Veteran guard De'Anthony Melton has been one of the major positives for the Golden State Warriors up until the All-Star break, having made a succesful return from the torn ACL suffered in his first stint with the franchise last season.
Melton is providing huge value to the Warriors right now considering he's making a measly (by NBA standards) $3.1 million this season, but that's also the exact reason why the 27-year-old is playing himself off the team if his form is to continue over next two months.
De'Anthony Melton is playing himself right off the Warriors
No Golden State player has been more impactful than Melton from a plus-minus perspective since his return in early December. The Warriors are +219 in his minutes on the floor, while the now-injured Jimmy Butler ranks second at +104, and Gui Santos third at +81.
Even during Wednesday's 126-113 home loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Melton was a +12 in a starting role, while Quinten Post (+1) was the only other teammate to record a positive plus-minus in the 13-point defeat.
The wild aspect to these numbers is that Melton still has plenty of room for improvement. He's averaging 11.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game, but is shooting only 42.4% from the floor and 29.5% from 3-point range.
Despite those underwhelming shooting percentages, Melton has clearly proved he's worth far more than the $3.5 million player option he has for next season. Unless things go drastically awry over the remaining 27 games of the season, it feels like a fait accompli that Melton will opt out to become an unrestricted free agent and test the market again.
Whether Golden State will be in a position to even have the opportunity to re-sign Melton could be dictated by a number of factors. That starts with veteran forward Draymond Green who has a $27.7 million player option for next season, while Al Horford too has a $6 million option to return for a 20th NBA season.
Last week's addition of Kristaps Porzingis also adds a complicated element to the franchise's free agency plans. Will the Warriors prioritize Porzingis over Melton, and if so what kind of the deal could the Latvian big man be looking for? This is all without mentioning Gui Santos and Quinten Post, both of who will be restricted free agents and seemingly looking for raises from their current rookie deals.
It all combines to make life difficult to retain Melton even if Golden State desperately wants to, with the eight-year veteran arguably playing too well for the franchise to keep over the longer term.