4:35pm: San Antonio has officially waived Roby and claimed Mamukelashvili, the team announced. The Spurs immediately converted Mamukelashvili to a standard contract, and their 17-man roster is full.
4:15pm: The Spurs plan to waive forward/center Isaiah Roby and will claim big man Sandro Mamukelashvili off the waiver wire, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
There is a corresponding move that is missing from Charania’s report, however, as Roby is on San Antonio’s 15-man roster, while Mamukelashvili was on a two-way contract with Milwaukee.
The Spurs’ two-way are currently occupied by forwards Dominick Barlow and Julian Champagnie, so they will either need to promote or waive one of those players, or perhaps immediately promote Mamukelashvili — we’re not sure yet if that’s permitted.
Ironically, the Spurs claimed Roby off waivers last summer, and now will reportedly release him to add another player off waivers. His name did pop up in one trade rumor prior to the deadline, which signaled that San Antonio may not have viewed him as a long-term keeper. He is currently sidelined with an ankle injury that has kept him out of action since February 13.
Roby, 25, spent his first three seasons with the Thunder, averaging a combined 9.1 PPG and 5.1 RPG on .495/.365/.708 shooting in 109 games (62 starts, 21.9 MPG) with Oklahoma City. As previously mentioned, San Antonio claimed him off the waiver wire last offseason, but his role has been pretty limited in 2022/23, averaging 4.1 PPG and 2.5 RPG on .432/.300/.488 shooting in 42 games (11.3 MPG).
Assuming he clears waivers, the Spurs will be on the hook for Roby’s full $1,930,681 salary and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.
Mamukelashvili, 23, was waived a couple days ago by the Bucks. A report at the time suggested that another team might be interested in his services, and now he will reportedly land with San Antonio.
After spending four college seasons at Seton Hall, Mamukelashvili was selected 54th overall in the 2021 draft. He has spent the past two seasons on a two-way contract with the Bucks, but his playing time was very limited at the NBA level — he averaged 3.2 PPG and 2.1 RPG on .439/.345/.750 shooting in 65 games (9.6 MPG) from 2021-23.
The big man played much more for the Wisconsin Herd in ’22/23, Milwaukee’s G League affiliate. He averaged 19.5 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 3.8 APG and 1.3 SPG on .533/.200/.667 shooting in 11 Showcase Cup games (30.9 MPG), and 23.3 PPG, 13.0 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.0 SPG and 1.0 BPG on .486/.471/.667 shooting in four regular season games (36.5 MPG).
I’d guess Barlow to a standard contract, but not sure.
Never understood why the Spurs didn’t play Roby more. He seemed to be a bit of a catch for them when they snagged him off the waiver wire. A bit of a tweener sure, but still useful.
I agree he looks like the prototypical modern player, but think it says more about Roby than anything else. Like why couldn’t he carve out a role on one of the worst teams which also as been sitting a third of their squad per game due to “injuries”?
Well, It sucks that he’s ineligible for the playoffs since he is waived past March 1 if ever playoff teams are interested in acquiring him.
Mamu was picked up quickly, as predicted. Very good player who was just stuck behind a deep, veteran frontcourt in Milwaukee.
Mr. Roby- Chicago Bulls on line 1. Hopefully. I wanted them to get him before the season started.
Way to go Mamu.
Spurs with multiple guys at their positions, especially with Sochan. Makes this add a little more surprising b/c I think Roby has a bit more versatility. Would have liked either of these guys with the Heat for their issue at smallball 5