Sandro Mamukelashvili is only getting started in purple and gold, but the Lakers already seem to know exactly what they have in him.
The 27-year-old big man is heading into his first season with Los Angeles and his sixth year in the league after the Lakers handed him a four-year deal. Through the preseason, he has looked like one of the team’s most productive players, and that early impact has come with something just as important: real trust from the guys around him.
Mamukelashvili said that belief matters to his game, because it lets him play the way he’s wired to play.
That confidence showed up publicly on Sunday, when Austin Reaves called attention to Mamukelashvili’s “high basketball IQ” during practice. For a player whose value comes from more than just scoring, that kind of recognition carries weight.
Mamukelashvili has brought the Lakers a little bit of everything - playmaking, floor spacing and a kind of athletic looseness that gives the frontcourt a different look. He flashed that side against the Warriors on Tuesday, when he finished a reserve dunk with a reverse flush that turned heads.
There’s also a shooting profile here that makes him more than just a connector piece. Mamukelashvili has grown into a dependable, high-volume threat from deep, coming off a career-best 3.7 three-point attempts per game last season and knocking down 1.4 of them at a 38.9% clip.
At 6-foot-9, he’s positioned to give the Lakers versatility in the frontcourt while supplying scoring off the bench. And with his decision-making and full-court passing, he also fits the transition game in a way that gives Los Angeles another layer when the pace picks up.
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