The Lakers Signed a 3-Point Shooter as Their Backup Big. Their Preseason Said Otherwise.
The Los Angeles Lakers gave up four first-round picks and signed Walker Kessler to a four-year, $130 million deal to solve their center problem. Then Kessler sat out the first two preseason games, and the problem came right back.
With Kessler unavailable, the Lakers started Kevon Looney against Sacramento and Sandro Mamukelashvili against Golden State. They lost the rebounding battle in both games. They lost the points-in-the-paint battle in both games. Two opponents, two different backup bigs, same result.
That's the part the Kessler hype cycle has mostly glossed over. The Lakers built their frontcourt around one player — and the moment he sits, the floor falls out.
What's not in dispute: Mamukelashvili, 27, is locked into the rotation. He signed a four-year, $52 million deal after leaving Toronto, where he shot 38.9 percent from three last season across 80 games — a career high in appearances. He is a legitimate floor spacer and, at 6-foot-9, physically capable of sliding to center.
What is in dispute: whether any of that actually makes him the right answer behind Kessler, or whether the Lakers need to be on the phone looking for something more traditional before opening night.
On one side, the case for Mamukelashvili is real. Kessler does not stretch the floor, so putting a near-39-percent three-point shooter next to him creates spacing Luka Doncic can exploit. According to one analysis, Mamukelashvili ranked in the 83rd percentile in catch-and-shoot three-point efficiency last season, and in the 85th percentile in rim shot-making. He can play power forward or center depending on the matchup, which gives head coach JJ Redick flexibility a pure bruiser would not. His $52 million commitment also signals the front office already made its call — they paid for this.
On the other, the preseason exposed something that numbers cannot paper over. Mamukelashvili's strengths are not in rebounding or interior scoring — precisely the two areas where the Lakers bled without Kessler. One report noted he ranked in just the 14th percentile in perimeter isolation defense and the 43rd percentile in rim protection. Names like Jericho Sims and Daniel Gafford have surfaced as trade targets, with Sims carrying only a $2.8 million salary that would be easy to absorb. The Lakers currently carry 16 guaranteed contracts — one over the regular-season maximum — and team president Rob Pelinka has acknowledged a consolidation trade is possible before opening night. There is room to move. The question is whether the front office has the appetite to admit the backup center spot needs a different kind of player entirely.
Which leaves the question nobody in the building has cleanly answered yet:
Is Sandro Mamukelashvili's shooting and versatility exactly what a Kessler-anchored frontcourt needs — or is he a $52 million workaround for a problem that only a traditional big man can actually fix?
The whole field is split on it. We dropped the question into the Arena and let the models argue it out. Watch below.