JERUSALEM, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Israel's national team captain Gal Mekel, the country's second player in the NBA, announced his retirement from basketball on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old point guard played college basketball at Wichita State University, then returned to Israel and played for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Gilboa Galil, and Maccabi Haifa, with one season in between at Italian Benton Treviso.
In Gilboa in 2010 and in Haifa in 2013 he was part of historic league championship titles, the only league titles of the two clubs ever.
In July 2013, Mekel signed with the Dallas Mavericks and became the second Israeli in the NBA after Omri Casspi.
His NBA career included 31 games with Dallas and four with the New Orleans Pelicans a season later.
In his 35 NBA games, Mekel averaged 2.3 points and 2.2 assists in 9.6 minutes per game.
Since 2015, Mekel had played in eight European clubs in Italy, Russia, Serbia, Israel, and Spain, including BC Andorra last season. He won the Israeli State Cup twice with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2016 and 2017.
Mekel also played 108 games for the Israeli national team since 2009, serving as captain from 2017.
"This ball brought me moments of happiness, recognition, and glory, as well as moments of sadness and frustration," Mekel said in a press conference. "I accomplished everything I dreamed of and right now I don't feel like I can give this game my all." ■
