Forward Sandro Mamukelashvili is set to decline his $2.8 million player option for the 2026-27 season, leaving the Toronto Raptors to decide whether they’ll pay to keep their sixth-man impact.
The Toronto Raptors could soon be forced to make a painful choice: pay up to keep one of their most reliable bench creators, or watch Sandro Mamukelashvili walk into free agency.
Mamukelashvili is set to decline his $2.8 million player option for the 2026-27 season and become a free agent, a report said Monday. He is 27.
The numbers from his latest Raptors run help explain why this decision matters so much. Mamukelashvili finished the campaign as Toronto’s sixth man, averaging 11.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists. Those marks were all career highs. He shot 52.3 per cent from the field and 38.9 per cent from three-point range.
He also played a bigger role than at any point in his five-year NBA career. After joining the Raptors as a free agent last summer, he suited up in 80 games and averaged 21.9 minutes per night.
That momentum didn’t disappear once the postseason arrived. Mamukelashvili got his first taste of playoff basketball by appearing in all seven of the Raptors’ first-round games against the Cleveland Cavaliers. In that series, he averaged five points, five rebounds and one assist.
The Raptors now have to weigh what they already got from him against what it may cost to keep him. Mamukelashvili was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round in 2021. Over 278 NBA games—split between the Bucks. Spurs and Raptors—he has built a track record teams can recognize quickly when contract decisions start moving.
So for Toronto, the question isn’t whether Mamukelashvili produced. It’s whether they can match the value he’s likely to earn once he’s off the option and free to negotiate.
Toronto Raptors Sandro Mamukelashvili 2026-27 player option free agency NBA news Cleveland Cavaliers sixth man