Golden State has been winning with depth and defense this season and both of those just took a hit on Wednesday.
De’Anthony Melton will undergo left ACL surgery and will miss the remainder of the season.
De’Anthony Melton, who has missed the last two games due to a sprained left ACL, underwent further testing to determine the extent of the injury.
The tests indicated that it is in De’Anthony’s best interest to proceed with ACL surgery. He is scheduled for surgery in the near… pic.twitter.com/bdW2TOfJvs
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 21, 2024
This isn’t really a surprise.
Re: De’Anthony Melton: Surgery was always the most probable outcome. Very few ACL sprains have been treated non operatively. Hate to see him sidelined once again.
— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) November 21, 2024
Melton looked sharp enough on the court — averaging 10.3 points a game while shooting 37.1% from 3-point range and being a quality perimeter defender — that Steve Kerr had named him a starter just before Melton injured his knee. Kerr said before the Warriors game on Wednesday that Lindy Waters would continue in his starting role.
The Warriors brought Melton in on a one-year contract using the full mid-level exception of $12.8 million. While the Warriors can apply for a $6.4 million disabled player exception (and probably will, reports Anthony Slater of The Athletic), the Warriors are hard capped at the first tax apron and are just about $500,000 below that line, so they may not be able to use all of the exception.
In one sense, this will not hit the Warriors as hard as it might most teams. The vast majority of teams play an eight- or nine-man rotation, and losing a part of that for the season stings. This season’s Warriors have been going 11 or 12 deep for Steve Kerr, somewhat muting the pain of losing one specific player.
That said, when the playoffs come, Melton was one of those players Kerr could lead on for heavy minutes, and now he is out.
