De’Anthony Melton appears poised for a payday.
The guard declined his player option for the 2026-27 NBA season with the Warriors, worth $3.45 million, and will enter unrestricted free agency, Spotrac’s Keith Smith reported Monday, citing a league source.
De’Anthony Melton declined his player option with the Golden State Warriors, a league source told @spotrac.
Melton will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 30, 2026
While his Golden State teammate Draymond Green also did the same earlier in the day, Melton likely is seeking more money, whereas ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Green’s move gives the Warriors flexibility to form a new Big Four with LeBron James and Anthony Davis — implying the veteran forward will look to re-sign with the team.
After the Warriors and center Kristaps Porziņģis reportedly agreed to a two-year, $40 million contract extension Monday as well, it’s unlikely Golden State re-signs Melton at the price he deserves as they go after much larger fish in the free-agency and trade pool.
Coming off ACL surgery in December 2024, Melton last October signed a two-year contract worth $6.5 million to return to the Warriors and made $3.1 million during the 2025-26 campaign. While it appeared obvious he vastly would outplay the money included in his player option for 2026-27, his production started to slump toward the end of the season, when Steph Curry was out and Melton had to fight through injuries himself to try and fill the scoring void.
Melton, 28, never played both sides of a back-to-back last season but still played 49 games, starting 24 contests and averaging a career-high 12.3 points per game with a career-high-tying 1.6 steals per game.
Now, Melton will see if a team hungry for more scoring will add him to their roster when the free-agency period officially begins Tuesday. And who knows, maybe that squad could be Golden State.