Orlando Magic near deal to hire Spurs assistant Sean Sweeney as head coach

The Orlando Magic are finalizing a deal to hire San Antonio Spurs associate head coach Sean Sweeney as the franchise's new head coach, sources told ESPN on Friday. Sweeney, who has spent this season as San Antonio's lead assistant, will replace Jamahl Mosley, who was fired after the Magic lost 4-3 to Detroit in their first-round series, and has since become the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans.

Sweeney will finish the remainder of the postseason on the Spurs' bench, including Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, which is set for Saturday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, with a berth in the NBA Finals on the line.

record Sweeney ran San Antonio's defense for Coach of the Year finalist Mitch Johnson this season, guiding an improvement from 25th to third in the NBA's defensive efficiency rankings and garnering praise from the team's young stars Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle.

The Spurs also ranked top-five in defending isolations, on-ball screens, drives and rim protection, according to ESPN Research. Under Sweeney, the Spurs made a 28-win improvement to a 62-20 campaign -- tied for the third-most wins in franchise history -- and have advanced to the conference finals.

Sweeney has served as a lead assistant to a conference finalist in three of the last five seasons. Sweeney's first head coaching job will be with a Magic team built to contend in the Eastern Conference with one-time NBA All-Star Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane and Jalen Suggs.

Orlando has failed to make it out of the first round for three straight seasons. The Magic led top-seeded Detroit 3-1 but didn't have enough offense to close out the Pistons, especially after Wagner suffered a series-ending right calf strain in Game 4.

Orlando lost three straight games and dismissed Mosley. Sweeney, 41, has experience working with superstars like Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee, Luka Doncic in Dallas and Wembanyama in San Antonio. Sweeney's specialty is defense, and he will inherit a Magic team that was a stellar defensive squad under Mosley.

Sweeney has interviewed for several head coaching openings in recent years and was a finalist for such jobs with the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns over the last two years. Sweeney spent the previous four seasons as Jason Kidd's lead assistant with the Dallas Mavericks, coordinating the offense and defense during the Mavs' run to the 2024 NBA Finals and earning a reputation as one of the best X's and O's minds among the league's assistant coaches.

Sweeney broke into NBA coaching as a video coordinator in 2011 for the then-New Jersey Nets, before moving to the bench in Brooklyn for the 2013-14 season. He also had stints as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks (2014-18) and the Pistons (2018-21).