{"id":73899,"date":"2026-05-29T15:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/orlando-magic-close-to-hiring-spurs-assistant-sean-sweeney-as-head-coach\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T15:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:39:20","slug":"orlando-magic-close-to-hiring-spurs-assistant-sean-sweeney-as-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/orlando-magic-close-to-hiring-spurs-assistant-sean-sweeney-as-head-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic Close to Hiring Spurs Assistant Sean Sweeney as Head Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A long-awaited opportunity is finally coming to fruition for Sean Sweeney, who is on the verge of landing his first NBA head coaching position with the Orlando Magic.<\/p>

According to a source familiar with the negotiations who spoke to The Associated Press anonymously on Friday, Sweeney is completing final arrangements to become Orlando’s next head coach. The team has not yet made the hiring official and declined to provide comment when contacted. ESPN was first to report the impending agreement.<\/p>

The 41-year-old associate head coach from San Antonio beat out several other contenders for the position, including veteran coaches Billy Donovan and Jeff Van Gundy. Sweeney will take over from Jamahl Mosley, who was dismissed following five years with the team and three consecutive first-round playoff eliminations. Mosley has since joined the New Orleans Pelicans as their head coach.<\/p>

The timing allows Sweeney to finish the current campaign with San Antonio. The Spurs face Oklahoma City in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals Saturday evening, with the winner advancing to face the New York Knicks in next week’s NBA Finals.<\/p>

Known for his defensive expertise, Sweeney has earned recognition as one of the league’s most promising young minds on that end of the court. During his first year in San Antonio, he transformed what had been a struggling defense into one of the NBA’s most effective units, building his system around Victor Wembanyama, who earned unanimous selection as this season’s Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>

Both Wembanyama and Spurs coach Mitch Johnson have praised Sweeney throughout the season. Johnson valued Sweeney’s contributions so highly that he elevated him to associate head coach when assembling his inaugural San Antonio staff.<\/p>

“I just took a liking to his ability to articulate his basketball philosophy and what he thought about the game and NBA coaching in general, in terms of competitiveness and how hard you should coach and holding guys accountable,” Johnson said earlier during this postseason, in comments published by the San Antonio Express-News. “But also the modern, creative part and thinking outside the box.”<\/p>

While technically a first-time head coach, Sweeney’s situation mirrors that of Mosley when Orlando brought him aboard in 2021. Sweeney enters at 41 after 13 seasons as an assistant, while Mosley was 42 with 15 years of assistant experience when hired.<\/p>

Sweeney does bring some head coaching experience to the role. He temporarily stepped in for former Dallas coach Jason Kidd on two occasions due to illness and COVID-19 health protocols. He has also mentioned previously that he may have coached more Summer League contests than any other person in NBA history.<\/p>

When Orlando begins their season this fall, Sweeney will be leading a team for the first time in a full-time capacity.<\/p>

His NBA journey began as a video coordinator with the then-New Jersey Nets, followed by assistant coaching roles with the Nets, Milwaukee, Detroit, Dallas and San Antonio. Despite being regularly considered for head coaching vacancies in recent years, Sweeney had never received an offer until now.<\/p>

His international experience includes working with Luka Doncic as part of Slovenia’s coaching staff during the 2024 Paris Games. The Minnesota native began his coaching career with stops at Northern Iowa, Evansville, Anoka-Ramsey Community College and the Academy of Art University.<\/p>

Sweeney will become the franchise’s 15th head coach, or 16th if counting Billy Donovan, who initially accepted Orlando’s offer in 2007 to leave the University of Florida before reversing his decision approximately one week later.<\/p>

Donovan recently parted ways with the Chicago Bulls this spring. Jeff Van Gundy also interviewed for the Orlando position and is the brother of former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy.<\/p>

Orlando dismissed Mosley one day after the team’s playoff elimination by the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference’s opening round, following a collapse from a 3-1 series advantage. During Game 6 of that series, Magic supporters booed the team off the court after they squandered a 24-point second-half lead by missing 23 straight shots.<\/p>

The roster features considerable talent, anchored by forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. Under Mosley’s leadership, Orlando won 22 games in his debut season, improved to 34-48 in year two, and maintained .500 or better records in the three seasons that followed: 47-35 in 2023-24, 41-41 last season, and 45-37 this season.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Orlando Magic are nearing completion of a deal to hire San Antonio Spurs associate head coach Sean Sweeney as their new head coach. The 41-year-old defensive specialist will replace Jamahl Mosley, who was dismissed after five seasons and three straight first-round playoff exits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":73898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[836],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-1780083559629.jpg?fit=1000%2C666&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbtNqq-jdV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":74974,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/orlando-magic-name-sean-sweeney-as-new-head-coach\/","url_meta":{"origin":73899,"position":0},"title":"Orlando Magic Name Sean Sweeney as New Head Coach","author":"Admin","date":"June 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando Magic officially announced Sean Sweeney as their new head coach Monday, though he'll continue with the San Antonio Spurs through the NBA Finals. 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