Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton has been diagnosed with a sprained ACL in his left knee and will undergo additional testing, the team announced (via Twitter). A return timeline has yet to be established, but the 26-year-old will miss at least Friday’s game vs. Memphis.
It’s an unfortunate development for both Melton and Golden State. The former second-round pick had played well the past two games — both victories — starting in the backcourt alongside Stephen Curry, averaging 16.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals on .478/.500/.667 shooting in 26.6 minutes per contest.
While he was able to finish the game, Melton was limping late in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s win over Dallas, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Melton just returned to action last week after missing five straight games with a back strain. He was also hampered by back problems in 2023/24 for Philadelphia, causing him to miss 40 of the final 45 regular season games.
A versatile defender who contributes in multiple areas on the court, Melton will hit free agency again next summer after signing a one-year, $12.8MM contract with Golden State over the offseason. Gary Payton II, Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody are among the candidates for more playing time with Melton out.
Moses Moody here’s your chance. I hope you make the most of it. Melton should be out about 2-4 weeks my guess.
It will be Podz who will take Melton minutes
Aren’t you the dude who has been singing praise for Podz while he sucks? Podz almost lost us the whole game the other night.
It’s BEEN time for Moody to play.
Bummer. And terrible for a guy in his contract year. A big blow to GSW in any other year, but Podz, Hield, GP2, and Moody can fill in ably.
Assuming no tearing to the ACL (which we don’t know), best case is Melton returns 4 weeks. But I gotta think Kerr will now view Melton as too injury prone (this is the third different injury since pre-season) to count on for the starting lineup.
Worst possible news because Warriors were finding their identity. That being said, melton had history with injuries. It’s the same situation with GP2 and Wiggins. They were 2 of my favorite players during our last title run. But then, they have really gone unreliable last 2 yrs for whatever reasons. They were simply not available. Hopefully, they are both ready to go for the whole year but I do have my doubts.
Maybe Melton’s injury, assuming he returns in 1-2 months, is a blessing in disguise?
Just as the team was elevated by winning multiple games without Steph, Melton’s absence gives Podz, Moody, and JK more chance to contribute. The more contributors, the greater the collective spirit.
Most of the league has injured starters. We should expect to have more injuries because we’re no different. The value of a deep bench is in maintaining quality of team play when injuries happen… not in being able to play 13 guys in 1 game.
It definitely is for Podz and Kuminga. I suspect GP2 will get more minutes too. Moody is definitely improved from last year especially in confidence and more assertive.
Podz has not looked right since getting sick. Hopefully he gets back to the way he was playing. GP2 will get the minutes since Melton defense will be missed. Melton is not a guy any team will give a big contract to since he is always hurt.