Raptors, Mamukelashvili ready to control their luck this year
When Sandro Mamukelashvili signed with the Toronto Raptors this summer, both sides were hoping for the same thing: for their luck to change.
For Toronto, the two-year, $5.3 million deal represented an opportunity to buck a trend of bargain-bin players accomplishing very little north of the border. Proving that while sifting through clearance racks is a fun pastime, more often than not, you get what you paid — not much — for.
Just take a look at some of the Raptors’ most recent low-budget signings:
- *Garrett Temple: one year, $3.2 million (2023), one year, $3.3 million (2024), one year $3.6 million (2025)
- *Juancho Hernangomez: one year, $2.3 million (2022)
- *Svi Mykhailiuk: two years, $3.6 million (2021)
- *DeAndre’ Bembry: two years, $3.7 million (2020)
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson: one year, 2.5 million (2019)
- Stanley Johnson: two years, $7.4 million (2019)
*minimum contracts
Only Temple and Johnson stuck around longer than a season. I won’t pain anyone by listing the many somewhat higher-budget signings but most of them were also swing-and-misses (looking at you, Jalen McDaniels). Yet in most instances, it’s no harm, no foul — an end-of-bench addition with little expectations of seeing the floor. But that’s not the case this time. Or at least, that’s where the front office is hoping luck says otherwise.
The Raptors are spending over 100 per cent of the salary cap ($154.6 million, per Spotrac) on their starting five ($156.5 million) this season, leaving them few options to improve upon the margins — the draft and minimum contracts. And while an abundance of youngsters is intriguing, rostering seasoned players goes a long way for a team looking to turn the corner. Enter Mamukelashvili.
This will be the fifth-year centre’s first real opportunity to contribute, as he’s primed to back up Jakob Poeltl most nights.
It was a calculated decision by Mamukelashvili — reportedly choosing the Raptors over other teams — to try and change his luck in the NBA. Year 2 of the deal is a player option, banking on his fortunes being favoured by his bold move.
“I really want to prove to everybody that I’m a rotational piece, that I can be in the NBA for 10 years and leave my mark somewhere … I’m very excited to be here,” Mamukelashvili said while attending Summer League, per Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.
And after seeing how the 26-year-old has been integrated into the Raptors lineup and within head coach Darko Rajakovic’s systems throughout pre-season, it seems like a good bet that he’ll outplay his bargain bin price tag.
Mamukelashvili joined the Raptors after spending the last 2.5 seasons with the Spurs, capping off his tenure in San Antonio by posting career highs in average scoring (6.3), effective field goal percentage (60.9), three-point makes (1.0) and games played (61) last year.
Not bad given he saw just 11.2 minutes a night, but not really markers of a burgeoning player, either. As for his per-36 numbers, they looked quite gaudy but don’t hold much weight unless I were a snake oil salesman. What does have substance, in my opinion, is Mamukelashvili’s run with the Spurs when they first signed him to a rest-of-season deal in 2023 after the Milwaukee Bucks waived the former 54th overall pick.
It was the only time the Georgian big man had a consistent/somewhat consequential role in the NBA if we’re looking for a facsimile of what Mamukelashvili could offer the Raptors this year. In 19 consecutive appearances (seven starts) to end 2022-23, he averaged 10.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists on 45.3/34.3/69.2 per cent shooting splits in 23.3. minutes per game. Yes, it was during the malaise of March, but it’s about as meaningful a sample size as we’ll find to this point.
Production that was in line with his 2025-26 pre-season averages of 8.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals (more on his defence later) on 50.0/21.7/75.0 per cent splits in 20.0 minutes per game through six appearances.
Beyond the numbers, the eye test saw a player built to thrive in Rajakovic’s “0.5” offence. Mamukelashvili is as decisive as they come, and when he doesn’t shoot or pass right away, he’s dribbling — better than a lot of centres — to do one of those two things rather quickly. Don’t sleep on the court vision by the way, he holds a near-2.00 assist-to-turnover ratio for his career and boasted the 22nd best assist percentage (14.5) among centres, the one stretch he averaged more than 20 minutes a night.
When the ball isn’t in his hands, he stays moving — and boy does he MOVE.
Last season, Mamukelashvili was the fifth-fastest centre by average speed, and if we go back to that 19-game stint when he really got to stretch his legs with the Spurs, he was the fastest amongst his position. Easy to see why he was a 90th percentile cutter and roll man during that span — numbers that he could approximate on the second-fastest team from a year ago. That level of movement has also helped Mamukelashvili develop a knack for hunting o-boards, improving his team’s offensive rebounding percentage whenever he steps on the floor. In 2022-23 with San Antonio, he was 19th among centres for offensive rebounds (2.7), and only two players above him played fewer than his 23.3 minutes per game.
It’s also been nice to see that even when his jumper hasn’t dropped, which it hasn’t during pre-season (21.7 per cent from distance), Mamukelashvili’s reputation as a stretch big — earned largely thanks to his above-the-break proficiency — has still commanded defenders to closeout, upon which he’s attacked well with his combo of instincts and speed. Last season, he was 26th in drives per game amongst centres (min. 42 games), while ranking top 10 in field goal percentage and top 20 in assist percentage. His efficiency has fluctuated when the volume has increased, but if pre-season means anything, he’ll find success carving his way to the rims in Toronto.
And at this point, if you’re asking: why has his role shrunk so much if his numbers were positive? The simple answer is: Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs — literally — won the lottery and drafted a game-breaking player who occupies similar areas of the floor, which pushed Zach Collins to centre No. 2 and Mamukelashvili to No. 3.
Meanwhile, all of the above speaks clearly to the versatility he’ll now offer the Raptors and Rajakovic, who’s already expressed his excitement with the breathing room Mamukelashvili will provide his star forwards Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram that Poeltl doesn’t. We’re talking real “5-out” lineups offensively!
“(Mamu is) going to allow us, especially with the second unit, to go to different schemes, to look for different guys … so, I think that’s going to be a big difference for us this year,” the bench boss explained.
He also offers the Raptors the opportunity to implement double-big lineups when Rajakovic deems appropriate. The bench boss already stated during pre-season that he’ll tweak his rotations some nights, depending on specific matchups, and while “jumbo” lineups have been a trending look around the NBA, it’s not one the Raptors have jumped in on all that much. At least, not yet.
Toronto hasn’t had many bigs to pair with Poeltl, who wouldn’t cannibalise his areas of operation. Of the four double-big lineups that included the Austrian big man last season, only two eclipsed 200 minutes. The one with Jonathan Mogbo, unsurprisingly, held a negative-4.2 net rating. However, Poeltl’s 249 minutes next to Boucher were positive (plus-7.9). In fact, the pairing has been quite positive over the last two seasons, even if you eliminate their low-leverage minutes together.
Boucher wasn’t a mainstay of the Raptors’ rotation in recent years, but Mamukelashvili — similarly a space-and-pace type of player — ought to be, which bodes well for his pairing with Poeltl, or even in double-big bench lineups with Mogbo.
As for how things will fare defensively? Well, you can’t get lucky without taking some risks.
The Raptors are banking on Mamukelashvili being a better — or at least less problematic — fit with their defensive system than his previous stops. For starters, the big man is no rim deterrent. His 64.8 defended field-goal percentage on shots within six feet of the basket was one of the highest marks among centres last season. Meanwhile, his defensive rating outside of low-leverage minutes in 2024-25 was woeful. Even next to a DPOY-calibre player in Wembanyama, it was merely passable. And it goes without saying that the French phenom did the heavy lifting in that equation, and the Raptors don’t exactly have one of their own.
Even going back to his days at Seton Hall, Mamukelashvili was often relegated to guarding the opposition’s weakest players. And that may have been fine when he was All-Big East as a senior, carrying much of the Pirates’ offensive burden, but that won’t cut it on this Raptors team.
“I’m not going to look at any player on this team to give him a free pass because the defence is not at the level that we expect. I’m going to keep everybody accountable to the highest standards on the defensive end,” is what Rajakovic said at media day.
The good news is that, so far, Mamukelashvili has heeded the words of his bench boss throughout pre-season. He’s leveraged his speed/mobility and active hands to fit in rather than stand out defensively. I don’t think his vertical contest has been all that bad either (so long as he’s not arriving to his spot late), and he hasn’t been noticeably more foul-prone as a Raptor, even as he’s committed to the team’s uber-physical style.
What I’ve liked most from Mamukelashvili on the defensive end throughout the exhibition schedule is his opportunistic mindset. The Raptors’ chaos-breeding effort has helped Mamukelashvili puff his chest on that end as he’s hunted plays by stepping into the lane, digging in on drives and working as a help defender more than I — and presumably others — anticipated. To a point that it’s inspired some hope that Mamukelashvili can be net-neutral on that end within the Raptors’ defensive ecosystem.
But hey, it’s pre-season. Plenty of fool’s gold gets mined in search of buried treasure this time of year. Every team is after players who can outplay their cost, but that has become increasingly difficult to come by. If the talent is obvious, so is the value.
Despite that challenge, the Raptors can’t afford to come up empty. They didn’t scour clearance racks for a bargain throughout the summer with hope; they did it out of desperation because expectations had arrived.
And now Toronto is betting on Mamukelashvili being that fortuitous find.
So, whether you want to call it karma, destiny, kismet or all of the above, the Raptors and Mamukelashvili need to control it all this upcoming season for both sides to change their NBA outlooks. Fortunately, if pre-season is any indication, things are heading in the right direction.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” — Seneca
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