De'Anthony Melton's patience, perspective clarified bigger picture with Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Video games are just one outlet that got De’Anthony Melton through another long rehab. Hours controlling a world through joysticks when his own body kept having setbacks as an elite athlete in his mid-20s.
Melton, now 27, scoured streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Max, going through a number of shows and currently is watching The Sopranos. Books were another friend to him, too, and Melton shared Thursday after Warriors practice that The 48 Laws of Power and The Power of Now are two that he read in a time when basketball wasn’t an option.
Having to be taken to physical therapy appointments by his uncle and the worry of hitting his surgically repaired left knee getting in and out of the car are memories that will remain. Those days also will always be part of his story.
A closed chapter of his own book that’s being written day by day.
“Man, just to hear I’ve been playing for over a month, I’m excited about it,” Melton said Thursday. “I’m feeling well. Taking it game by game. I think adjusting to different teams, different coverages and different players is what I’m trying to get more acclimated with.”
Right when Melton last season was proving what a perfect fit he is next to Steph Curry, he sustained a partial tear of his left ACL that eventually required season-ending surgery after only six games. Back to rehab he went.
The player Melton knows he is, the player the Philadelphia 76ers thought he could be from seeing what he was becoming in Memphis, and the player some might have forgotten about in between is who balled off the bench Wednesday night in the Warriors’ 120-113 win against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Melton scored a season-high 22 points, second to Curry’s 31, on 8-of-12 shooting and 5 of 9 on threes, three rebounds and one steal. For the first time all season, he played 25 minutes. For the first time since Dec. 27, 2023, he scored 20 or more points.
But Wednesday night’s win also was only Melton’s 25th game played since scoring 22 points in a 76ers victory against the Orlando Magic more than two years ago.
“It’s just crazy to even think about, honestly. But I’m just so blessed. I’m so blessed just to be in this position I am today,” Melton said. “To have the team that I have around me today and to still be able to lace them up is always important for me.
“Like I said, just keep taking it day by day, game by game. I think before I was just trying to sum up everything in my next game or my next play. Now I’m just trying to be more free about stuff and kind of cut myself some grace too.”
Since January of 2024, Melton’s career has been halted. Back complications in the 2023-24 season held him out of the first three games of the new year when he was with the 76ers before playing two and missing the next 18. He returned for three more and then was out for another 21.
After playing a career-high 77 games his first season as a Sixer, Melton played just 38 his second season. His first season in a Warriors jersey was even more unfortunate and lasted all of three weeks.
On the one-year anniversary of his ACL surgery, Melton made his 2025-26 season debut for the Warriors and again gave a reminder of the player he is. Melton closed a last-second loss where he scored 14 points and had three assists, two steals and a blocked shot in 21 minutes. He had another strong performance of 13 points and three 3-pointers in his second game but then shooting struggles began and the Warriors had a turbulent month of December.
Each loss weighed on him and the weight Melton was putting on his back became heavier by the game. Confidence didn’t waver but he tightened, and the self-inflicted pressure couldn’t let him play free. Melton went five straight games without making a three in 15 attempts and averaged 3.4 points in that stretch.
“I wanted it so bad,” Melton said. “I just wanted to be productive and especially win games so bad that I was kind of putting it all on me.”
Conversations from teammates, coaches, and Melton’s inner circle brought grace back to him and made him remember he’s allowed it, talking about how much has changed throughout the NBA in the last two years and just how hard it is to even play against the best in the world. What his body went through gave Melton a lot of time to himself to think, and a new perspective with that.
So of course all he could do was rush when he got that first taste of being back in the game.
The Warriors realized right away in last season’s training camp what an important player Melton is to their success. Curry after Wednesday’s win against the Bucks explained how Melton is what every team is looking for out of today’s shooting guard.
“He’s just versatile,” Curry said. “Defensively, he can guard on the ball, point of attack. He plays passing lanes. He’s just smart. Quick on his feet and has a crazy wingspan where he can be a pest out there.
“And then offensively, he’s a solid knock-down shooter. Can catch and shoot, but he’s one of the few that has a pace to him where when he puts the ball on the floor he can create something. … He’s a prototypical starting 2 guard and he’s played on good teams, so he knows what that level looks like. I’m happy that he’s healthy and able to do it for us.”
Steve Kerr after Thursday’s practice said the prototypical shooting guard is someone who, in the simplest of terms, makes plays. That it’s a playmaking league. Someone who can dribble, pass and shoot reliably, and make a difference defensively.
“He’s a two-way player, excellent defender. But when he’s out there I can have him handle the ball, I can have him off the ball,” Kerr said. “You see the shooting is starting to come around and it’s fun to see him really finding his groove after missing most of two years.”
Melton isn’t playing both sides of back-to-backs to preserve his health and has missed three games, yet is second on the Warriors in plus/minus (plus-57) since making his Dec. 4 debut. He also isn’t starting games, which he did in the final two he played last season next to Curry when he averaged 16.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and went 11 of 23 from the field and 7 of 14 from 3-point range. Kerr says that until he gets the green light to give Melton 30 minutes, he’ll keep playing him around 25.
He’ll also bump that to 30 as soon as he’s allowed. Notice that Curry said prototypical starting 2 guard. Melton is the long-armed defender he needs next to him that also can create, make shots and score 15 to 20 or more points, knowing that the impact still will be there in games he scores below that.
Curry and Melton’s sample size together this season is 11 games and 116 minutes, and their 124.2 offensive rating is already the best among anybody next to Steph. Wednesday was Melton’s 13th game this season and the fourth he has made multiple threes. The Warriors are 4-0 in those games, and Melton has averaged around 23 minutes in them.
Going day by day is all Melton wants and asks for. He’s happy to have regained that mindset. It’s helped him see the big picture, and he also unapologetically admits he wants to be the Warriors’ starting shooting guard once the biggest games are here, fully trusting his and the team’s process.
“I think starting in this league is something everybody should hope for, honestly,” Melton said. “I’m willing to do whatever the team takes. … Just that ramp up stage is most important for me. I want to make sure I’m accessible and available for this team in May and the month after that. I’m not trying to be too worried about January. I feel like that’s what was kind of hindering my play in December, worrying so much about the full season.
“So I just want to take it game by game and see where that goes.”
Melton accepted the grace granted to him, and in return, can give the Warriors the perfect partner for Curry as the team gets closer to what they pictured when he’s healthy.
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