After previously signing Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis over the past week, the Golden State Warriors moved to bring back another key player on Wednesday in reuniting with De'Anthony Melton on a two-year, $11 million contract.
While many fans are seeing Melton's deal as reasonable value, they're also lumping the veteran guard in with Porzingis and Horford as players the Warriors will have to manage and who add to their injury concerns entering next season.
Warriors won't have to manage De'Anthony Melton next season
Melton might have an injury history, but he's a 28-year-old who, by the end of last season, was off a minutes restriction and started playing in back-to-backs. That's an important detail when it comes to this re-signing, and makes it unfair to place him in the same group as Porzingis and Horford.
The 6'2" guard averaged nearly 25 minutes per game after the All-Star break -- a number that's around his correct playing time regardless of any restrictions. Further removed from the torn ACL he suffered in November 2024, and with a full offseason/pre-season to actually work on his game rather than focusing on rehabilitation, Melton should be in the best physical condition he's been in for a few seasons.
Unlike Porzingis, Horford and so many of Golden State's other veteran players, Melton should actually be on the improve rather than being on the downturn of his career. He belongs in a different class of players in the middle of his career -- a class the Warriors don't have enough players in.
Some individual improvement, combined with the Warriors putting him in the right role, and this Melton contract should be a massive win for the franchise while setting him up to opt out of the following season's player option to earn more in free agency next year.
Warriors appear like they're running it back after Melton signing
If there's a reason for criticism with this signing, it's not the idea Golden State will have to manage Melton throughout the regular season, but rather that they appear to be running back the same team that just finished 10th in the Western Conference.
Obviously things change drastically if they complete their pursuit of LeBron James in free agency, but failing that or a major trade, the Warriors look largely the same and will start next season with nearly $70 million on the sidelines with Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody.
That's the major problem here in the wake of the Horford, Porzingis and Melton deals, yet the front office also deserves some time to see what they can pull off in the next few days to change the outlook going forward.
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