.”

Magic fans will remember that Donovan backed out after accepting the Magic’s head coaching job in 2007, opting to stay at the University of Florida for another eight years. There’s a clearer path now for Donovan to coach in Orlando - he voluntarily left Chicago, rather than being torn about leaving Florida - but it isn’t a no-brainer.

“Mosley firing was the worst-kept secret of the NBA season,” Chicago Sun-Times Bulls beat reporter Joe Cowley wrote on X. “Reported last month that Bulls ownership coveted keeping Billy Donovan but feared all along the pending opening in Orlando would be too big a draw. Now, the only question is, does Donovan want to do it or take a year off?

Cowley added, “Was told by a very good source that Orlando’s locker room was a mess and Mosley had no control. He wasn’t going to survive even if Magic got past Detroit. There’s a major Banchero problem. Donovan would walk into a very talented but dysfunctional circus.”

If not Donovan, Tom Thibodeau has plenty of experience with taming circuses - most recently turning the New York Knicks into a perennial contender. The Knicks fired him after losing the Eastern Conference Finals last June, and the Magic haven’t sniffed the Eastern Conference Finals since 2010.

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This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 1:08 PM.