Before he’s officially introduced as the next head coach of the Magic, Spurs assistant coach Sean Sweeney will have an opportunity to help San Antonio capture a championship.

Sweeney and the Spurs pulled off an impressive victory on the road in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals at defending champion Oklahoma City on Saturday night, sending San Antonio back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014.

The Spurs, who will have homecourt advantage in the best-of-seven series that opens Wednesday night on ABC, will face the Knicks in a rematch of the 1999 Finals, which San Antonio won to secure its first championship.

For Sweeney, it’s his second trip to the Finals. His first came in 2024 when he served as the lead assistant for then-Dallas coach Jason Kidd and the Mavericks, who lost to the Celtics in five games that June.

While a league source confirmed Friday that Orlando plans to hire Sweeney as coach, the Magic haven’t yet announced a deal.

Although Sweeney will remain with the Spurs throughout the Finals before he makes his way to Orlando, San Antonio made it clear they’re happy for the longtime assistant to get his first chance at leading his own team.

“Thrilled for Sean. He deserves it,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Saturday before the Spurs took down the Thunder in Game 7. “He’s had many opportunities of potentially becoming a head coach and so it was a matter of when, not if, even when I reached out to him to speak with him for the first time.”

Johnson hired Sweeney away from Dallas to join him for his first full season as coach of the Spurs.

And San Antonio’s defense improved mightily with Sweeney on staff — even if it was for just one 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 serving as associate head coach, 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 honors.

Wembanyama, who scored 22 points with seven rebounds in Game 7, became the first player in NBA history with 15-plus three-pointers made and 15-plus blocks in a playoff series, according to ESPN.

“Definitely happy for him,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell said Saturday about Sweeney. “The impact that he’s had here has been tremendous. I mean, he’s challenged everybody to be better on the defensive end. He’s holding us to a certain standard. I wish him all the luck.”

Sweeney began his NBA career as a video coordinator for the then-New Jersey Nets (2011-13), and has since served as an assistant coach with the Nets (2013-14), Milwaukee (2014-18), Detroit (2018-21), Dallas (2021-25) and this year with San Antonio.

A defensive guru who’s done just about everything as an assistant in the league, Sweeney has been credited by multiple Spurs players, including Wembanyama, as a big reason why San Antonio has become one of the NBA’s elite defensive teams.

“Happy for Orlando, and happy for us as he’s in the Eastern Conference,” Johnson said. “But thrilled for Sean. I think it’s a really good situation.

“I know some people over there; it’s going to be a really good fit and well-deserved and very happy for him.”

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