The cavalry is coming for the Golden State Warriors. One game after Seth Curry made an impressive debut, shooting 6-for-7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, De’Anthony Melton will play his first game since tearing his ACL last season.
The Warriors signed Melton in the summer of 2024 to be a complement to Steph Curry and the team’s young guards. His combination of defense, ball handling ability, and three-point shooting made him an ideal backcourt running mate to Curry, while also letting Brandin Podziemski play off-ball when the two played together. In his brief time with the team, the Warriors had a +10.9 net rating when Melton was on the court, meaning they were trouncing opponents in his minutes.
Unfortunately, Melton played only six games before his season-ending injury, and the Warriors used his contract to acquire Dennis Schroder from the Brooklyn Nets early in the season.
He’s been rehabilitating his knee steadily, scrimmaging with the Santa Cruz Warriors at the Chase Center last week. Now he’s coming back to a Warriors team missing Curry for their upcoming three-game road trip who can use his defense and shooting, even if he’ll likely be on a minutes restriction to start.
Melton will face the Philadelphia 76ers, his team from 2022-24. The Memphis Grizzlies traded him to Philly a month after the Warriors defeated them in the second round of the 2022 playoffs, and Melton started 91 games for the Sixers, missing half of the 2023-24 season with back issues. His days in Philadelphia were numbered when the team signed Paul George to a max deal, but Melton was a good player for some excellent Sixers teams.
Steve Kerr will likely be cautious with Melton to start. Curry is out, but the Warriors still have a plethora of guards to cover backcourt minutes: Seth Curry, Podziemski, rookie Will Richard, Buddy Hield, and Tuesday’s star, Pat Spencer, not to mention their new two-way guard LJ Cryer. Draymond Green cautioned Melton not to put pressure on himself to “save” the 11-11 Warriors.
Melton is back, but the rest of the Warriors roster has a lot of question marks, or at least players listed as questionable. That includes Jimmy Butler and his knee, Jonathan Kuminga and Quinten Post and their ankles (which may have affected the 4th quarter lineups Tuesday), Al Horford and his sciatica, and Trayce Jackson-Davis and his knee. It would also be a Philadelphia homecoming for Butler, who had a successful-but-tumultuous partial season with the Sixers. You’ll never believe this, but his exit from the team was a little contentious!
The Warriors are slowly moving to Full Squad status. Unfortunately, they won’t get Curry back until after the road trip, but a minutes-restricted Melton is far better than no Melton at all.