Shams: Raptors sign Mamukelashvili to a two-year, $5.5 million deal (player option)

[tms]

2/5.4 (player option) was my red line. Horrible deal.

Good news, the actual number is likely 5.3M! 5.5M is probably a reporter rounding, the minimum works out to 5.3M and by all accounts this is a minimum deal.

Ok then maybe it can work. Not an early candidate for the amnesty clause anymore

[treerollins]

someone said he could rebound and he was in the nba last year so i support this fully

[ForeverTFC]

Sandro wasn't on my short list, but I'll take him. Should be a fun player to have on the team!

I think if we waive Castleton, waive Lawson, and sign Alijah Martin to a rookie minimum, we are slightly under the luxury tax with a 15 player roster. Looks like we're all set to go.

Yes, Castleton and Lawson are the obvious waivees. But we are not under the tax line.

Battle's guarantee is about half his salary already, and waiving him and signing Martin to a rookie minimum deal to be the cheapest possible 14th guy would still leave us in the tax. So safe to assume Battle sticks.

With Battle on the roster, if Martin were to sign a 2-way, we'd be at 14 guys, and about 700k above the tax line.

With Battle on the roster, if we sign Martin to a rookie minimum, we'd be 2M above the tax line. If we sign Martin to a second round exception deal like we did with Mogbo and Shead, we'd be 2.8M above the tax line.

If they waive Castleton and Lawson, It'll be pretty easy for them to get under the tax by sending Mogbo out at the deadline. It would suck for us but a bunch of teams will probably absorb him into whatever MLE/TPE space they have. So I doubt they rush this and will look for some sort of a Barrett trade through the season, or a bigger consolidation trade with some combo of Dick, Walter, and Ochai included.

[bon]

Been a fan of this guy since he was in college. He’s got the skills of Kelly with the energy of Boucher. Really good pickup. He and CMB are going to be an awesome bench duo

[Jim Todd Jr.]

This signing basically locks the Raptors into starting the season with a 14-man roster (all with fully guaranteed 2025-26 salary), and even with no 15th guy they'll still be 500k above the tax line until they make another move to get under.

RJ and/or Ochai's days are numbered. Ownership will not start the repeater clock for this team, considering how much harsher the repeater penalties are about to become.

Tax is calculated end of year. Lots of time to get back under the threshold.

[Basketball_Jones]

Never heard of this guy but I’ll take anyone from the Spurs

[dhackett1565]

Sandro wasn't on my short list, but I'll take him. Should be a fun player to have on the team!

I think if we waive Castleton, waive Lawson, and sign Alijah Martin to a rookie minimum, we are slightly under the luxury tax with a 15 player roster. Looks like we're all set to go.

Yes, Castleton and Lawson are the obvious waivees. But we are not under the tax line.

Battle's guarantee is about half his salary already, and waiving him and signing Martin to a rookie minimum deal to be the cheapest possible 14th guy would still leave us in the tax. So safe to assume Battle sticks.

With Battle on the roster, if Martin were to sign a 2-way, we'd be at 14 guys, and about 700k above the tax line.

With Battle on the roster, if we sign Martin to a rookie minimum, we'd be 2M above the tax line. If we sign Martin to a second round exception deal like we did with Mogbo and Shead, we'd be 2.8M above the tax line.

If they waive Castleton and Lawson, It'll be pretty easy for them to get under the tax by sending Mogbo out at the deadline. It would suck for us but a bunch of teams will probably absorb him into whatever MLE/TPE space they have. So I doubt they rush this and will look for some sort of a Barrett trade through the season, or a bigger consolidation trade with some combo of Dick, Walter, and Ochai included.

How easy something that will be will depend on how aware everyone else is about how desperate we are to make something like that happen. Leaving aside that throwing away an asset for nothing is exactly the sort of thing you should be trying to avoid doing by getting ahead of the curve on tax stuff.

Hopefully they get lucky and find a good deal where they aren't paying a premium for tax avoidance. History says that's not overwhelmingly likely, though it is possible.

[Tor_Raps]

Never heard of this guy but I’ll take anyone from the Spurs

Even Thad Young?

[ArthurVandelay]

Never heard of this guy but I’ll take anyone from the Spurs

Even Thad Young?

So salty

[Tor_Raps]

Never heard of this guy but I’ll take anyone from the Spurs

Even Thad Young?

So salty

Haha just wanted to qualify that statement that not everyone is good no matter how great their program is.

[BCbudraptorfan]

good pick up
cheap contract for a back up big floor spacer

[Jerry Lucas]

This signing basically locks the Raptors into starting the season with a 14-man roster (all with fully guaranteed 2025-26 salary), and even with no 15th guy they'll still be 500k above the tax line until they make another move to get under.

RJ and/or Ochai's days are numbered. Ownership will not start the repeater clock for this team, considering how much harsher the repeater penalties are about to become.

Tax is calculated end of year. Lots of time to get back under the threshold.

I never said this RJ and/or Ochai move has to happen by the start of the season. This is about leveraging themselves. Another team will have to help the Raptors get under the tax line at some point, which will create leverage against the Raptors.

[TheGeneral99]

Didn't know much about this guy but read some Spurs fans assessments on him and the consensus was:

1) good offensive player that makes the team better when he's on the floor
2) bad pick and roll defender and interior defender

So I guess we can hope that he can be a productive bench scoring big, but don't expect him to be a big rim defender that can play heavy minutes because he can be exposed defensively. .

[deck]

Quick release on his jumper for a 6'10 guy.

[shmoosicle]

This was the big question mark of the off-season and his underlying stats look good and the contract is cheap so why not? Seems pretty solid.

[Tripod]

Didn't know much about this guy but read some Spurs fans assessments on him and the consensus was:

1) good offensive player that makes the team better when he's on the floor
2) bad pick and roll defender and interior defender

So I guess we can hope that he can be a productive bench scoring big, but don't expect him to be a big rim defender that can play heavy minutes because he can be exposed defensively. .

That's where him and CMB can complement each other, covering for each other's weaknesses.

[LoveMyRaps]

Dude's got some untapped upside.

26 is relatively young for a big man.

[LoveMyRaps]

My favorite part about his game is his ability to go up strong. No weak stuff around the rim, he loves to throw it down with authority!

Jack Armstrong is gonna love that.

[LoveMyRaps]

Read on Twitter

[Dalek]

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=NBA

I can't believe the one game he had against the Knicks this year, 13-14 shots and 7-7 from three in 19 mins - the first player in NBA history to score 34 points in 19 minutes. Even got a Flavor Flav shout out at the end. He is almost at Juancho Hermangomez levels of cool as far as end of bench signings.