Young guard Brandin Podziemski still has dreams of becoming a star at the Golden State Warriors, but the hopes of that actually happening may be crushed by the expected arrival of former guard De'Anthony Melton in free agency.
While Jonathan Kuminga's free agency continues to loom over the offseason and is stalling other potential moves, there is an expectation that both Melton and fellow veteran Al Horford will sign once the future of the young forward is resolved.
De'Anthony Melton could take big minutes from Brandin Podziemski
Melton is coming off an ACL injury sustained in just his sixth game for the Warriors last season, but he could still prove one of the steals of the offseason if he does sign a minimum contract and can return fully healthy.
However, that might come at the expense of Podziemski as the incumbent starting shooting guard, with Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area claiming that the Warriors overused the 22-year-old last season and that he'd be better served in a 15-20 minute per game role.
“I think he's a good player, but I think they overused him at times. They asked him to do too much, and that's when he gets in trouble sometimes. And he gets into the over dribbling and stuff like that," Poole said on the latest episode of Dubs Talk. "So if you just settle him in and say, 'okay BP, you're gonna play 15-20 minutes a night, and whether you play more or less would depend on how effective you are.'”
Podziemski averaged 26.8 minutes during the regular season, including 29.7 minutes after the All-Star break when he really rounded into excellent form. That then went up to 32.1 minutes during the playoffs, and would have been even more if not for illness that limited him to just 14 minutes during Game 2 of the first-round series against the Houston Rockets.
Even accounting for the boost he got in minutes due to Stephen Curry's injury in the second-round, it's almost impossible to see a young, improving guard taking such an enormous step backwards in role during his third season.
The only chance of that happening is if Melton returns to full health and is even better than he was pre-injury, solidifying himself as the starting shooting guard who needs to play over 30 minutes per game.
That's not entirely impossible given Melton is still only 27-years-old, but it's still hard to see how Podziemski would play less than 20 minutes as a third guard off the bench. The former 19th overall pick averaged 15.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists after the All-Star break, shooting 43.8% from 3-point range as the Warriors surged up into a playoff spot thanks to a 20-7 record.