The Orlando Magic's playoff upset could reshuffle coaching dominoes, influencing the New Orleans Pelicans' pursuit of a proven, yet potentially available, leader.
The Orlando Magic are currently on a hot streak and on the verge of pulling off a major upset over the Detroit Pistons, with a 3-1 lead in the opening round of the 2026 NBA playoffs. This could have a surprising effect on the New Orleans Pelicans' search for their next head coach.
Though it has less weight behind it, because he still has a job, Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley has long been rumored to be very popular within the Pelicans' front office and would be a front-end candidate for the job in New Orleans if he were to be fired by Orlando.
The Magic were expected to be a quick exit in the playoffs, showing that they need to make some major shifts in order to turn into a true contender. Orlando would move on from Mosley and see if he was the thing keeping their team from taking that next step.
When the Magic are on, they are a hard team to beat, though. They have certainly been on to start this series. The Pistons were a 60-win team this season. While they are young and fairly inexperienced, they were expected to at least cruise past an up-and-down Orlando team.
If the Magic win this series and even potentially keep winning, it could cause Orlando to think twice about moving on from Mosley. He's been their head coach since 2021. It hasn't always been pretty, but he's formed this core that has looked exciting at different times. They've made the playoffs in each of the last three years, and this would be their first series win.
Mosley does make sense as a potential target for this team, as they would be able to skip most of the rebuilding years and see what he can do with a team built with hopes of winning right away. While not always consistent, he does have the Magic looking dominant at times.
He has also kept the team afloat and competitive throughout his stars not having the best medical history, which could come in handy for the Pelicans if their injury luck does not improve.
Perhaps Orlando has already made up its mind and they still plan to fire him whether or not they win this series, but even then the added time in the post and away from being interviewed could cause New Orleans to move on to other candidates in order to finally make a choice.