Whenever the Magic officially introduce San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Sean Sweeney as their next head coach, the long-time assistant will become the 16th head coach in Orlando franchise history.
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The news first broke Friday that the Magic were finalizing an agreement to hire Sweeney, who’s spent this season as associate head coach in San Antonio under Mitch Johnson.
The Magic officially declined to comment on the matter, but a league source confirmed the deal with Sweeney. Orlando’s job became vacant May 4 when Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman dismissed Jamahl Mosley after five seasons and three straight first-round playoff exits.
Candidates included Billy Donovan and Jeff Van Gundy, but ESPN reported that Sweeney “blew Orlando away during his interview process and meeting with ownership Wednesday in San Antonio.”
Sweeney is expected to remain with the Spurs throughout the rest of the postseason. San Antonio is taking defending champion Oklahoma City to the limit in the Western Conference Finals with Saturday’s deciding Game 7. The winner will play the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals starting Wednesday at the West champ.
Here are five things to know about Sweeney:
He’s got a creative mind
Although Johnson coached 77 regular season games in 2024-25 after Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich suffered a stroke in November 2024, this season was Johnson’s first as the full-time head coach in San Antonio.
When putting together his own coaching staff, Johnson poached Sweeney from Dallas, where he served as an assistant coach with the Mavericks for four seasons (2021-25).
The two didn’t know each other personally but it didn’t take Johnson long to realize he’d hire Sweeney.
“I just took a liking to his ability to articulate his basketball philosophy and what he thought about,” Johnson said about Sweeney in a story at twincities.com. “Whether it was just the game and NBA coaching in general — in terms of competitiveness and how hard you should coach and holding guys accountable. But also the modern, creative part and thinking outside the box.”
“I’ve really enjoyed his honesty; I’ve enjoyed his competitiveness,” Johnson added.
NBA superstars respect him
Sweeney has spent this season working closely with Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, but he’s coached countless other standout players.
The list includes Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin.
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Here’s what Griffin told The Athletic about Sweeney in 2018: “Immediately, you notice that he’s just a basketball guy, through and through. But what I think he does really, really well is he teaches the game.”
Griffin added: “In our film breakdowns, he does as good, or better, than any coach I’ve ever had, as far as progressing through a film clip, asking guys questions, and making sure guys are engaged and involved throughout the whole film sessions. Also, he does a really good job of setting a game plan and having grounded principles.”
Sweeney was almost hired elsewhere
The Magic weren’t the only team interested in Sweeney this coaching cycle.
He was considered a “prime candidate” for the Chicago Bulls’ opening and also was in the mix for the Portland Trail Blazers job. Before the Pelicans hired Mosley, Sweeney was mentioned in that search as well, according to The Athletic.
In the past two years alone, Sweeney was reportedly considered a finalist for the top coaching job with the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns.
He’s been an acting head coach
Although he’ll become a full-time NBA head coach for the first time in his career with the Magic, Sweeney has served as acting head coach twice before in Dallas.
First, he coached four games in January 2022 when then-Mavericks coach Jason Kidd entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols that were put in place during the 2020 pandemic. Winning his first game as acting head coach Jan. 7, 2022, at Houston, Sweeney went 3-1 in that brief stretch of games.
He later coached one game that Dallas dropped at Denver in early-November 2023 when Kidd dealt with a non-COVID illness.
Sweeney has also coached summer league squads for various franchises throughout his career. He’s joked in the past he may “have coached the most games in summer-league history.”
As early as July 2014, Kidd said Sweeney had “the tools that he’s going to be a head coach in this league,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Sweeney was a baller in college
Before he got into coaching, Sweeney played one season at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay before transferring to the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul).
Sweeney was the starting point guard all three of his years at St. Thomas and won All-Conference recognition in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as a junior and senior (2004-06).
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He led the MIAC in total assists and assist-to-turnover ratio for two years.
Jason Beede can be reached at [email protected]