Fatih Erel
26 July 2019•Update: 27 July 2019
ISTANBUL
The NBA club New Orleans Pelicans signed Italian forward Nicolo Melli.
Melli "joins the Pelicans after a successful 12-year professional career in Europe with stops in Italy (Reggiana, Olimpia Milano, VL Pesaro), Germany (Brose Bamberg) and most recently Turkey (Fenerbahce), where he made consecutive EuroLeague Final Four appearances in 2018 and 2019," the NBA said in a Thursday’s statement on its official website.
In the recent years, he racked up many accolades in Fenerbahce Beko, including Turkish basketball league championship (2018), EuroLeague Finals top scorer (2018), and Turkish Cup winner (2019).
Melli joined the Istanbul club in the 2017 summer to play with his fellow citizen Luigi Datome in Fenerbahce Beko and played a vital role in the team's success during his two-year tenure with the club.
In the 2018-19 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague regular season, Melli had 30 appearances, where he averaged 7.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assist. He had a 79.1% free throw average as well.
