Grading Warriors' Decision to Re-Sign De'Anthony Melton

De'Anthony Melton and the Golden State Warriors agreed to a two-year, $11 million contract on Wednesday, per ESPN's Shams Charania.

The contract has a player option for the second season.

Melton was likely signed with the bi-annual exception, which means the Warriors didn't use any of their mid-level exception to bring him back. Their LeBron James pursuit should be essentially unaffected by Melton's contract.

Let's hand out a grade from the Warriors' perspective on the Melton contract.

Grading the Melton Signing

Back in 2024 free agency, the Warriors gave Melton the entire non-taxpayer mid-level exception of X. I remember thinking that was a bargain for a 25-year-old who excels at defending guards and was shooting 38.3 percent from three over his last four seasons.

Six games into the 2024-25 season, Melton tore his ACL. With teams knowing that he wouldn't be ready for the start of the 2025-26 season, his free-agent market was minimal. He had to settle for a $3.1 million salary with the Warriors.

Melton had a solid 2025-26 season with Golden State. He had the second-best net rating on the team, per Cleaning the Glass, and he didn't look limited athletically.

The only issue with his campaign was his 29.4 three-point percentage.

It's often said that players who suffer ACL tears don't return to previous levels until they are a year removed from the injury.

So there is reason to believe Melton will be better this season than he was last season.

Yet the free-agent market was once again seemingly not high on him.

That feels like a mistake from the rest of the NBA and a blessing for the Warriors.

Melton has a long track record of being a pretty good three-point shooter. It feels like teams were punishing him too much for one bad season.

If he returns to form from downtown, the Warriors will be getting a player worth at least the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception of $15 million.

He continues to be an excellent on-ball defender, as his 85th-percentile Defensive EPM suggests. He's a perfect fit in a secondary ball-handler role, where he can pick his spots to score inside or playmake.

At times, he looked overburdened on offense during the 2025-26 season when Stephen Curry and/or Jimmy Butler were injured.

But at some point they will both be healthy at the same time, and when they are, Golden State has to be prioritizing players who have complementary skills to help the two stars.

Melton is a great complement for both.

Even if the Warriors didn't have a massive need for on-ball defense, this would have been a great contract. But it's even better considering Moses Moody's knee injury left the Dubs without good perimeter defensive options.

Grade: A

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