Magic finalizing agreement to hire Spurs assistant Sean Sweeney as new coach

Jason Beede, Orlando Sentinel on May 29, 2026

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ORLANDO, Fla. — The Magic are nearing the end of their search for Orlando‘s next head coach.

The Magic are finalizing an agreement to hire San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Sean Sweeney, a league source confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel on Friday afternoon.

The team officially declined to comment. ESPN first reported Orlando’s plans to hire Sweeney.

Candidates had included Billy Donovan and Jeff Van Gundy, but Sweeney rose to the top of the list for Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman, who dismissed Jamahl Mosley after five years on May 4.

Sweeney, 41, is set to become an NBA head coach for the first time in his career. Currently in his first season as associate head coach for the Spurs under coach Mitch Johnson, Sweeney was previously an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks for four seasons (2021-25).

No. 2 San Antonio enters Saturday’s Game 7 of the Western Conference finals tied 3-3 with the defending champions and top-seeded Thunder. Sweeney will finish the remainder of the postseason with the Spurs should they advance to the NBA Finals, according to ESPN.

NBA writer Marc Stein of The Stein Line reported that Magic officials flew to San Antonio earlier in the Western Conference finals to meet with Sweeney, a native of St. Paul, Minn., for the job.

Magic guard Jalen Suggs, a fellow St. Paul native, reacted on social media by describing the hire as a “full circle moment.”

Before his tenure in Dallas, Sweeney spent three seasons as an assistant with the Detroit Pistons from 2018-21, following a four-year stint with the Milwaukee Bucks in the same role from 2014-18. He began his NBA career with the Brooklyn Nets in 2011, starting as a video coordinator before transitioning to an assistant coaching position for the 2013-14 season.

In comparison, both Donovan and Van Gundy have years of experience as an NBA head coach. Donovan has done it twice; the past six seasons with the Chicago Bulls and previously five years with the Oklahoma City Thunder (2015-2020).

Meanwhile, Jeff Van Gundy, the brother of former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, last served as an NBA head coach in 2007 after he led the Houston Rockets to three playoff appearances in four seasons.

He returned to coaching ahead of the 2024-25 season as an assistant coach for the Clippers after 16 years as a color commentator for ESPN, a stretch that included working 15 NBA Finals. An assistant coach for New York from 1989-1996, Van Gundy later served as head coach of the Knicks from 1996-2001.

Sweeney, however, is considered one of the league’s top assistants and has been at the center of the Spurs’ defensive turnaround this season.

In 2024-25 before Sweeney joined the Spurs, the team’s regular-season defensive rating (116.3) ranked 25th league-wide, according to NBA.com. This season with Sweeney on staff, San Antonio’s defensive rating (110.4) rose to third in the league, with Spurs star Victor Wembanyama winning NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

“He’s been great for us,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle recently said about Sweeney. “One of the main reasons why we’re one of the top defenses in the league.

“I just think his attention to detail on everything and the way he can explain things to make it make sense for us, where he puts guys on the spots, and helping us out with tendencies and what guys like to do,” Castle added.

Wembanyama is far from the first star player Sweeney has coached. He’s worked directly with Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee, Blake Griffin in Detroit and Luka Doncic in Dallas.

The Magic weren’t the only NBA team interested in Sweeney, either. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line recently reported Sweeney was viewed as a “prime candidate” for the Chicago job, which opened in April after Donovan stepped down.

Hiring Sweeney is a familiar move for Weltman. When Mosley arrived to Orlando in 2021, he, too, was a first-time defensive-minded head coach that previously worked in Texas.

Mosley was fired after five years and three consecutive first-round exits in the playoffs with Orlando. He was hired by the New Orleans Pelicans just two weeks after being let go by the Magic.

In college, Sweeney played one season at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay before transferring to the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul), where he was a three-year starter.

Sweeney’s early career included collegiate stops as video coordinator for the University of Northern Iowa, director of basketball operations at the University of Evansville and assistant coaching stints at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and the Academy of Art University.