As expected, the Warriors have officially signed free agent guard De’Anthony Melton, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), Melton’s new minimum-salary deal will cover two seasons, with a player option on year two. That means he’ll earn $3,080,921 in 2025/26, with a $3,451,779 option for ’26/27.
Because it’s a multiyear contract, the Warriors’ cap hit in year one will be Melton’s actual salary instead of just $2,296,274, the minimum for a veteran with two years of NBA experience. That will move Golden State slightly closer to its second-apron hard cap.
Melton, 27, signed a one-year, $12.8MM contract with the Warriors last offseason and got off to a good start with the team, averaging 10.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 20.2 minutes per game through his first six outings. However, he tore his ACL in that sixth game, ending his season. He was later traded to Brooklyn in a deal for Dennis Schröder and finished the season with the Nets.
Melton remains in the late stage of his rehab from that ACL tear, according to Anthony Slater of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that Golden State expects him to miss the start of the regular season. The Warriors like the progress Melton has made, Slater adds, but will take a cautious approach with his return.
The club also confirmed (via Twitter) that it has signed Seth Curry, whose agreement was previously reported. Curry was reportedly expected to receive a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deal, which won’t count against the cap.
With the Warriors seemingly unable to carry a full 15-man roster into the regular season, the expectation is that Curry will be waived before the start of the season and potentially return a little later this year, once the team can fit a prorated minimum-salary deal below its hard cap.
The Warriors now have a full 21-man preseason roster.
I imagine Melton’s player option was the cost of asking him to wait on the JK situation
The key to GSW success this season: identifying stable, 10-man-per-game rotations, with fixed combinations, ASAP.
With so many old and injury-prone players, there should be opportunity for everyone. But the default can’t be a 13-man rotation.
Lineup chaos the last 2 seasons cost GWS several unncecessary losses through January, and forced the team to over-extend themselves in the 2nd half. The lesson should be learned, but I worry that Kerr will feel the need to use another 13-man rotation.
We can’t have another record-setting 50 different starting lineups in 60 games. Even Steph and Draymond were complaining about it by December. The obvious costs are offensive turnovers, but there will be more missed assignments at both ends of the floor. And it effects team morale.
If we’re hearing Kerr say “I’m still looking for combinations” in December, we’re in trouble. Fingers crossed he’s learned his lesson.
Watching from a distance, it baffled me that he never figured out his rotations last season. The way Kuminga got jerked around, man oh man. Hard to believe he’s one of the most successful coaches of all time.
Hoping for one last hurrah, all but Draymond are very likeable.
There are very few statistical measure of bad coaching, but one is how often you play statistically inferior players at the expense of obviously better players.
A coach must use his bench to some extent in order to rest starters. And sometimes match-ups dictate the use a lesser player more. But it’s easy to statistically detect extremes, and Kerr was 3-4 standard deviations from normal through January of last season. That’s what happens when you go 14 players deep. You end up giving > 17 mpg at SF to G-Leaguer Lindy Waters, who Kerr called “one of our best players” as Kuminga and Moody looked on from the bench.
Kerr’s excuse all the way through the trade deadline was “I’m just trying to find combinations”. Of course, the one combination he refused to try was the one that made GSW the 2nd best team in the NBA (after Boston), in the 2nd half of the previous season. In 2023-24, no lineup of players in the West Division was as good as Curry + Podz + Dray + Wiggins + Kuminga. Yet, even through all the losses and the NBA-record setting number of different lineups would Kerr use that lineup.
One of the problem I see is finding playing time for all the players. How many minutes does the second team get? Kerr will also need to not over play Butler, Green, Halford, and Curry minutes.