No Orlando Magic coach has taken home the Coach of the Year award since Doc Rivers won it in 2000. Jamahl Mosley has established himself as one of the top candidates for the award since the Magic’s breakthrough in the 2023-24 season, though. He finished second in voting for the award to Mark Daigneault after last season.
Since then, things have changed quite a lot for the Magic. They are pretty much established as one of the best regular-season teams in the Eastern Conference, saw both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner play at an All-Star level, and are considered one of the teams primed to make a big move soon. One thing that has not changed is Jamahl Mosley and his impact on the team.
As a result, Mosley should, once again, be one of the top candidates to win the Coach of the Year award.
Mosely is coaching a winning team despite injuries
In the NBA, some things, like injuries, are just out of a coach’s control. No coach can control who suffers an injury or when, but they can control how they and their team react. Mosley has proven this season that that matters almost as much as which players are available.
The Magic have been unable to escape the injury bug all season long. First, Paolo Banchero went down after just five games. Then, Franz Wagner suffered the same injury and will be out until February at the least, and Mo Wagner tore his ACL, missing the rest of the season. On top of that, Jalen Suggs strained his back, Gary Harris has only played 20 games, Anthony Black missed some time recently, Tristan da Silva had to leave the Magic’s latest game after just one minute, and Goga Bitadze after 12 minutes.
Losing Banchero and Wagner alone could have been enough to send the Magic into a downward spiral, but Mosley’s team persevered. With a 23-18 record, the Magic are still fourth in the Eastern Conference, defying all odds. The fact that they keep winning speaks to how well Jamahl Mosley can motivate his players, how well the team’s grit and toughness hold up even under pressure, and how well-prepared even players who usually do not get a lot of minutes are.
No game exemplifies that more than the Magic’s latest win over the Philadelphia 76ers. With Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Mo Wagner, and Gary Harris out, and Tristan da Silva and Goga Bitadze leaving the game, the Magic were down to eight healthy players and only one of their regular starters. Nevertheless, they never gave up and got the win, further proving how well Mosley has prepared his team to succeed even when the odds are against them.
Winning matters for the Coach of the Year award, but winning under the circumstances Mosley had to deal with all season long means more than doing it with a healthy team. Considering what he has done with a depleted, injury-ridden team, Mosley should once again be one of the top candidates to win the award. He has some tough competition, though. Kenny Atkinson, who currently has the Cavaliers off to a 33-5 start and seemingly fixed any issues concerning the big four of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley, is currently the favorite to win the award.
Even if he is not the favorite at the moment, Mosley is staking his claim as one of the top coaches in the league this season by leading his team to wins without several key players.