Alexander "Sandro" Mamukelashvili ( ka, ალექსანდრე "სანდრო" მამუკელაშვილი; born 23 May 1999) is a Georgian-American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

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of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the Seton Hall Pirates. Mamukelashvili attended Montverde Academy after a stint on a youth team in Biella, Italy. As a junior at Seton Hall, Mamukelashvili missed several weeks with a wrist injury but averaged 11.9 points per game. He was named Big East Co-Player of the Year as a senior.

Early life

Mamukelashvili was born in New York City and grew up in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

after moving to the country when he was a baby. He is fluent in English, Georgian, Russian, and Italian. His grandmother, Ira Gabashvili, was a member of the Soviet women's national basketball team. Mamukelashvili's older brother David introduced him to basketball at a young age, and Sandro grew up idolizing the Georgian player Zaza Pachulia. He was in Chicago visiting his aunt, noted pianist Eteri Andjaparidze, when the Russo-Georgian War broke out in August 2008. David currently teaches English at Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey. When he was 14 years old, Mamukelashvili moved to

Biella Biella (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the northern Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the Province of Biella, province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of ...

, Italy to attend high school. He competed on the U17, U18, and U19 teams, and he helped the teams to finish third place in the national finals. Mamukelashvili said that moving to Italy was difficult but his club and head coach Federico Danna made everything possible for him. In 2016, he moved to the United States to attend Montverde Academy, where he played alongside

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

player RJ Barrett. While at Montverde, Pachulia became a mentor to Mamukelashvili and introduced him to several players such as

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player and point guard for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Chef Curry", he is widely regarded as the ...

. Mamukelashvili scored 11 points in a 72–45 win over Greensboro Day School to help Montverde reach the finals of the Dick's Sporting Goods High School Nationals. On April 20, 2017, Mamukelashvili committed to playing college basketball for Seton Hall over offers from

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, and Vanderbilt. He chose the Pirates because his high school coach Kevin Boyle had a good relationship with Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard and his brother David lived nearby.

College career

As a freshman, Mamukelashvili averaged 2.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.5 blocks per game and helped the Pirates reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament. His best game as a freshman came against Xavier on February 14, 2018, when he scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. As a sophomore, he averaged 8.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. On December 19, Mamukelashvili scored a season-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting and had eight rebounds in a 90–76 win over Sacred Heart. Following his sophomore season, Mamukelashvili worked with Pachulia at his Academy in Tbilisi to expand his game, adding a jump stop and improving his three-point shooting. On November 29, 2019, Mamukelashvili scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and had six rebounds in an 84–76 win over Iowa State in the Bahamas. During the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, Mamukelashvili averaged 14 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2 assists per game while making 61 percent of his shots from the field and 60 percent from behind the arc. He fractured his right wrist in a game against Iowa State on December 8 and missed several weeks. On January 29, 2020, he returned to the court, playing five minutes in a 64–57 win over DePaul. On February 19, with his father Zurab in attendance for the first time in two years, Mamukelashvili scored 15 points and had six rebounds, hitting the game-winning shot on an inbounds pass with 0.6 seconds remaining in a 74–72 win over Butler. He had a season-high 26 points on February 29, in an 88–79 win over Marquette. Mamukelashvili averaged 11.9 points and 6 rebounds per game as a junior. After the season, he declared for the 2020 NBA draft but did not hire an agent, signaling high potential to return to Seton Hall for his senior campaign. After receiving second round interest, Mamukelashvili announced on August 1 that he was withdrawing from the draft and returning for his senior season. Coming into his senior season, Mamukelashvili was named to the Preseason First Team All- Big East, and he was expected to help replace the graduated Myles Powell. On December 11, 2020, he scored a career-high 32 points and had nine rebounds and three assists in a 77–68 victory against St. John's. On February 16, 2021, Mamukelashvili scored his 1,000th career point in a 60–52 win against DePaul and finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. He averaged 17.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. At the close of the season, he was named the Big East co-Player of the Year and won the

Haggerty Award __NOTOC__ The Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award is given to the top men's college basketball player from an NCAA Division I school in the New York metropolitan area. The Haggerty Award is presented by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MB ...

as the best player in the New York metropolitan area. Mamukelashvili was also named Associated Press All-America honorable mention and was a finalist for the Karl Malone Award.

Professional career

Milwaukee Bucks (2021–2023)

Mamukelashvili was selected in the second round of the 2021 NBA draft with the 54th pick by the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. He was then traded to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

along with the draft rights of Georgios Kalaitzakis, the 60th pick, and two future second round picks in exchange for the draft rights of the 31st pick, Isaiah Todd. On August 4, 2021, the Bucks signed him to a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless o ...

. Under the terms of the deal he would split time between the Bucks and their

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd. On October 19, 2021, Mamukelashvili had his debut in the NBA, coming off the bench with an assist and a rebound in a 127–104 win over the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...

. On October 26, he was assigned to the Wisconsin Herd. On November 29, while playing with the Herd, Mamukelashvili posted 28 points, six rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and one steal in a win against the

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thirte ...

. He missed two games with an illness in December 2021. Mamukelashvili joined the Bucks' 2022 NBA Summer League roster. On July 18, 2022, Mamukelashvili was named to the All-NBA Summer League First Team. On March 1, 2023, Mamukelashvili was waived by the Bucks.

San Antonio Spurs (2023–present)

On March 3, 2023, the

claimed Mamukelashvili off of waivers and converted his deal to a standard NBA contract. On July 27, he re-signed with the Spurs. On July 22, 2024, Mamukelashvili re-signed with the Spurs. On March 19, 2025, Mamukelashvili scored his career-high 34 points with nine rebounds, three assists and a steal in 19 minutes of action off the bench in a 120–105 win over the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

. This also broke the record for the most points in a game playing less than 20 minutes.

National team career

In July 2018, Mamukelashvili represented the Georgia national basketball team at the 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifications and the Georgia U20 team at the FIBA U20 European Championship. During the European Championship, he averaged 8.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game.

Career statistics

NBA

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Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, 41 , , 3 , , 9.9 , , .496 , , .423 , , .818 , , 2.0 , , .5 , , .2 , , .2 , , 3.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 0 , , 9.0 , , .328 , , .219 , , .667 , , 2.3 , , .7 , , .2 , , .2 , , 2.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, 19 , , 7 , , 23.3 , , .453 , , .343 , , .692 , , 6.8 , , 2.4 , , .5 , , .4 , , 10.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 46 , , 5 , , 9.8 , , .471 , , .297 , , .735 , , 3.2 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , .3 , , 4.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 61 , , 0 , , 11.2 , , .502 , , .373 , , .741 , , 3.1 , , .8 , , .4 , , .3 , , 6.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 191 , , 15 , , 11.5 , , .471 , , .348 , , .731 , , 3.1 , , .9 , , .3 , , .3 , , 5.2

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Seton Hall , 34 , , 0 , , 9.6 , , .471 , , .296 , , .600 , , 1.9 , , .5 , , .2 , , .5 , , 2.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Seton Hall , 34 , , 34 , , 29.2 , , .437 , , .301 , , .612 , , 7.8 , , 1.6 , , .6 , , 1.2 , , 8.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Seton Hall , 20 , , 18 , , 26.1 , , .540 , , .434 , , .658 , , 6.0 , , 1.4 , , .5 , , .6 , , 11.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;", Seton Hall , 27 , , 27 , , 35.6 , , .434 , , .336 , , .714 , , 7.6 , , 3.2 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , 17.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 115 , , 79 , , 24.4 , , .459 , , .339 , , .663 , , 5.7 , , 1.6 , , .6 , , .7 , , 9.6

References

External links

Seton Hall Pirates bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamukelashvili, Sandro 1999 births Living people 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players 21st-century American sportsmen American men's basketball players American people of Georgian (country) descent Austin Spurs players Basketball players from New York City Basketball players from Tbilisi Indiana Pacers draft picks Men's basketball players from Georgia (country) Milwaukee Bucks players Montverde Academy alumni NBA players from Georgia (country) Power forwards San Antonio Spurs players Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball players Wisconsin Herd players