Feb. 25, 2026, 6:59 p.m. PT
The Los Angeles Lakers continue to hire new people to important front-office roles under Mark Walter’s new ownership regime. Shortly after Walter officially purchased a majority share of the franchise, Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi were brought in from the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team Walter has owned since 2012, to serve in advisory roles.
Lon Rosen, who has been with the Dodgers since 2012, will be the Lakers’ new president of business operations. Now, the Lakers have reportedly hired Tony Bennett to be their NBA Draft advisor.
Via ESPN:
“Former Virginia coach Tony Bennett, a two-time national coach of the year, joined the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday as NBA draft adviser to president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka.
“Bennett was Virginia’s coach from 2009-24 and guided the Cavaliers to the 2019 national championship. Bennett compiled a 364-136 record at Virginia.”
Pelinka gave a statement about this new hire.
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“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,” Pelinka said in a statement.
“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.”
Bennett, 56, coached Washington State University from 2006 to 2009 before making his way to the University of Virginia. He earned the Henry Iba Award in 2007, 2015 and 2018, as well as the AP National Coach of the Year award in 2007 and 2018.
In a previous life, Bennett played three seasons in the NBA with the Charlotte Hornets.
His vast experience as a college coach should help the Lakers do a better job of drafting potential studs. While they have hit on low draft picks over the past decade or so, their last few first-round draft picks have been disappointments. In 2023, they took guard Jalen Hood-Schifino with the No. 17 pick, and he turned into a bust. A year later, they selected sharpshooter Dalton Knecht at No. 17, and while the jury is still out on him, an increasing number of people are branding him as a bust.
Los Angeles will have its own first-round pick in this June’s draft.