DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks have finally cleared up all the international paperwork necessary to get 6-foot-7 swingman Antoine Rigaudeau onto their roster.

Rigaudeau signed Friday, two days after arriving in Dallas with a deal virtually in place. His release from the Italian League was among the holdups on a deal that runs through the 2004-05 season.

Rigaudeau will fly to Seattle on Saturday and be in uniform Sunday against the SuperSonics. He'll wear No. 17, same as former NBA stars John Havlicek and Chris Mullin, which is a nice coincidence because team officials have compared his playing style to those players.

In Dallas, Rigaudeau will come off the bench. He'll be asked to play point forward, a role he says he can handle because he's played point guard, shooting guard and small forward in Europe.

Rigaudeau, 31, has played the past 16 seasons professionally for Cholet (1987-95) and Pau-Orthez (1995-97) in France and Virtus Bologna (1997-2003) in Italy.

A native of France, he's a five-time French Championship MVP and a five-time French National League All-Star. He also appeared in the Italian All-Star Game twice and the FIBA All-Star Game twice. He helped France win the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics.

He was averaging 13.9 points in 15 games this season for Virtus. In 2000-01, he helped Virtus win the Italian League Championship, the Euroleague Championship and the Italian Cup Championship.