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When De’Anthony Melton shows his teeth, it’s usually with his patented ear-to-ear smile.
Not this time.
Early in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ Feb. 24 game against the Pelicans, the 6-foot-2 Melton burst toward the rim, exploded off his left foot, and jammed a dunk over 6-foot-10 New Orleans center Karlo Matkovic.
Rather than smirk, Melton scowled.
“When I got here, even the coaches, it was like, ‘We didn’t know you could do some of this stuff,’” he said. “I’ve always been able to do it.”
Melton’s surgically repaired left knee provided the platform for the poster. His torn ACL ended his first stint with the Warriors prematurely, but he’s delivering everything they could’ve asked for in the encore. The combo guard is averaging a career-high 13 points per game, even while his 3-point shot has been uncharacteristically off. Melton has the best plus-minus on the team; the Warriors have won the two-way guard’s minutes by 195 total points.
Nine days after Melton’s huge dunk against the Pelicans, he converted the game-winning putback layup to seal a stunning win in Houston. That tap was the high-water mark of Melton’s latest task: trying to keep the Warriors above water while Steph Curry has been sidelined by a runner’s knee injury that will keep him out for at least five more games.
Melton has done it, per usual, with a smile.
And a hint of defiance.
“Throughout my career, I always feel like I’ve stepped up when the best player’s been down,” Melton told The Standard. “In Memphis, with Ja [Morant] going down, and the success we had with that. Even in Philly, when Joel [Embiid] went down, and me and Tyrese [Maxey] running the show. I just think people haven’t always watched me. You know what I mean?”
This stretch isn’t the only time Melton has had to step up while a star teammate has been sidelined. | Source: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
While Melton might think some of his NBA career has flown under the radar, he doesn’t mind that the outside world doesn’t know much about his personal life. He’s not especially fond of opening up about his upbringing in the San Fernando Valley.
He grew up in a big extended family, with siblings and half-siblings, practically everyone an athlete. The physicality he plays with comes from youth football and from playing pickup hoops against his family on outdoor courts in Los Angeles and the Barrington Recreation Center in Brentwood.
“The family, we were kind of shocked by him being in the NBA,” said Melton’s uncle Stephen Eushery. “If he made it to the NFL, we wouldn’t have been shocked. He was a football player growing up.”
His middle school basketball team at Valley Academy played on a carpet instead of a hardwood court. It wasn’t until he got to Crespi Carmelite High School that he focused solely on hoops. His Crespi coaches sometimes picked him up and dropped him off as Melton didn’t have a ride, head coach Russell White said. Some mornings, they brought him breakfast or gave him a lift to school.
“He was surrounded by a lot of negativity growing up,” Eushery said. “He is a blessing. I tell everybody: He is the best of us. Not just because he’s in the NBA, just because he’s a good person.”
Melton stayed out of trouble, stayed positive. Stayed smiling.
“And it’s a good one, man,” said White. “It’s a good smile. It radiates. Even though he was quiet, he found a way of having a presence on campus because of that smile.”
White relied on him even when Melton was a raw freshman because of his all-around play. Melton eventually led Crespi to back-to-back state titles, sealing the 2015 championship with a block as time expired. He graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer.
Despite Melton’s high school accolades, USC was the only Power 5 school to offer him a scholarship. He joined the starting lineup early in his freshman season and never left, helping the Trojans to a program-record 26 wins in the 2016-17 season.
Andy Enfield, Melton’s Trojans head coach, called him “one of the most humble and unassuming players I’ve ever coached.” Enfield, who has been coaching at the NBA or NCAA levels since 1994, didn’t have to scold or yell at Melton. He leaned on sarcasm instead.
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“He never really got rattled,” Enfield said. “I’d just say, ‘Hey, you might want to guard that guy next time, De’Anthony’ if he just scored a bucket. That’s all we’d have to say to him; then he’d lock him down for the next 15, 20 minutes.”
Melton wasn’t allowed to play his sophomore season as he got sucked into the bureaucracy of an FBI and school investigation (opens in new tab) involving bribery. He was never named in the FBI’s complaint or found guilty of any wrongdoing, but the circumstances hurt his draft stock and tanked the Trojans’ postseason chances.
“It was devastating to him, to our team,” Enfield said. “That was really, really hard. He just showed up every day in practice and won every drill and scrimmage again. With a smile on his face.”
Even though Melton starred at Crespi, he was overlooked by most NCAA powerhouses. | Source: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press
Eushery, Melton’s uncle, longtime personal assistant, and roommate, remembers how frustrated Melton would get over the summer during ACL rehabilitation. He could hardly move for weeks after the December 2024 surgery. Daily tasks were uncomfortable. Eushery would drive slowly to the physical therapy clinic at the border of Santa Monica and Brentwood — even small bumps in the road would irritate Melton’s recovering left knee.
The eighth-year NBA guard chilled on the couch with his video games and binged TV. There were days when he was the only one who made it to physical therapy, as others were affected by the Palisades fire.
When Melton suffered his torn ACL six games into the Warriors’ season, the organization was empathetic. The injury left Melton without basketball, which he calls his “escape.” He didn’t hold any grudges after Golden State shipped him out to Brooklyn for Dennis Schroder. He remembers the front office telling him to get his body right for a possible reunion.
“If I didn’t rehab the right way, and I didn’t do stuff the right way, when they evaluated me, they wouldn’t have wanted me,” Melton said.
Melton felt like the Warriors valued him. They showed him love. At his price, a $3 million minimum contract, he could’ve signed anywhere. But choosing to return to Golden State was an easy decision, he said.
Injuries are by far the biggest reason Melton has bounced around the league in his eight seasons: Phoenix to Memphis to Philadelphia to Golden State. Perhaps that contributes to his feeling of being overlooked. Does that lack of appreciation bother him?
“Yeah, a little bit,” Melton said, flashing a grin. “Just because you realize and understand your success, know your roles in certain success. And you know the role you played. But at the same time, it just puts more of a chip on your shoulder. It’s not more so you want recognition; it’s more so of you going and taking respect.”
Melton was forced to sit out his entire sophomore season at USC. | Source: Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Melton has done just that this season. Since returning exactly one year from the date he underwent surgery, he has been one of the Warriors’ most reliable contributors.
He’s a perfect complement to Curry; the duo have won the minutes they’ve shared by 15.1 points per 100 possessions. Even with Melton on the court and Curry off, the Warriors have a +8.9 net rating.
Melton’s Daily Plus Minus (opens in new tab), a metric that estimates player impact, ranks in the 92nd percentile in the league — higher than comparable players like Nickeil Alexander-Walker (79th percentile), Cason Wallace (82nd), and Ayo Dosunmu (50th). Alexander-Walker just signed a four-year, $62 million deal; Wallace is on pace for a major contract extension; and Dosunmu got traded for four second-round picks and two prospects at the deadline.
Since Jan. 30, when Curry last played, Melton is averaging 15.6 points per game while handling increased playmaking duties. He’s often the only Warrior who can consistently break the paint from the perimeter. The Warriors are 5-10 in that span, an up-and-down result reflective of their reliance on non-stars like Melton.
Still, he’s come a long way from throwing bounce passes off his middle- school carpet. Practically every team in the league could use Melton’s skill set, and he’s on the path to cashing in.
For the Warriors to re-sign Melton, they might have to get creative with their cap management. Ducking below the luxury tax, for instance, would allow Golden State to use the $15 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception.
Finishing the season healthy is the only way for Melton to guarantee that kind of a payday. He still hasn’t played a full back-to-back, with his lower body tightening up ahead of what was supposed to be a milestone accomplishment Tuesday against Utah.
“It’s the biggest thing,” Melton said. “Taking care of my body, man. Taking care of my body. That’s all I’m doing.”
Melton said he’s “for sure” open to coming back to the Warriors, but he’s taking it day by day —just as he did his ACL recovery, his lost sophomore season, his expanded role with Curry sidelined.
That’s always been his mentality.
“He just always has a positive attitude,” Eushery said. “Stuff that drags us down and upsets us, he shrugs it off. Stays positive. I admire that. I wish I could be like that.”