Magic not hiring Penny Hardaway as head coach

Former Magic star Penny Hardaway became the hot name in Orlando’s coaching search.

But he announced he’ll remain head coach at University of Memphis.

Hardaway:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQuV8SKphxz/

One day, in the future, I would love to coach in the NBA. And wouldn’t it be great if it were the Orlando Magic? But today isn’t that day.

Based on reporting prior to Hardaway’s announcement, this sounds like the Magic’s choice.

Geoff Calkins of the Daily Memphian:

Last night, I talked to two people – one on the Memphis side of things who said he thought there was a 75 percent chance that Penny would stay and then an NBA person who basically said that they didn’t think Penny was going to be getting an offer from Orlando. And indeed, I was on my radio show recently, this morning, and I was talking to Gary Parrish, who’s also plugged into the world of college basketball. And he happened to get a text as he was talking to me, and the text said – Gary said from someone who would know – that Penny is not a real candidate. By that, didn’t mean that he was never a real candidate or that it wasn’t real that he interviewed and did well or whatever. But when push comes to shove, he is not going to get the job.

The Magic will move on with a search that has already included Suns assistant Willie Green, Bucks assistant Charles Lee, Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr., Spurs assistant Becky Hammon, former Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley and incumbent Orlando assistants Tyrone Corbin, Pat Delany and Steve Hetzel.

Hardaway, meanwhile, will move on with former longtime NBA coach Larry Brown joining his staff at Memphis.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports:

Sources: Memphis' Penny Hardaway will hire Hall-of-Famer Larry Brown as an assistant coach.

Official announcement is expected this week.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 30, 2021