Lakers To Work Out Gal Mekel, Jordan Hamilton

1:33pm: The Lakers remain fond of Price, as Charania notes in a full story. Price and Ellington are the only Lakers without fully guaranteed contracts, as we noted below, and Ellington is expected back Friday from the leave of absence he took to mourn the murder of his father, as Mike Trudell of Lakers.com notes via Twitter.

THURSDAY, 12:59pm: Mekel will work out a second time for the Lakers on Friday, and he’ll again be matched up against Buycks, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY, 11:35am: The Lakers are set to audition Gal Mekel this week, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, while Jordan Hamilton is scheduled to work out for the team Thursday, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). They’re just two of several players the 2-9 Lakers are eyeing, joining Dwight Buycks, Quincy Miller and Tyrus Thomas among those trying out for the purple-and-gold. John Lucas III also reportedly had a workout scheduled with the team before taking a deal to play in China instead. Mekel will audition head-to-head against Buycks, according to Pick (Twitter link).

Visa issues scuttled a deal that Mekel was set to sign earlier this month with the injury-hit Pacers, who inked A.J. Price instead rather than wait an extra day for the problem to be resolved. There’s reportedly been widespread interest in Mekel, the 26-year-old former Mavs point guard, whom Dallas waived shortly after opening night in spite of his guaranteed contract to accommodate the signing of J.J. Barea.

Hamilton opened the season with the Jazz after they claimed him off waivers from Toronto, where he had an impressive preseason showing for the Raptors. The 26th overall pick from 2011 nonetheless lasted only about a week in Utah before the team let him go. He’s spent most of his NBA career with the Nuggets, who traded him to the Rockets at the deadline in February.

The Lakers are at the 15-man roster maximum, so they’d have to unload a player to bring someone aboard. They have partially guaranteed salary out to Ronnie Price and Wayne Ellington and fully guaranteed pacts with their other 13 players, though Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding suggested this week that Xavier Henry was the most likely cut if the team were to ink Miller.

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