Raptors may have gotten steal in free agency with Georgian big man

Sandro Mamukelashvili is having a tremendous EuroBasket tournament this year, helping Georgia to upset wins over Spain and France as they made a surprise run to the quarterfinals.

In Sunday's 80-70 win over France, Mamukelashvili put up a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. For the tournament, he's averaging 14.2 points, seven rebounds and 3.3 assists as Georgia made the EuroBasket quarterfinals for the first time in the nation's history.

Mamukelashvili is scoring consistently against high-quality European competition — shooting 5-for-13 and sinking two three-pointers against France, and putting up 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists against Spain. He's shown flashes of that in his four-year NBA career in limited playing time, mostly with the San Antonio Spurs.

Last season, Mamukelashvili averaged 6.3 points in 11.2 minutes per game, mostly backing up Harrison Barnes, Victor Wembanyama and Jeremy Sochan. But he shot over 50 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from three-point range, delivering an offensive rating of 126 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor.

The Raptors should have more opportunities for the 6-foot-11 Georgian. There's not a lot of depth behind Scottie Barnes andJakob Poeltl at the front court spots, and only Poeltl is taller than Mamukelashvili. Last March, Mamukelashvili scored 34 points in only 19 minutes against the New York Knicks, shooting 13-of-14 and a perfect 7-of-7 from three-point range.

The Raptors got the 26-year-old on a veteran minimum, with a second-year team option, but if his defense is decent, he could play a lot of minutes. Besides, after Georgia's success, Mamukelashvili has some extra financial security. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze awarded the basketball team 3 million lari, worth roughly $1.M in US dollars, with another 3 million lari bonus coming for each additional game they win.

But if he can score on NBA teams anywhere near how he's scoring in EuroBasket, Mamukelashvili could be looking at some NBA playoff shares as well.