Lakers rent former Virginia coach Tony Bennett as NBA Draft advisor

The Los Angeles Lakers introduced the rent of former Virginia coach Tony Bennett as an NBA Draft advisor, as the previous nationwide championship successful coach will lend his eye for school expertise to assist common supervisor Rob Pelinka because the Lakers create their large board for the 2026 NBA Draft. 

The Lakers are coming into a brand new period underneath the possession of Mark Walter, and with that there was extra of an funding in bringing in outdoors voices. Underneath Jeanie Buss, the Lakers had a a lot smaller operation the place they leaned on these inside Buss’ circle of belief. Whether or not Bennett’s arrival comes on the particular request of Walter, or just a part of a better willingness to develop the operation, he’ll present the Lakers with a singular perspective on scouting on the faculty stage. 

Bennett’s new place as an advisor with the Lakers is his first official position with a basketball workforce since his stunning retirement at 55 years previous previous to the 2025 season. 

Bennett coached at Virginia from 2009-2024, main the Cavaliers to a 364-136 general file with two ACC match titles, six ACC common season titles, 10 NCAA Event appearances and a nationwide championship in 2019. Bennett’s Virginia program produced 5 first spherical picks — Justin Anderson, Ty Jerome, De’Andre Hunter, Trey Murphy III and Ryan Dunn — and he additionally coached Klay Thompson at Washington State previous to leaving for Virginia. 

The Lakers maintain their very own first spherical choose and haven’t had large success within the draft lately. A few of that is because of them not having first spherical picks in 2025 and 2022 attributable to trades, however in 2023 and 2024 they took Jalen Hood-Schifino and Dalton Knecht — each chosen at No. 17 general — and neither positively impacted the Lakers rotation. 

With Luka Dončić as the brand new star L.A. is attempting to construct round and a cap sheet that may clear up tremendously over the following two years, the Lakers can be seeking to lastly hit on their first spherical choose in 2026 and get a cost-controlled rotation piece so as to add to their core. They may lean on Bennett’s eye for the school recreation to try to have higher success with their choose this 12 months, as their lack of picks in 2027 and 2029 makes it much more crucial to hit on this 12 months’s alternative in a robust draft class.