The Pelicans have signed free agent Gal Mekel, the team announced in a press release. Roey Gladstone of Israeli Channel 5 TV was the first to report the news. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Gladstone tweets that it is a two-year deal which contains a team option for the second season, and Marc Stein of ESPN.com adds (Twitter link) that the contract is non-guaranteed. This signing will increase New Orleans’ roster count to the league-maximum 15 players.
New Orleans had one open roster spot available after waiving Patric Young and Darius Miller on Sunday and inking Dante Cunningham to a deal yesterday. Mekel will add depth at the point guard position behind Jrue Holiday.
The 26-year-old guard joined the Mavs in 2013 after putting up 13.3 points, 5.4 assists and 2.5 turnovers in 32.3 minutes per game during 2012/13 for Maccabi Haifa in his native Israel. He inked a fully guaranteed three-year contract for the minimum salary to come stateside, but Dallas instead chose to eat the salaries for the final two years to instead sign J.J. Barea shortly after opening night.