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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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The Minnesota Timberwolves took a massive swing last week, trading for LaMelo Ball and Josh Green from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps, and three second-round picks.
Anthony Edwards and Ball were the No. 1 and No. 3 picks in the 2020 NBA Draft, and now, they form one of the most explosive and exciting backcourts in the league. But in the process, Minnesota lost a lot of draft capital and a key frontcourt piece.
What makes this deal more problematic is that it came shortly after the Timberwolves traded Julius Randle to the Brooklyn Nets in a three-deal team to shed salary. That's two 6-foot-9 bigs responsible for nearly 60 minutes a game last season, now gone. Rudy Gobert is left as the lone big man who had any major role with the team last year.
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That's a big problem when you consider they're in the same conference that has Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, and Chet Holmgren. Those are the guys you need to beat if you want to win a title.
But The Athletic's Christian Clark has a potential solution. On Sunday, Clark urged the Timberwolves to pursue Sandro Mamukelashvili, the Georgian-born big man who quietly just put together the best season of his career coming off the bench for the Toronto Raptors.
"Mamukelashvili can become an unrestricted free agent if he declines his $2.8 million player option for next season," Clark wrote. "The burly 6-foot-9 Mamukelashvili is a confident stretch big who barrels to the rim off the dribble. He made 38.9% of his 3s on nearly four attempts per game last season. It’d be a blast to watch him play next to Ball and Edwards in a five-out offense."
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Mamukelashvili signed a two-year, $5.26 million deal with the Raptors last offseason, a move that largely went under the radar, becoming the backup center on a team nobody was really paying attention to at the time. Yet, he quickly became one of the more efficient and reliable bench pieces in the entire league.
He averaged a career-high 11.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 0.8 steals in 21.9 minutes per game last year, shooting 52.3% from the field and 38.9% from deep. In the 13 games he started, Mamukelashvili was even better, averaging 15.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.3 steals in 30.7 minutes, knocking down a whopping 41.4% of his shots from long range on 5.4 attempts per game.
His style of play perfectly fits what Minnesota needs when you consider what they just lost in Randle and Reid. Mamukelashvili can stretch the floor with his shot-making ability, but he's also known for his elite off-ball movement and unselfish playmaking, making him the perfect complement next to Gobert in the frontcourt. And he'd be a cheap fix to the problem.
If he declines his option, he would hit the market as an unrestricted free agent. The Wolves have the taxpayer mid-level exception they could use, which for 2026-27 is around $15 million, right what Mamukelashvili's current market value is. With the numbers he put up last year in a limited role, that's an absolute steal.
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