The start of the 2026-27 NBA season is right around the corner for the Los Angeles Lakers, with the team’s new-look roster built around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves set to host Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena on Oct. 21.
One of the Lakers’ top priorities heading into the NBA offseason was to re-sign Reaves to a long-term deal, which they accomplished fairly quickly: he is now on a four-year, $185 million deal, securing his future alongside Doncic.
Austin Reaves Praises Sandro Mamukelashvili’s ‘High Basketball IQ’
Along with retaining Reaves, the Lakers brass also made quite a few moves during the summer, including bringing in versatile big man Sandro Mamukelashvili, whom Reaves spoke about after practice over the weekend, via Infinity TV.
“He's got such a high basketball IQ that if he gets the rebound, he should basically play the one, and it doesn't matter if I'm on the floor, it doesn't matter if Luka [Doncic] is on the floor,” Reaves said of Mamukelashvili. “If he gets it and goes and has a good matchup, we trust whatever he has planned to do, so he'll be really good for us.”
Reaves clearly thinks highly of his new Lakers teammate, who he could be sharing the floor with as a starter if head coach JJ Redick decides to go that way, with Mamukelashvili potentially the starting power forward, sharing the frontcourt with Walker Kessler.
The high-scoring guard sees Mamukelashvili as a very versatile player, especially as a big man who can handle the basketball and get things going in transition if he’s crashing the glass.
“If he gets the rebound, he should be our point guard, and we should be able to run action off of him, and he can make passes, plays and sometimes even other teams' five-man will be guarding him and that will be a mismatch for him, so he can just play the game that he knows how to play and just the relationship.”
JJ Redick Ready to Use ‘Mamu Package’
Even Redick sees Mamukelashvili’s versatility and plans to take advantage of it during the 2026-27 season with what he’s calling a “Mamu package,” which they’ve experimented with out of timeouts.
"We'll have a little Mamu package,” Redick said. “We've run it a couple of ATOs, one of which was the first play of the Golden State [Warriors] game, which was not run correctly. But that's okay. But we'll get creative with him. It'll be fun."
There’s no question that Mamukelashvili is going to play a big role on this new-look Lakers squad, whether he’s a starter or one of the first players off the bench.
A promising sign for a veteran forward who has worked his way up the ranks in the NBA, from being an undrafted player on a two-way contract to inking a four-year, $60 million deal.
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