Mamukelashvili's G League explosion raises one big question from Spurs fans

On July 28th, earlier this year, the San Antonio Spurs announced they had re-signed Sandro Mamukelashvili. When the news broke, Spurs Nation was elated, expressing their love for Mamu since his arrival at the beginning of March 2023. 21 games into the new season, Mamu has only played more than 12 minutes once and has logged 14 DNPs—a confusing trend.

When considering his play last season and his skillset as an athletic big that connects the offense as a solid passer, the notion that Mamu wouldn’t be able to help this team becomes even more baffling. This team has struggled with turnovers for many reasons, but one is the inability to throw good passes consistently. The more naturally gifted distributors on the floor, the better.

Sandro Mamukelashvili can help the Spurs right now

The Georgia native’s big G-League performance highlights his hunger to prove himself. After his arrival last season, Mamu averaged 10.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. His output was generated in an average of 23 minutes per game, and he scored 20 points or more twice in that span. Sounds like a potentially useful piece to a puzzle with pieces that have not been fitting.

If the third-year big man can have offensive outbursts of this nature, he needs to be in the Spurs rotation. The Silver and Black go through too many scoring droughts to leave such a viable option out of the loop. Yesterday, the Spurs recalled Mamu from Austin to rejoin the team, and hopefully, fans will see him on the court in minutes that matter.