Just two weeks after joining the New Orleans Pelicans, Gal Mekel finds himself on the waiver wire once more following his release from the NBA franchise on Friday.
The 26-year-old Israeli guard played just four games for New Orleans, averaging 1.5 points and 3.3 assists over 10.9 minutes of action. He spent over a month as a free agent following his release by the Dallas Mavericks at the start of the season, eventually signing a two-year non-guaranteed contract with the Pelicans, who activated a clause in his contract which allowed them to release him without compensation before January 10.Despite Mekel's release, New Orleans head coach Monty Williams was full of praise for the Israeli and insisted that the decision was made for financial reasons.
"We thought he did a good job, (but) there are some particulars financially that I am not going to discuss," he explained. "We like (Mekel) a lot. That doesn't mean we won't bring him back. But at this point we felt like we were going to go in a different direction. He was a positive for our team."
