While Sandro Mamukelashvili traveled with his teammates to Slovenia over the weekend, his trip was cut a bit short.
Mamu went from one team to another, swapping a stay with the Lakers to join his national team ahead of 2027 FIBA World Cup qualifiers. In preparation of those important contests, the team took on Israel in an exhibition on Monday.
Aided by Mamu’s 20 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals, Georgia used a late run to come away with a 101-90 victory.
While the final result of
this game may not have mattered, the next two will be quite important for Georgia. On Friday, Georgia takes on Montenegro in the first World Cup qualifying game of the second round. Then, next Monday, they match up with Greece, who will not have Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The format is a little complicated, but the top three teams across eight groups in the first round of qualifying were then placed into four six-team groups in the second round. The first-round results carry over, which leaves Georgia at the bottom of their group with nine points, tied with Greece and Portugal. Spain tops the group with 11 points while Ukraine and Montenegro both have 10 points.
The top three teams in the group advance to the World Cup. As you can tell, then, the competition will be tight in these games. These will also be the only games Mamu will be able to play in as the rest of the qualifying games take place during the NBA season.
Elsewhere in the qualifying, Slovenia is in fourth place in its group, sitting on nine points as well. Hungary and Sweden are below them while France (11 points), Finland (10) and Estonia (9) are above them. Luka Dončić, however, has already said he won’t play in the qualifying games this summer so he can stay with his family in Slovenia.
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