MILWAUKEE — The Lakers have been getting more from Sandro Mamukelashvili recently than simply his highest-scoring games since joining the franchise over the summer.
The 23 points he scored in Monday’s win over the Hawks and Wednesday’s victory over the Bucks were necessary during games they were either without or lost key players during the games.
But what the Lakers hope can be taken from those games beyond Mamukelashvili’s scoring output was his offensive approach.
“High performance — a few of the key components to that is belief, focus and freedom,” coach JJ Redick said. “And I want him to understand how much his teammates, his coaches, myself, we believe in him.”
The sixth-year forward feels that belief from his current teammates during his first season with the Lakers.
It’s a catalyst of Mamukelashvili having the performance he’s had recently where he’s been active in looking for ways he can contribute offensively.
“I want to be aggressive from the jump,” he said. “I know these guys trust me, I know Coach trusts me. He wants me to be me. He wants to just let me play how I’m used to playing. So, it just kind of like eases my mind, doesn’t make me think that much.”
That’s how the Lakers want him to operate.
Redick referred to Mamukelashvili being an “over-thinker” during training camp — which the Lakers coach could relate to.
Which is why Redick’s made it an emphasis to help the 27-year-old realize they want him to play more freely.
“The big thing for him is understanding that he has a lot of freedom,” Redick said. “Luka [Doncic], [Austin Reaves] — that doesn’t need to be said — they have freedom within the structure of our offense. Mamu also has a lot of freedom.”
Mamukelashvili, who played for the Bucks, Spurs and Raptors before joining the Lakers, recognized how different this is compared with his former teams.
“It was a hard journey from a two-way [contract] and out of the rotation,” he said. “I feel like it mentally kind of drains you. It kind of sometimes makes you doubt yourself, makes you think about what you can do out there to help the team win and everywhere you have kind of a different challenge.
“I feel like here, they just tell me, ‘We want you to be you. We want you to be a big part of this team. And just believe in yourself.’ I have never had a chance to have somebody who would tell me that. It started a little bit last year, but I feel like this year, I feel much more freedom.”
Mamukelashvili, who’s averaging 10.8 points this season, acknowledged it’s a process of realizing the trust he has.
“I hope I’ll get better,” he said. “I hope I’ll start believing in myself as much as they do. I think I do. But as I said, sometimes going through all this up and down you’re like, ‘Do they really trust me?’ Like, you start questioning it. And once you start assuming what people think, how they want you to play, that’s when you lose your swagger. So I just got to be me and go out and keep playing with confidence.”
