Lakers hire former Virginia coach Tony Bennett as NBA Draft adviser

The Los Angeles Lakers have begun rebuilding their college scouting department, hiring former Virginia coach Tony Bennett as an NBA Draft adviser, the Lakers announced Wednesday.

“We’re thrilled and honored to welcome Tony as an adviser to the Lakers basketball operations department,” president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said in a statement. “As we refine and build out our NBA draft and scouting processes, we could think of no better basketball mind than Tony Bennett to have as a resource.

“Tony’s track record of forming culture, with high-character, high-skill and high-IQ players is revered and respected across all basketball circles. Tony will be an incredible asset to our basketball leadership, to our scouts and to our draft department as a whole. We are truly excited.”

In November, the Lakers fired Jesse Buss from his role as assistant general manager and four of the college scouts reporting to him.

Bennett, a team source said, will not be leading the Lakers’ draft room or scouting. Instead, Bennett’s experience in finding players who possess toughness, energy and IQ will aid in the Lakers’ search as they restock an empty-ish cupboard of young talent.

The draft, which helped the Lakers build the assets to acquire Anthony Davis from New Orleans in 2019, has gone cold for the organization in recent years. Austin Reaves was an undrafted gem, and second-round pick Max Christie has become one of the NBA’s better young three-and-D guards. However, middle of the first-round picks Jalen Hood-Schifino and Dalton Knecht have been misses for Pelinka’s front office, and 2025 second-round selection Bronny James and 2026 rookie Adou Thiero have yet to make any real impact.

In Bennett, the Lakers add an experienced, championship-winning NCAA head coach who resigned before last season, citing the evolving college basketball environment, which shifted to athletes being paid to play for their universities.

“When Rob and I began talking, what stood out to me was the chance to help out such a storied organization,” Bennett said in a statement. “The Lakers carry a tradition that speaks for itself, so to be connected to it and assist Rob and the Lakers in any way I can is exciting.”

Bennett is the first basketball operations hire since Mark Walter closed his purchase of the Lakers in October. Monday, Lon Rosen, the new president of business operations, said Pelinka will be empowered to make basketball decisions as the Lakers enter a critical offseason with significant cap space in their first major opportunity to build an optimized roster around Luka Dončić.

The plan, according to Pelinka and sources, is for the Lakers to expand its front office around the president of basketball operations by reforming its college scouting staff, building a modern pro scouting department and adding to its existing analytics department. The goal is to mirror the Los Angeles Dodgers’ successful front office, which has mastered player identification and development, in addition to working with a seemingly unlimited payroll.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and special advisor Farhan Zaidi have been consulting with the Lakers and Pelinka.