Jamahl Mosley set a milestone amid turbulent season

Not every record breaking deserves a parade, but any time the Orlando Magic's franchise record book is rewritten, we should at least take a moment to acknowledge the accomplishment.

Jamahl Mosley is now the 3rd-winningest Coach in Orlando Magic history.

With the basketball gods pulling the strings, Orlando's current head coach poetically surpassed former Magic coach of the year Doc Rivers for this 3rd place ranking in a win over Doc's current team, the Milwaukee Bucks.

Fun Fact of the Day directly from Orlando Magic Writer Dan Savage – "With Monday’s 118-99 victory over Milwaukee, Mosley moves into 3rd place on the Magic’s all-time coaching wins list with 172.

Brian Hill (267) and Stan Van Gundy (259) are now the only coaches ahead of him. Coincidentally, Mosley passed Rivers (171) on this list with the victory over the former Orlando head coach."

Jamahl Mosley on how his offensive principles of playing with Pace, Space, and the Pass have evolved since his first year as @OrlandoMagic Head Coach and how this year's team can best embody those goals @SwishTheory pic.twitter.com/rcjBTSN8IF
— Ryan Kaminski NBA (@beyondtheRK) September 29, 2025

Jamahl Mosley's First Five Seasons

Paolo backs down — Feb 11, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) drives against Milwaukee Bucks guard AJ Green (20) during the second half at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Taking over a team in a rebuilding situation as your first head coaching job is an uphill battle.

Coach Mosley knew as soon as he took this Magic job that his W-L record would not come out looking as clean as say Steve Kerr walking into the playoff-experienced Warriors.

Five seasons in, Jamahl has a 172-209 W-L record; considering the first year started with 60 losses with 20 wins, with loads of relevant key injuries sprinkled in since, that's impressive in its own right.

Doc Rivers famously coached the heart-and-hustle Magic team to a .500 record despite no expectations, creating enough buzz to help build the culture that drew in free agent stars Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill.

Doc reached his Win total in the same amount of seasons as Jamahl if we count the 1-10 season start that ended abruptly after 11 games, though we should also note that Mosley won more games in 2024 with Franz and Paolo (47 Wins), than Doc ever did with McGrady (44 Wins), and both have gotten just as far in the playoffs - Game 7 of Round 1.

Even in a business that comes down to results of wins and losses, it can be a good process of foundation-building during the down years that is what teams end up relying on during the up years.

A former player development and assistant coach in Denver and Dallas for over fifteen years, and a former pro player in his own right, Jamahl Mosley has racked up a lifetime of experience in the huddle before he even arrived to Orlando.

Jamahl has seen what it takes to win and seen the development journey up close for stars as talented as Carmelo Anthony and Luka Doncic who continue working on their game even after 'making it'.

The Magic's front office were wise to take a chance on coach Mosley, who was a coveted name around Dallas after Indiana poached the Mavs former head honcho in Rick Carlisle.

Jamahl was ready, excited, and prepared to build winning habits for a young Orlando roster that would only continue to add young talent in need of early career development.

Mosley has done just that, establishing a playoff team with a contending-level defense that scores 3 points the old fashioned way – AND1s at the rim.

As expectations rise for Orlando from a prickly upstart to a startup that may implode if it doesn't find a second round of funding, fans and outsiders should try to keep that rise in perspective.

Orlando was drifting in the abyss before it finally blew up the roster and found the right coach to set the tone; The Magic Standard of hustling hard every night, every quarter, every possession has been set ever since.

The ups have been as good as basketball gets.

With no expectations to weigh down the good vibes, Orlando charged up the standings in 2024, where Jamahl Mosley not only won his lone Coach of the Month award, but finished 2nd in a competitive Coach of the Year race behind Oklahoma City Thunder Coach, Mark Daigneault.

Mosley has helped develop Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr. into one of the league's premier team defenses as each of them improved individually as downhill drive-and-kick decision-makers and play-finishers.

He's given opportunity to every prospect, veteran, and role player who has earned that chance in practice, preaching the importance of staying ready for your moment in a sport where you never know where they'll come.

The lean years, though, are coming to an end; the front office made the big trade. The fans expectations have been set. The ownership tends to want a competitive product and is probably at the tail end of patience for any more rebuilding.

Orlando is ready to win, and ready to win now.

As Coach Mosley juggles these new expectations, a rotating rotation, and more injuries to key players, everyone involved should have patience as this new team establishes its new identity.

Before the season, I asked Coach Mosley how his team principles have changed since his arrival, where he emphasized playing with 'pace, space, and the pass,' on top of a defensive identity; Jamahl pointed out that the defense has become elite, and the next frontier for this team isconverting baskets off the turnovers the defense creates, turning that defense into more offense.

Having the defense that we had this past year, being #2 in the league, but also, being able to convert on the other end.

A lot of it we talked about was shooting, and spacing the floor that way. We did have a lot of open looks.

The other side of it is, once you get a stop, you have to convert on the other end.
Jamahl Mosley

Did you know that Mosley's 2024-25 Orlando Magic team had the 3rd-best relative team defense in the franchise's history, despite only winning half their games?

Orlando's identity to this point has been built on defensive principles, rebounding, and forcing turnovers; will this next era of Magic basketball unleash a lethal modern offensive attack on top of those defensive foundations?

The shooting gravity and spacing Orlando creates with its mix of ball-handling shot-creating stars in Suggs, Bane, Black, Wagner, and Banchero, whether they play all in one lineup or are staggered throughout the game, is a dynamic combination of talent, feel, and skills the Magic can't use enough.

The Magic have reached a point in their ascension where its time to take the next step; on paper and when healthy on the court, this team is clearly in the upper-echelon in both promising futures and win-now two-way impact, its time they get the most out of their best players and build an offensive force combining to a sum greater than their parts; Orlando's small-ball option and depth of connective play-finishers could create a fire storm so chaotic, the opponents will be the ones who are forced to respond.

Instead of the Magic worrying about matching up with others, Orlando could start to create the mismatches it wants right out of the gates.

It's time for the Magic to punch first.

If Monday night's three-and-a-half minute fourth quarter small-ball sequence is a trailer of what's to come, the future of the Magic might just be a movie.

As Magic fans eagerly anticipate that movie's release, we should take a moment to appreciate the director who put all the stars and actors in that movie in the best spot to succeed.

Jamahl Mosley is now 3rd All-Time in Orlando Magic wins, and its only up from here.