Top Mavericks assistants are quickly rising in the NBA ranks as head coaches.
Former Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Jamahl Mosley was hired by the New Orleans Pelicans this week to be the team's next head coach.
Mosley, who was on Rick Carlisle's staff in Dallas from 2014-2021, was fired by the Orlando Magic after his first head coaching gig lasted five seasons (2021-2026).
He now returns to the Southwest division with an opportunity to build on a young core that features former No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson. It's an opportunity very similar to when he joined the Magic.
Mosley guided a core of Paolo Banchero, the top draft pick in 2022, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, and Anthony Black to three playoff berths in the last three years. In the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, the Magic finished first in the Southeast division...
But the team lost in the first round in each of their three playoff appearances. Despite going 45-37, two wins from his best winning percentage as a head coach, Mosley's No. 8-seeded Magic fell in seven games to the Eastern Conference's top seed, Detroit Pistons.
The past two seasons saw Orlando lose 4-1 as the No. 7 seed to the No. 2 Boston Celtics (last year) and fall as the No. 5 seed to the No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers 4-3 (2023-24) in the first round.
Mosley was widely considered one of the top assistant coaches in the league with Dallas under Carlisle. When the Mavs hired Jason Kidd in 2021, Mosley was a hot candidate to earn his first head coaching job.
His success in bringing the Magic back into the East playoff picture was notable. After a stretch of poor seasons in New Orleans, he now has an opportunity to replicate that.
And he likely won't be the only former Mavs assistant to soon become a head coach.
Other Recent Mavericks Assistants Rising Coaching Ranks
Sean Sweeney was Kidd's top assistant for the first four years of his stint in Dallas, taking over the defensive coordinator duties of Mosley with Kidd, a Hall of Fame point guard in his playing days, handling an offensive focus.
Like Mosley, Sweeney's reputation grew with the Mavericks, though it didn't take a head coaching change to lead him to a relocation.
Sweeney joined the San Antonio Spurs' staff this season to be an associate head coach under Mitch Johnson, who has fully taken over the organization from Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich.
Of course, Sweeney's departure wasn't the only major alteration to the Mavs' personnel over the last two seasons ... the their record this season serves as a proof of how that's going.
But in San Antonio, the pair of Johnson and Sweeney have the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals after convincing wins over the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves.
That success is largely thanks to Sweeney, the architect of arguably the NBA's best defense, starring the NBA's first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, Victor Wembanyama.
Of the Spurs' major pieces, there isn't one who is a defensive liability. They'll be running into a tough test in the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West Finals this week, but San Antonio's strides this year, winning 62 games and posting the third-best defensive rating in the regular season, has Sweeney as an obvious next candidate to become a first-time head coach very soon.
Another example of such candidate - who, of course, has ties with the Mavericks - is Jared Dudley.
The 14-year NBA vet joined also came to Dallas in 2021 as Kidd formed a staff from connections he had made while with the Los Angeles Lakers during their COVID-bubble championship.
Dudley, however, became a Mavs assistant as soon as his playing career came to an end. He immediately became a front-row assistant under Kidd, and his quick rise is apparent by his promotion this offseason.
After being in Dallas from 2021-25, Dudley became new boss David Adelman's top assistant in his first year leading the Denver Nuggets, who were the No. 3 seed in the West but lost in six games to Minnesota.
Dudley has reportedly met with the Trail Blazers about their head coaching vacancy. Portland was led much of this season by interim Tiago Splitter after former head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested for his involvement in an underground gambling scheme.
Though Splitter brought Portland to the playoffs, the organization is still expected to conduct a formal search for their next permanent head coach as the franchise undergoes a change in ownership.
