Exclusive | Sandro Mamukelashvili opens up on joining Lakers, life in LA

LAS VEGAS — It’ll be another three months before Sandro Mamukelashvili takes his first real shot for the Lakers – his main quest after signing with the franchise shortly after free agency started last week.But on Saturday night while the Lakers summer league team was taking on the Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center, Mamukelashvili took other kinds of shots for his new team. Mamukelashvili became the latest NBA player to trade in his jersey for a photographer’s camera, shooting the first half of Saturday’s game from the first row of the courtside media section inside of the arena. “I love doing extra stuff,” Mamukelashvili told the California Post.“They call me Side Quest King.

So I definitely love it.I’m enjoying it.

I’m learning a lot.”Mamukelashvili, who’s had an interest in photography (“Sometimes I try to take artsy pictures that don’t make [any] sense,” he said.“But I’ve got to explain to people why they’re good.), quickly found out the challenges of the craft.He exclaimed “Ahh, I missed it!” after Arthur Kaluma’s pump-and-drive layup 4 ½ minutes into the game. He talked about how much he liked to zoom in, but realized he had to find the balance of how far to zoom in and how much space to give his subject. By the second quarter, he started stretching out his wrists as the weight of the camera started to set in.“Oh my god, it’s crazy, how hard is it to hold the camera steady at the same time, make sure you zoom in correctly, zoom out,” Mamukelashvili told the Post.

“Definitely need some strength on your wrist, it’s tough.”During a Lakers fastbreak in the first quarter, he said outloud to himself “Run run run…give me action.” Another time, he was saying “I’m ready…I’m ready.”Mamukelashvili got so into the side quest that he found himself cheering for a Mavericks player to dunk.And when jokingly asked by the Post who he was cheering for, he quipped “I need a statement!” “T...