Magic’s Weltman Discusses Deadline, Injuries, Mosley, More

The Magic were projected to be among the contending teams in the Eastern Conference this season, but they’ve had an up-and-down year and currently sit in play-in territory at 26-24. Speaking on Thursday to reporters, including Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required), president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman acknowledged that he’s not satisfied with the season to this point.

“I don’t like the state of the team right now,” Weltman said. “We’re not playing well and I think it’s been a little while that we haven’t been playing well. I would imagine our fans our frustrated by the way we’re playing and I’m frustrated with them. I remain optimistic about the rest of the season and it’s on us to turn this thing around. There’s still over a third of the season left and we’re right in the thick of the race. We’ve got to get it done.”

Weltman could’ve taken a swing at the trade deadline in an effort to upgrade the roster, but the Magic gave up most of their most valuable draft assets in last summer’s deal for Desmond Bane. Their only move at this year’s deadline was trading point guard Tyus Jones and his $7MM expiring contract to Charlotte in order to get below the luxury tax line.

Weltman said the relatively quietly deadline wasn’t a result of a lack of aggressiveness, but that he and the front office didn’t want to make a move just for the sake of making the move. The veteran executive also pointed out that making any sort of meaningful trade would likely require breaking up Orlando’s core of Jalen Suggs, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr., and Bane, which the club isn’t looking to do.

“That core has been excellent when it’s been on the floor together,” Weltman said. “… So, for us to break up that core, it’s going to have to be a significant move. I will tell you, we had some substantive talks that I thought could have gone somewhere. Obviously they did not, they didn’t materialize but it wasn’t for a lack of pushing, for a lack of urgency. Our mission is to improve this team. We’re never taking a day off from that.”

Here are a few more notable quotes from Weltman, via Beede:

On the Magic’s recurring injury issues, which have carried over from last season to this one:

“It’s concerning. Every team has injuries, but it’s having these prolonged injuries. All I can say is, these are soft tissue injuries. What can you say? It’s the NBA and this is what happens sometimes. I do feel like we’re a little bit ‘Groundhog Day,’ with this season. The only thing is, I also think we’re better this year because we added Desmond Bane. So, I hate to keep saying it, but when this team has been healthy, it’s been really good.”

On whether Jamahl Mosley’s head coaching job is safe for the rest of the season:
(Orlando Sentinel story)

“Organizationally … Jamahl has our full support. And Jamahl’s our coach for the rest of the season. So, it’s not a matter of like — I know there’s a lot of chatter out there and stuff — it’s not one person. This is a basketball team, it’s a basketball organization and it’s a group effort. We’ve got to get better.

“I can tell you one thing, I know Mose is going home every night looking (at) himself in the mirror and not sleeping and trying to figure out how to do this thing and how to get us back on track. And I know the players are doing the same thing. There’s a lot of people that are frustrated and they care greatly about this. We feel the weight of the fans’ frustration. Let me say that. When I hear a lack of urgency or this and that, it’s like … I don’t sleep. I mean, we’ve got to get this thing right. And I’m confident that we will.”

On why 2024 addition Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and 2025 addition Jones saw their shooting percentages plummet in Orlando:
(Twitter link via Beede)

“We spent a lot of time on that. I don’t have an answer for that. … A lot of shooting, I say, comes from what kind of shots you can generate, for our team, through your defense and then roster stability, lineup stability. When you have the kind of crazy amount of lineups that we’ve had over the last couple of years through all these injuries, and then this year with the drop in our defensive effectiveness, I think those things feed in and they contribute.

“But I wish I had a better answer than that for you because at the end of the day, shooters got to make shots and… I don’t know why. I think some of those first two factors contribute to that. Tyus is a good shooter, he’s a good player. It just didn’t fit here.”