Lakers have painfully obvious trade target after Tony Bennett hire

The extra financial aid brought by Mark Walter is starting to show its value already after the Los Angeles Lakers added a boost to the front office on Wednesday. The Lakers announced Tony Bennett was joining the franchise. His title? NBA Draft Advisor.

For those less familiar with Bennett, the newest front office member of the Lakers served as a head coach at the collegiate level for 18 seasons. There is one stop on that journey that will immediately be of interest to fans in Los Angeles — Virginia.

As pointed out by Maxwell Ogden here, Bennett has sent 11 players to the NBA during his time as a coach. His program with the Virginia Cavaliers produced five of those, including a name the Lakers had been linked to before the trade deadline. That would be Trey Murphy III.

Most will remember that consistent rumor mill reporting suggested the New Orleans Pelicans had an astronomical trade price for their sharpshooting wing. If Joe Dumars decides to be a little more reasonable during the summer, perhaps the Lakers pick up the phone again.

Reuniting Tony Bennett with Trey Murphy III would be a Lakers dream

Selling the idea of Murphy being a terrific addition to the Lakers is not difficult. The Pelicans wing can perfectly slide in for pretty much any team in the NBA. Even so, he'd be a particularly attractive addition for Los Angeles.

The Lakers have craved shooting all year. Murphy is shooting 37.8 percent from beyond the arc this season and is a career 38.2 percent marksman overall. You can probably hear Luka Doncic screaming 'yes please' off in the distance somewhere.

Murphy's offensive arsenal goes beyond just his shooting ability. The Pelicans forward would not be averaging a career-high 22.1 points per game in 2025-26 on that alone. However, considering that is where over half of his shot diet is coming from, it is his strongest selling point — especially to the Lakers offense.

While Murphy is not as capable of a defender as his teammate Herb Jones, the Pelicans starter has proven capable of performing well on that end when dialed-in. The athleticism alone would be a boost over a lot of what the Lakers have to work with now.

The real discussion here comes from whether the Lakers can muster up enough draft capital and assets to make any deal worth the Pelicans' time. They will have added first-round picks to work with in potential trades.

It would be hilariously contradictory to what Bennett was brought in for to get rid of those. However, one would imagine he would not be too upset with seeing a familiar face around the building.