Orlando Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman had to admit that the team's series with the Detroit Pistons was still a gut punch. The whole organization seemed shell-shocked from how quickly things fell apart for the team.
Going from up 3-1 in the series and up 22 at halftime in Game 6 at home to going home still did not seem real. The frustration in the locker room after the Game 7 defeat was the culmination of a season that did not go according to plan. A season that slipped through their fingers.
The reality was the Magic had found themselves stuck.
After breaking out of the rebuild phase with their first Playoff appearance, the team struggled to take the next step. Everyone is now figuring out what it would take to ge to the next step.
That first big decision came Monday when the team dismissed Jamahl Mosley, its coach of five years. It is the first sign of dissatisfaction from a disappointing season. And the first step in changing things for a franchise that had stalled.
It was time for a new voice.
"It's the hardest decision you have to make, especially for someone as talented and as great of a person as Jamahl is and everything he gave to the organization over the past five years," Weltman said Monday. "Obviously, we have lost in the first round in the last three years. That is an organizational matter, that's not just on one person. It seems like it is time for a new perspective, maybe a fresh voice, and for us all to get a different vantage point on what is going on with our team."
It may simply be a universal NBA truth that the coach is the easiest thing for an organization to change.
The Magic are locked into several key young players with big salaries that any team would be hesitant to move. Weltman still firmly believes that when his group was healthy, it played as one of the elite teams in the league.
With how up and down the team was throughout the season and how poorly it played in the face of these injuries, it might have simply been time for a new voice to take charge.
The question left for the Magic is how do they take the leap? With a new coach coming in, everything depends on Weltman and the new voice this team finds.
What went wrong
There is not going to be one reason or one thing that went wrong this season.
The frustrations from Game 6 and the uncreative offense stand out most. Orlando was a half away from advancing to the Playoffs when the team's offense went into the familiar tank.
The Magic improved offensively, finishing 18th in the league in offensive rating and out of the bottom 10 in offensive rating for the first time since the 2012 season, Dwight Howard's last year with the team.
But all of the team's frustrations came to the front under the pressure of the Playoffs. When the Magic needed to get a bucket to stop the bleeding in Games 2 and 6, it could not find an advantage or a shot against one of the toughest defenses in the league.
If the Magic want to be a title contender, they needed a way to function on that end. And the frustration with the inability to execute or find those advantages was present throughout the season.
"We're not going to lead the league in 3-point shooting," Weltman said Monday. "We brought Desmond Bane here, and I think he showed to our fans who he is, how good of a player he is, how smart he is, how much heart he has and the kind of shooter he is. This year, when we've been healthy, we have been an elite defensive team and that elevated our offense."
It did not help either that the team's defense slipped -- falling from one of the top defenses in the league last year to 13th overall. The shaky defense was a far bigger concern and a far more alarming development.
Injuries played a huge role this season too, as it did in 2025. The team never saw itself at full force for long enough.
When the team was healthy in the playoff, the Magic more closely resembled the elite group everyone expected as one of the best defensive teams in the league.
But everyone has to try to figure out why things fractured so much this season. Or why the team was not as consistent as they were in previous seasons.
"This isn't based on any one thing, one week or one series," Weltman said Monday. "These are more macro issues. It's human relationships. Relationships run their course sometimes. It's the same people in the same room. It's not easy, and it's not always fair. I think for us at the time now, a fresh perspective could help us move forward."
The Magic are trying to carve the path forward. They are trying to find the coach that will make the most of their potential.
And a new perspective could unlock what has only shown up in in spurts.
What comes next
The Orlando Magic showed their potential in the Playoff series with the Detroit Pistons as much as they had at any point in the season.
Now that he has swapped out the coach, the pressure is all on Jeff Weltman and his front office to evaluate this roster appropriately, find the right voice to guide them to the next steps and make the moves to help that coach reach his vision for this team.
If the Magic are looking for fresh ideas for their roster, they need a coach who can clearly articulate what the team is missing and where they need to go.
"When we say we fell short, we need to evaluate what happened," Weltman said Monday. "Every series is different, every game is different, every situation is different. Obivoulsy, we are always pushing to improve this team. I think we have gotten better this year, honestly. This year, again I say when healthy, because everything is predicated on that, we were top five defense and top 10 offense. We liked the trend that presented. We liked where that would take us."
Weltman knows how vital the coaching hire can be. He said that, aside from acquiring a star player, nothing can improve a team more than having the right coach.
This hire will make or break his tenure and potentially this version of the Magic, considering its expense and the limitations that come with it.
The Magic upped the ante last summer. They clearly want more and have grown out of the rebuild stage. That will lead to a new approach to the offseason too.
They will need a new voice to get them there.
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