De’Anthony Melton to undergo season-ending surgery

Awful news.

The first month of the 2024-25 NBA season has gone off almost without a hiccup for the Golden State Warriors, but that came to a crashing halt on Wednesday. According to a press release from the team, starting shooting guard De’Anthony Melton will undergo season-ending surgery for his injured left ACL.

While Melton was initially listed as day-to-day, the mood had shifted recently. During the team’s off-day on Tuesday, coach Steve Kerr had stated that the team was “very concerned” about Melton’s sprained ACL. And unfortunately, the worst news materialized.

Melton was one of the team’s prize offseason acquisitions, with the Dubs signing the perpetually-underrated guard to a one-year, $12.8 million contract. After taking a few games to get up to speed with his new team, and missing a chunk of games with an injury, Melton was inserted into the starting lineup, forming an exceptional backcourt with Steph Curry. In his two games as a starter, Melton averaged 16.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game, while shooting 50.0% from three-point range on 7.0 attempts per game, and playing phenomenal defense.

It’s a brutal loss for the Warriors, as Melton had clearly been one of their best players this year. And it’s a heartbreaking injury for Melton, who seemed to be next in line in a long list of veterans to spend a year with the Warriors, up their value, and cash out big time in free agency.

With Melton out for the year, Kerr will need to find a replacement in the starting lineup. In Melton’s recent absence Kerr had turned to Lindy Waters III, but that had likely been to keep the bench rotations intact, since Waters has been out of the rotation when the Warriors were healthy. Kerr will likely look for a more permanent solution (Moses Moody would seem to be the most logical choice, unless he goes back to the season-opening lineup by putting Jonathan Kuminga in the starting five), while Mike Dunleavy Jr. will surely be poking around for an impact trade.

If you need a sliver of a silver lining, this would certainly increase the chances of Melton staying on the Warriors next year. But that’s not exactly something that will make him or the team feel better.

Heal up, De’Anthony. We’ll be thinking of you.