Jamahl Mosley was fired as coach of the Orlando Magic on Monday, hours after the team was eliminated from the NBA playoffs with a blowout loss in Detroit.
The top-seeded Pistons rallied from a 3-1 deficit in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first round series to eliminate Orlando with a 116-94 triumph in game seven on Sunday.
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The Magic was barely back in Florida before team president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman announced Mosley’s dismissal.
“We’re grateful to Jamahl for all he has done for the Orlando Magic,” Weltman said. “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.” The Pistons, only the 15th team in NBA history to win a series after trailing 3-1, announced later Monday they were extending the contract of coach J.B. Bickerstaff. No details were revealed.
Mosley, 47, served as an assistant coach for Denver, Cleveland and Dallas before being hired by the Magic as head coach in July 2021.
His five seasons marked the longest tenure for any Magic coach since Stan Van Gundy, who guided Orlando to the 2009 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.
But the Magic have not won a playoff series since 2010, falling in the first round seven times and missing the playoffs nine times since then.
Under Mosley, the Magic went 189-221, including a 45-37 record this past campaign, and made the playoffs the past three seasons before making quick exits.
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Elsewhere, Masai Ujiri was named president of the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, given the task of leading a revival of a club that reached the NBA Finals in 2024.
Ujiri will oversee all aspects of basketball operations for the Mavericks, including roster moves and scouting, to revamp a team that went 26-56 and missed the playoffs for the second year in a row.
“The Dallas Mavericks are committed to being a world-class organisation with a strong culture and focused on winning championships,” Mavericks co-owner Patrick Dumont said in announcing the move.
“Masai Ujiri is one of the great basketball leaders of this generation and his addition to our franchise is a critical step in meeting our goals.” Ujiri, 55, was born in England to Kenyan and Nigerian parents and grew up in Nigeria. He moved to the United States to follow his dream to play basketball and spent a decade playing professionally in Europe.
He served as an international scout for the Denver Nuggets before being hired by the Toronto Raptors in 2008 as assistant general manager.
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In 2010, he returned to Denver as general manager, the first African to hold such a role in a major US professional sport, and in 2013 was named NBA Executive of the Year.
Ujiri became executive vice president and general manager of the Raptors in 2013 and took over as team president in 2016. The Raptors won the 2019 NBA title and Ujiri stayed for 12 years in all until splitting with the club last June.
“I’m honoured to join the Dallas Mavericks and step into this role at such an important time for the organisation,” Ujiri said. “This is a franchise with a proud history, passionate fans, and a commitment to winning.
“I look forward to working with our players, coaches and leadership team to build something that reflects that standard and competes at the highest level. We will win in Dallas.” Despite the efforts of NBA Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg, the Mavericks suffered their worst season since 2017-18 and Nico Harrison was fired as president and general manager in November, replaced on an interim basis by Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi.
“We welcome (Ujiri’s) energy and determination along with his leadership, experience and many accomplishments as a basketball executive,” Dumont said. “We are very excited about the future of our team.”