Rumors are already surging of the Golden State Warriors interest in Anfernee Simons and Collin Sexton as free agents, leaving a major hint on the future of veteran guard De'Anthony Melton this summer.
Signing Simons, in particular, would all but confirm Melton's departure from the Warriors considering the front office wouldn't be in a position to pay both while remaining under the first tax apron.
Anfernee Simons signing would confirm De'Anthony Melton's departure
Simons may need to take a significant pay cut from the four-year, $100 million contract he's just completed, but it's likely Golden State (or another team) would still need to offer him close to or all of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign him outright in free agency. Sexton, meanwhile, may be obtainable for slightly less considering he's further removed from being the 20-point scorer that both he and Simons have been previously in their career.
It would be unlikely that the Warriors could have both Sexton and Melton on the roster, and nigh on impossible to see Simons and Melton together unless the latter is willing to pick up his $3.5 million player option for next season which seems highly unlikely.
Having both, on top of Stephen Curry and Brandin Podziemski, would also lead to a fairly crowded backcourt rotation that likely wouldn't be appealing to Simons or Melton as they look to retain major on-court roles during the middle of their career.
Melton averaged 23 minutes in 49 games for Golden State this season, but will almost certainly want to bump that up next season after only just coming off a minutes restriction following his return from a torn ACL.
Warriors could just pay De'Anthony Melton instead
Given there essentially needs to be a choice between the two, there is an argument to be made for the Warriors just re-signing Melton to a bigger deal rather than chasing alternative guards like Simons and Sexton.
Melton is arguably far more versatile and a better two-way player, while he's also a clear fit playing alongside Curry despite his underwhelming form when thrown into a bigger role after the 2x MVP and Jimmy Butler went down with injury.
The problem is Melton has an extensive injury history and certainly isn't the flat out scorer that either Simons or Sexton are. For a Warrior team in desperate need of more availability and some offensive juice, you could see why they might be willing to move on from Melton and target an alternative guard in free agency.
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