{"id":930834,"date":"2026-10-13T00:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T00:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/930834\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T00:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T00:02:10","slug":"austin-reaves-hints-at-intriguing-possibility-for-lakers-sandro-mamukelashvili","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/930834\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Reaves Hints at Intriguing Possibility for Lakers\u2019 Sandro Mamukelashvili"},"content":{"rendered":"

The start of the 2026-27 NBA season is right around the corner for the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>, with the team\u2019s new-look roster built around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves set to host Stephen Curry\u2019s Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena on Oct. 21.<\/p>\n

One of the Lakers\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Austin Reaves Praises Sandro Mamukelashvili\u2019s \u2018High Basketball IQ\u2019<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’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,\u201d Reaves said of Mamukelashvili. \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s crashing the glass.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

JJ Redick Ready to Use \u2018Mamu Package\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even Redick sees Mamukelashvili\u2019s versatility and plans to take advantage of it during the 2026-27 season with what he\u2019s calling a \u201cMamu package,\u201d which they\u2019ve experimented with out of timeouts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’ll have a little Mamu package,\u201d Redick said. \u201cWe’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.”<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question that Mamukelashvili is going to play a big role on this new-look Lakers squad, whether he\u2019s a starter or one of the first players off the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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