De’Anthony Melton Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Grizzlies Extend QO To Melton, Making Him RFA

November 18th, 2020 at 2:02pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Grizzlies have opted to extend a qualifying offer to backup point guard De’Anthony Melton ahead of his third season, making him a restricted free agent, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype and USA Today Sports (Twitter link).

Melton’s qualifying offer is worth $1,820,564. The Rockets drafted Melton with the No. 46 pick in the 2018 draft, but traded him to the Suns for his rookie season. The 22-year-old guard out of USC played 60 games, including eight starts, during his first year with Memphis in 2019/20. He averaged 7.6 PPG, 3.7 APG, and 2.9 APG across 19.5 MPG.

With Melton now a restricted free agent, the Grizzlies have the right to match any offer sheet the 6’2″ guard signs during the coming offseason.

And-Ones: Free Agents, Jersey Ads, Bubble, Europe

November 3rd, 2020 at 4:11pm CST by Luke Adams

John Hollinger of The Athletic, who invented the PER stat during his time at ESPN, has developed a new metric called BORD$ that estimates a player’s salary value for the upcoming season. After providing an in-depth explanation of how exactly the BORD$ formula works, Hollinger has applied it to this year’s class of free agent point guards and shooting guards in an attempt to determine which players warrant the biggest investments.

Hollinger’s point guard list doesn’t include a ton of surprises — Fred VanVleet is easily the most valuable free agent at the position, with Mike Conley and Goran Dragic topping the next two tiers. Shabazz Napier, Trey Burke, and Jordan McLaughlin are among the point guards whose projections are higher than you might expect.

Applied to this year’s free agent shooting guards, the results from Hollinger’s metric are more eyebrow-raising. Grizzlies RFA-to-be De’Anthony Melton is considered the top free agent at the position by BORD$, ahead of Bogdan Bogdanovic and Evan Fournier. A pair of Bulls guards, Kris Dunn and Shaquille Harrison, also rank in Hollinger’s top seven FA shooting guards due to their defensive prowess.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

As the NBA considers potential new revenue streams to help offset the losses generated by the coronavirus pandemic, allowing a second advertisement patch on game jerseys is one idea being weighed, according to John Lombardo of SportsBusiness Journal.
David Aldridge of The Athletic takes an in-depth look at the lessons learned from the NBA’s summer bubble experiment and the takeaways that could carry over to the 2020/21 season. As Aldridge observes, while players and coaches aren’t eager to re-enter a bubble next year, the fact that it worked so well this time around will go a long way toward convincing them it’s worth doing again, if need be — even if it’s just for a short period in the postseason, like Major League Baseball did.
The coronavirus pandemic has continued to wreak havoc on European basketball leagues that have begun their 2020/21 seasons, as Ken Maguire of The Associated Press writes. Only half of the EuroLeague’s 18 clubs have played a full six-game schedule so far this season, as COVID-19 outbreaks have caused several last-minute postponements.

Dillon Brooks On Iguodala: Can’t Wait Until We Trade Him

February 4th, 2020 at 8:21am CST by Luke Adams

Before the Grizzlies defeated the Pistons on Monday night, maintaining their hold on the No. 8 seed, a report surfaced suggesting that Andre Iguodala is preparing to sit out the season if he’s not traded to one of his preferred landing spots, or bought out. After Memphis’ win, forward Dillon Brooks weighed in on the Iguodala rumors, as Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal relays.

“Andre Iguodala’s a great player. I feel like he’s doing the right thing for his career, but we don’t really care,” Brooks said. “It’s not a distraction at all. I laugh at that type of stuff.

“A guy that’s on our team that doesn’t want to be on our team,” Brooks continued. “I can’t wait ’til we find a way to trade him so we can play him and show him what really Memphis is about.”

Although no other Grizzlies players conveyed a similar sentiment to reporters, Brooks’ teammates Ja Morant and De’Anthony Melton published cryptic tweets seemingly supporting his message.

Iguodala was sent from the Warriors to the Grizzlies in a July trade as Golden State cleared salary to bring in D’Angelo Russell. Although that trade was a salary dump that netted Memphis a first-round pick, the Grizzlies are confident Iguodala can be flipped for positive value and has insisted all season long they plan to move him rather than buy him out. The team has until Thursday afternoon to make that happen.

The Grizzlies and Iguodala reportedly reached a mutual agreement in the fall to have him remain away with the team, so the front office has no issue with his absence, but it’s not hard to see why some Grizzlies players may share Brooks’ sentiment.

When Iguodala talked in September about the trade, he recalled predicting in the summer that he’d be moved to “Memphis or some s–t,” implying that it was among the worst possible outcomes. And even as the upstart Grizzlies have outperformed expectations and moved into the playoff picture, the former Finals MVP has shown zero interest in playing for the team.

While a few young Grizzlies players may be eager to show Iguodala what he’s missing out on, veteran forward Jae Crowder took a more measured stance, as Barnes details.

“I would like to keep a lot of stuff in-house but we respect what he’s done,” Crowder said of Iguodala. “He’s a Hall-of-Famer. In my eyes, he’s a Hall-of-Famer. He’s proven in this league, so as long as he handled it like a professional, I believe he is. … I would not say that he’s been a distraction at all. Like I said, he hasn’t been here. But we respect what he wants at this time of his career, and you have to respect it.”

Ja Morant Sidelined With Back Spasms

November 30th, 2019 at 5:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

Grizzlies rookie Ja Morant will be out of action on a “week-to-week basis” with back spasms, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

The star point guard first hurt his back in Monday’s game at Indiana when he collided with a camera operator after a layup attempt, writes David Cobb of The Commercial Appeal. He was helped off the court and appeared to be pointing to the middle of his upper back, Cobb adds, but later returned to the game.

Morant scored just 11 points against the Jazz last night, shooting 4 of 13 from the field, and appeared to be bothered by back pain. He is off to a strong start in his first NBA season, averaging 18.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 6.4 assists through 17 games.

Morant’s absence provides an opportunity for Tyus Jones, who came to Memphis this summer when the Timberwolves declined to match a three-year, $24MM offer sheet. He is averaging 19.3 minutes per night as a backup to Morant. Marko Guduric and De’Anthony Melton should also get an increase in playing time.

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/14/19

November 14th, 2019 at 8:57pm CST by clarkcrum

Here are Thursday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:

One day after assigning the pair, the Bucks have recalled Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Dragan Bender from the team’s G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, according to a tweet from the team’s official account (link). Bender scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the Herd’s win over the Capital City Go-Go on Wednesday, while Antetokounmpo finished with 14 points.
Like Milwaukee, the Kings recalled rookies Wenyen Gabriel and Justin James just one day after sending them both down to the team’s G League affiliate for a game (Twitter link). The Stockton Kings beat the Sioux Falls Skyforce yesterday, with Gabriel scoring 20 points and James adding 17.
Per a team press release, the Timberwolves have recalled forward Keita Bates-Diop from the Iowa Wolves, the team’s G League affiliate. Bates-Diop is averaging 22.5 points and 4.5 rebounds over two games in the G League this season.
The Clippers have recalled both center Mfiondu Kabengele and guard Derrick Walton Jr. from their G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers, the team’s official PR account tweeted out this afternoon. The pair was assigned on Tuesday.
With no practice on the schedule for today, the Grizzlies assigned guards Grayson Allen and De’Anthony Melton to the Memphis Hustle for their practice, according to a tweet from Memphis’ PR account (link). Allen’s assignment is in connection with rehab of his sore left ankle, while Melton’s is tied to a long-term conditioning and performance plan.

Grizzlies Notes: Bradley, Oubre, Morant, Melton

November 2nd, 2019 at 8:19pm CST by Arthur Hill

Avery Bradley only played 14 games with the Grizzlies, but he tells David Cobb of The Commercial Appeal that short stretch in Memphis helped him revitalize his career. Bradley re-emerged as a scorer after the Clippers shipped him to the Grizzlies at February’s trade deadline. He increased his average from 8.2 PPG in L.A. to 16.1 in Memphis and credits the freedom offered by then-coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

“J.B. gave me an opportunity to go out there and play my game,” Bradley said. “I’m thankful for that, I’m thankful for the city of Memphis. It’s home for me. My family is from Memphis and Mississippi. I’m going to miss it. It’s going to be nice when I come back and we play them there.”

The Grizzlies parted with Bradley in a cost-cutting move, waiving him in July and paying a $2MM guarantee instead of his $12.96MM salary. He signed with the Lakers a few days later for $4.8MM.

“Things were just unfortunate,” Bradley said of the end of his stay in Memphis. “There were a lot of changes. My time there was special.”

There’s more from Memphis:

Confusion shut down the Grizzlies’ attempts to trade for Kelly Oubre last season, and the roster would look much different now if that deal had gone through, Cobb notes in a mailbag column. Memphis believed it was parting with Wayne Selden and MarShon Brooks, while the Wizards were expecting to receive Dillon Brooks. Washington wound up moving Oubre to Phoenix, where he has played well. But Cobb notes that if the Grizzlies had taken on his $15MM salary, they probably couldn’t have made room for Andre Iguodala in a deal that landed them a future first-round pick from the Warriors.
The Grizzlies are thrilled with the start by first-round pick Ja Morant, whose 70 points are the most in four games by any rookie in team history, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. In addition to his obvious athleticism, Morant has impressed coaches with how quickly he has adapted to the NBA game. “He’s got great chemistry with his teammates,” head coach Taylor Jenkins said. “His IQ is kind of helping him navigate day in and day out, game after game after game and the sky’s the limit for the guy.”
De’Anthony Melton considers his rookie year with the Suns to be a “learning experience” about life in the NBA (video link from The Arizona Republic). After playing 50 games and starting 31 in his first season, Melton was sent to Memphis in July in a four-player deal. It marked the second time he had been traded, after being dealt from Houston to Phoenix before playing his first game. “I’m not worried about one year; I’m worried about 10 years, 15 years,” Melton said. “People have had crazier stories.”

NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/1/19

November 1st, 2019 at 6:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Here are Friday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:

With the Celtics dealing with frontcourt injuries, they recalled rookie center Tacko Fall from the Maine Red Claws for tonight’s game against the Knicks, Nicole Yang of the Boston Globe tweets. The 7’5” Fall made his NBA debut on Saturday, contributing four points and three rebounds in four minutes against the Knicks.
The Wizards assigned swingman C.J. Miles to the Capital City Go-Go, the team’s PR department tweets. Miles joined them for a practice as he works his way back from a foot injury.
The Grizzlies assigned forward Bruno Caboclo and guard De’Anthony Melton to the Memphis Hustle, the team’s PR department tweets. They went there for practice and then were recalled. They’ll do the same on Sunday. Both have only made brief appearances in two games this season.

Western Notes: Wolves, Hart, Suns, Melton

October 24th, 2019 at 2:10pm CST by Luke Adams

In his first offseason as the Timberwolves‘ president of basketball operations, Gersson Rosas wasn’t in position to significantly reshape the roster.

While the Timberwolves reportedly made a run at D’Angelo Russell, their roster and cap limitations made it difficult to make a splash. However, that doesn’t mean the team’s front office won’t be looking for opportunities to shake things up during the 2019/20 season, writes Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune.

“We’re at a stage where we’re going to continue to be aggressive,” Rosas said of the Timberwolves. “We don’t have our championship team yet. When you’re at that stage, you want to do less because you want to have that continuity. We’re at the opposite end right now, where we’re establishing our core group and moving forward. A lot of teams aren’t like that. … But we can’t be waiting for the phone to ring. We have to make those calls to make sure that any opportunity that we can improve ourselves, we’re taking advantage of that.”

According to Rosas, there were a few potential opportunities for the Timberwolves to make a move leading up to Monday’s roster deadline, but nothing ultimately lined up and the team simply waived Tyrone Wallace to set its roster. Still, Rosas says that are looking “every day” for “opportunities to add.”

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Pelicans wing Josh Hart has signed with CAA Sports for representation on and off the court, according to Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal, who tweets that Hart will be repped by agents Leon Rose and Aaron Mintz. The 24-year-old will have his 2020/21 option picked up by New Orleans, which will make him eligible for a rookie scale extension next year.
As Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays, Marcin Gortat became the latest NBA veteran to take a shot at the Suns, calling the team “the worst organization” he has ever played for in a recent Polish interview. Earlier this month, Draymond Green criticized Phoenix for mishandling Marquese Chriss after drafting him eighth overall in 2016.
Grizzlies guard De’Anthony Melton, acquired from Phoenix in an offseason trade, initially wasn’t expecting to make his regular-season debut until sometime in November due to a back issue. However, he was cleared for the team’s opener and made a brief appearance on Wednesday in Miami. David Cobb of The Memphis Commercial Appeal has the full story on Melton beating his recovery timeline and what the Grizzlies might expect from him in 2019/20.

Grizzlies’ Morant Ready For Camp; Melton Out 4-8 Weeks

September 26th, 2019 at 4:44pm CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies issued a series of injury updates on their players this afternoon, most notably announcing that No. 2 overall pick Ja Morant will be ready to fully participate in training camp next week. Morant, who sat out Summer League, is recovered from the minor arthroscopic procedure he underwent on his right knee in June, according to the team.

The Grizzlies also confirmed that Kyle Anderson (thoracic outlet decompression surgery), Dillon Brooks (toe surgery), and Jaren Jackson Jr. (thigh bruise) are good to go for training camp. Brooks and Jackson were dubbed “fully recovered,” while Memphis said that Anderson is “progressing as expected” in his recovery.

It wasn’t all good news for the Grizzlies though. According to the club, newly-acquired guard De’Anthony Melton has been diagnosed with a stress reaction in his back. The former Sun is undergoing off-loading and treatment to resolve the injury, and is expected to recover and resume basketball activities in about four to eight weeks.

Melton, the 46th overall pick in the 2018 draft, was traded from Houston to Phoenix a couple months after being drafted, then was dealt from the Suns to the Grizzlies earlier this summer. The 21-year-old averaged 5.0 PPG, 3.2 APG, and 2.7 RPG in 50 games (19.7 MPG) as a rookie and is expected to be Memphis’ third point guard behind Morant and Tyus Jones this season.

First though, he’ll have to get healthy. And with the Grizzlies’ opener less than four weeks away, it appears Melton will almost certainly miss the start of the regular season.

Grizzlies, Suns Swap Kyle Korver, Josh Jackson In Multi-Player Trade

July 7th, 2019 at 12:05pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 7: The trade is official, the Suns announced in a press release.

JULY 3: The Grizzlies and Suns have agreed to a trade that will send newly-acquired Memphis sharpshooter Kyle Korver to Phoenix along with Jevon Carter, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). According to Wojnarowski, the Grizzlies will receive Josh Jackson, De’Anthony Melton, a 2020 second-round pick, and a conditional 2021 second-round pick in the deal.

That 2021 Suns second-rounder will only change hands if it falls between 31-35, tweets Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian. Brooklyn will receive it if it lands between 36-60.

Because Korver is part of the Mike Conley trade with Utah that hasn’t yet been completed, this deal can’t be made official until after the one is finalized. Once both deals are done, the Grizzlies will pick up a former No. 4 overall pick (Jackson), as well as a second-rounder from last year’s draft (Melton), along with at least one future second-round pick.

In two NBA seasons, Jackson has been inconsistent for the Suns, averaging 12.3 PPG and 4.5 RPG but shooting just .415/.294/.650 in 156 total contests (25.3 MPG). He has also faced questions about his maturity and off-court behavior.

However, he’s still just 22 years old, so the Grizzlies will get the opportunity to see if they can continue to develop him and help him reach his ceiling. They’ll also have to decide by the end of October whether to pick up $8.9MM option for 2020/21 — at this point, I’d be surprised if they do.

Melton, the 46th overall pick in 2018’s draft, is another intriguing roll of the dice for Memphis, one the team has long had its eye on, per Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The former USC Trojan is considered a strong defender, and started 31 games for the Suns in his rookie season, averaging 5.0 PPG, 3.2 APG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.4 SPG in 50 total contests.

As for the Suns’ side, the move looks like it’s primarily designed to clear the cap room necessary to complete their other reported moves this week, including Ricky Rubio‘s three-year, $51MM deal. They’ll also be able to retain Kelly Oubre‘s cap hold, and will presumably see if Carter can earn some minutes in their backcourt rotation.

According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Korver is expected to be bought out by Phoenix before his $7.5MM salary for 2019/20 becomes fully guaranteed. Korver’s deal is only partially guaranteed for $3.44MM as long as he doesn’t remain under contract through July 7.

If and when Korver clears waivers, the Lakers, Bucks, and Sixers will be the frontrunners to sign him, says Wojnarowski.

As cap expert Albert Nahmad observes (via Twitter), the Grizzlies will be able to use trade exceptions to absorb Jackson’s and Melton’s contracts, generating two new trade exceptions worth $3.44MM (Korver’s partial guarantee) and $1.42MM (Carter’s salary).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.