Carrick Felix signs in Australia with Melbourne United

Melbourne United are excited to announce the signing of experienced small forward Carrick Felix.

Felix joins the team as an injury replacement for Casey Prather who went down with an elbow dislocation injury in last week’s Round 10 game against the Illawarra Hawks.

Felix will arrive into Melbourne next week with the hope of being able to suit up for his first game for the Club when United take on the Sydney Kings on December 30.

Most recently Felix has been playing with the Washington Wizards in the NBA but was waived earlier last month.

With such a quick turnaround between games and the timing of the international season, being able to find a player with Felix’s experience and skill was extremely pleasing for CEO Vince Crivelli.

“Obviously you never want to see one of your players go down, particularly given the fantastic season Casey has been having for us, but we are thrilled to be able to add Felix into the mix at such a pivotal time in our season”.

“He’s a player who has an incredible story behind him, he’s worked very hard to become an NBA calibre player and we couldn’t be more pleased to see him joining Melbourne United” Crivelli said.

Felix was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 33rd overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft. He played seven games with the team in his rookie season and spent the rest of his time with the Cavs development team in Canton.

Following his time with the Cavs he was traded to the Jazz to make room for LeBron James. After being released by the Jazz, last season he started 21 games with the Long Island Nets in the G-League averaging 9.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

He also played with the Dallas Mavs Summer League team in Las Vegas where he averaged 6.1 points and 2.6 rebounds in 16 minutes of action per game.

Speaking to media earlier this week Head Coach Dean Vickerman was clear about the type of player the Club would be looking to bring into the line-up.

“This league is full of elite three-men at the moment so we’ll go with a defensive mindset to start with,” Vickerman shared.

“We believe that the players that we have can all put points on the board, but it’s really important that we find that defensive side that Casey gave us because we can probably cover the other side a little better.”

With Casey Prather expected to miss upwards of eight weeks for his dislocated elbow, Felix will come in as a replacement player with development players Tohi Smith-Milner and Felix Von Hofe expected to be elevated to carry some of the load until he arrives.

Melbourne United take on the Adelaide 36ers tonight at Hisense Arena and return to Hisense Arena on Boxing Day to face the Brisbane Bullets for their open air clash.