Why Melton Should Start at Shooting Guard over Podz, Moody, Richard, Hield

This season, the Golden State Warriors have featured 13 different starting lineups.

The most volatile position has been starting shooting guard.

In the first eight games of the season, Brandin Podziemski got the SG start four times, and Jimmy Butler got it the other four.

Then it went to Will Richard, and then Moses Moody, and then back to Podz, and then back to Butler.

Next, the Warriors went with Richard six straight games. Then Moody. Then Richard again. Then Moody again. And finally, it's been Richard four straight games (in the two games Buddy Hield started, I'm counting Richard as the 2-guard and Hield as the 3).

The Warriors need some starting lineup continuity. My suggestion is going with a new option entirely as the starting 2-guard: De'Anthony Melton. Here's why.

Melton Is the Best Defender

De'Anthony Melton has played in just two games this season, but it's already become clear he's recovered from his November 2024 ACL injury.

In just 38 minutes, Melton has already been the primary defender on 23 field-goal attempts, per NBA.com. Opponents are shooting just 43.5 percent in that small sample size.

Melton has always been a solid defensive player. In his seven seasons heading into this one, he has improved his team's defense in six of them, per Cleaning the Glass.

Dunks and Threes estimates that Melton's Defensive EPM will be 1.6, which ranks in the 95th percentile. Podz (1.4) and Moody (1.2) are not far behind, but Podz is a much worse point-of-attack defender, and Moody is slightly worse as well. Richard (0.2) is about average on the defensive end, while Hield (-0.9) is a minus.

Steph-Melton Duo Was Amazing Last Year

Whoever starts at shooting guard should enhance Stephen Curry. Melton proved he could do that last year.

In the six games before Melton suffered the ACL injury, he played 103 possessions with Curry. The team's net rating was plus-37.0.

Now, Steph tends to have a good net rating with most players. Here are the numbers over the last two seasons for the players in question:

Moody and Steph
2024-25: +9.1; 2025-26: +6.7

Podz and Steph
2024-25: +11.6; 2025-26: +8.0

Hield and Steph
2024-25: +10.6; 2025-26: -6.1

Richard and Steph
2025-26: -5.6

These numbers suggest Curry plays slightly better with Podz than Moody, and they also say for the time being that Richard and Hield aren't realistic starting options. Of course Melton's plus-37.0 net rating with Curry wins out, but we'll have see where it lands in a larger sample size.

Melton Should Fit Well in Starting Lineups with Post

Lost in the Pat Spencer emergence last week was Quinten Post's steady play. The second-year center was a big offensive and defensive focal point in all three road games, and he passed with flying colors.

Frankly, it would be a surprise if he wasn't starting on Friday and for the foreseeable future.

Assuming the locked-in starters are Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green and Post, the Warriors will want a point-of-attack defender who essentially guards the opponent's best ball-handler so Curry and Butler don't have to.

That's not Podz's game.

If the Warriors were starting Green at the 5 and Moody at the 3, then you could argue that Podz would fit better than Melton because of his superior rebounding ability.

But with Post starting, the Warriors should turn to Melton or Moody for point-of-attack defense.

Between those two, Melton is a slightly worse career three-pointer shooter (36.8 for Melton; 37.1 for Moody), but he's a better secondary creator.

I could see the Warriors going with Moody if he's on a shooting hot streak. They need that fifth starter to knock down their open looks.

But if the difference in three-point shooting is negligible like it is right now, Melton should pretty easily be ahead as a better defender and better ball-handler/passer.