Please come back, Stephen Curry.<\/p>\n
Those five words live inside every member of the Warriors, from CEO Joe Lacob through the front office, to coach Steve Kerr and his staff to the players who step onto the floor. They\u2019re all thinking it and wanting it, with some even uttering it in some form.<\/p>\n
Nobody can be saying it to himself more plaintively than De\u2019Anthony Melton. Not Draymond Green, or Brandin Podziemski or Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is \u2013 and they desperately need Curry, too.<\/p>\n
But Melton will be the first man to run over and hug Curry once he is cleared to play<\/a>.<\/p>\n With Curry out since Jan. 30, missing the last 25 games, Melton has been fighting through various aches and pains, trying to answer the scoring challenge, but his offense has shriveled like a swap-meet T-shirt.<\/p>\n Melton\u2019s latest exasperating performance came Sunday night in Golden State\u2019s 116-93 loss<\/a> to the Nuggets in Denver. He played 25 scoreless minutes, missing all five of his field-goal attempts, walking out of Ball Arena lugging a team-worst minus-29.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s banged up,\u201d Kerr told reporters in Denver. \u201cHis thumb is really bothering him, and I think he’s pressing a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Melton is pressing because he wants to fill a significant portion of the Steph void on offense. And because he has a $3.5 million player contract option for next season that he\u2019s expected to decline and enter NBA free agency, where he can expect a bigger payday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Melton surely entered January imagining a pay raise. He was playing alongside Curry, and their backcourt partnership showed enough promise that it could become, in the absence of Jimmy Butler III, the foundation of Golden State\u2019s offense. They would be, from any objective view, the team\u2019s primary scorers.<\/p>\n Melton averaged 14.7 points per game in January, shooting 48.3 percent from the field, including 37.3 percent from deep. He was playing impressive defense, which Curry believed made him an ideal sidekick.<\/p>\n Without Curry, though, Melton has endured more performances he\u2019d like to forget than those he wants to remember. In the 20 games he has played since Curry limped to the sidelines, Melton is averaging 13.9 points per game on 39.4-percent shooting from the field, including 27.0 percent from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n He\u2019s playing through discomfort because, well, his team needs him, and he\u2019d like to generate leverage toward a new contract. In several recent games, including Sunday, Melton\u2019s desire to be productive becomes so intentional that it becomes detrimental.<\/p>\n \u201cHe’s dribbling into traffic,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cA couple of those we didn’t space well around him. He had one kind of baseline drive, and we didn’t have anybody in the corner. We have to have an outlet for our drivers, and when our spacing breaks down, we get into those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n And the offense grinds to a halt. Or vanishes. Melton has made 19 consecutive starts but has been scoreless in two of his past three games.<\/p>\n Melton played six consecutive games before he was a late scratch Friday night, when the Warriors defeated the Washington Wizards<\/a> at Chase Center. He\u2019s trying to make a dash for cash, and his body is slowing him down.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think how my body was feeling and stuff, it was just best to give myself a rest,\u201d Melton told reporters at the team\u2019s morning shootaround in Denver. \u201cEspecially with my knee and everything, sometimes it’s better just to not try to push through and just relax.\u201d<\/p>\n There is no doubt that Melton feels disgust with putting forth a level of play that, frankly, is beneath his skills. He\u2019s a good basketball player going through a miserable performance phase when the Warriors need him to be one of their leaders<\/a>.<\/p>\n There is good money in such a role, and the Warriors would like to bring Melton back beyond this season. If they can afford him, which seems a bit easier with his recent play.<\/p>\n \u201cDe\u2019Anthony will bounce back,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cHe’s had a great season. His last couple games have been tough, but he’s banged up. We’ll help him get right. I have total faith in his ability to bounce back.\u201d<\/p>\n The Warriors need Melton to bounce back. He wants to show the franchise and himself that even in a season that has trended downward, he is worthy of being rewarded.<\/p>\n Then, too, Curry knows who he wants at his side when he returns. When that day comes, nobody will be happier than Melton.<\/p>\n