The Toronto Raptors are trying to lock up Sandro Mamukelashvili before Tuesday evening at 6 PM ET, because if they miss that window he could move into a market that values him well above the range Toronto can control. The 6-foot-9 power forward is expected to draw multiple suitors if he does not finish a new deal first.
That is why his name is suddenly moving fast. Mamukelashvili, who played with the Toronto Raptors this past season, averaged 11.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting 52.3/38.9/74.7. For a player with that kind of blend of size and touch, the question is not whether he has a market; it is how large that market becomes if he reaches it before Toronto closes the loop.
The ceiling matters here. The full $15 million midlevel exception is the kind of number that can pull in interest from teams looking for a rotation piece with more than one useful skill. If Mamukelashvili gets there, the price is likely to be measured as a sizable portion of that exception, not a small bargain deal. That is why the Toronto Raptors are working against the clock rather than waiting for the market to sort itself out.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are part of the reason this matters now. They traded Julius Randle and Naz Reid, and that left a glaring hole at power forward. Mamukelashvili’s floor spacing, passing, rebounding and hustle make him a natural fit for that opening, but the Timberwolves have only the taxpayer mid-level exception, worth just over $6 million a year, as spending power. That is a meaningful gap, and it puts them in danger of being priced out before the bidding even starts.
So the next step is simple, even if the result is not: Toronto either reaches terms before Tuesday evening at 6 PM ET or risks watching Mamukelashvili enter free agency with multiple teams ready to chase him at a higher number. If the Raptors cannot finish the deal, the market should tell the rest of the league exactly how much his season with Toronto has raised his value.
