Jamahl Mosley's hot seat just became a much warmer one in Orlando

Orlando entered the postseason with a healthy roster and built a 3-1 series lead, a real shot at the second round for the first time in 16 years.

The Magic walked out of it with a Game 7 loss to the Pistons, a luxury-tax problem nobody can wave away, and a head coach whose seat just got considerably hotter.

Marc Stein's Sunday newsletter put it that Jamahl Mosley is widely expected to take the fall.

"The reality is that Mosley has been subjected to hot-seat chatter for many months. The anticipation in NBA coaching circles is that he will be the first one blamed for Orlando's shortcomings."

That is not new to anybody in the league. Mosley has been linked to job security questions since the Magic's 52-point loss to the Raptors in March, and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported earlier last week that it likely would have taken a second-round appearance just to cool the chatter. So, where is the second round appearance?

The track record is mixed in a way that's hard to litigate. Mosley took over a 21-51 team in 2021, missed the playoffs his first two years, then went 47-35 in 2023-24 for Orlando's best season since 2011. He has reached the postseason in each of the last three seasons. He has not won a series in any of them.

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