{"id":907215,"date":"2026-11-05T21:17:24","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T21:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/907215\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T21:17:24","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T21:17:24","slug":"warriors-deanthony-melton-is-shooting-like-klay-thompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/907215\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors\u2019 De\u2019Anthony Melton is shooting like Klay Thompson"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 De\u2019Anthony Melton<\/a> nodded his head as he thought back to the autumn of 2024. The combo guard had just signed with the Warriors and was in line to take the unenviable position of filling Klay Thompson\u2019s spot as Steph Curry\u2019s long-term backcourt partner.<\/p>\n

Melton\u2019s season ended after just six games with a torn ACL<\/a>, but that was enough time to understand the pressure that came with the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lingering effect of him? Yeah, they definitely had a great run,\u201d Melton said Wednesday of Thompson\u2019s impact, before adding, \u201cBut by the time I was getting here, it was kind of toward the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over two years have passed, and Thompson is now set to return to the Bay Area as a member of the Miami Heat following two lackluster years in Dallas. With the original Splash Bro set to return to town on Thursday, his replacement has been doing a fine impression in one key area.<\/p>\n

While Melton is not in Thompson\u2019s league as a pure shooter \u2013 who is outside of Curry? \u2013 he has been among the league\u2019s top marksmen early on this season.<\/p>\n

Through eight games, he is shooting 46% from behind the arc on 5.1 attempts per game, a dramatic increase from the 29.4% he shot last season. Much of last season\u2019s dip can be attributed to injured thumbs, and Warriors coach Steve Kerr said general wear and tear hindered Melton, 28, as the season went on.<\/p>\n

His shot quality has been high. With the Warriors slammed by injuries last season, Melton had a larger role on-ball and attempted 2.2 pull-up jumpers per game, according to NBA tracking data<\/a>. That number has been slashed to just 1.3 per game so far this season.<\/p>\n

Almost all of 41 Melton\u2019s attempts from 3 have been off the catch, with just nine coming after at least one dribble. Those catch-and-shoot 3-pointers have skewed in a similar ratio toward being open, which the NBA quantifies as any shot where the defender is at least 4 feet away upon the shot being released.<\/p>\n

Even if his numbers dip, it appears clear that last season\u2019s brickfest was just an aberration for the career 36% 3-point shooter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to really just slow down and understand my shot and understand what works for me,\u201d Melton said after making two late\u00a03-pointers against the Clippers on Sunday. \u201cSometimes I feel like I was rushing my jumper just to get it up. But now, I feel like I\u2019m just being calm and shooting it, and whatever happens, happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson\u2019s jumper is in peak form, too, making 42.5% of his attempts from long range\u00a0through eight games with the Heat.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old pure shooter made the game-winning 3-pointer against the Clippers in Inglewood on Wednesday, giving him 30 points on the night and three consecutive games of at least 19 points.<\/p>\n

Melton has not approached those kinds of gaudy numbers, but he has returned to being a dependable night-to-night contributor. He played 49 games last season after a year of rehab, but was unable to play in most back-to-backs and had a minutes limit.<\/p>\n

He re-signed with the Warriors on a two-year deal, the second being a player option, and to full health.<\/p>\n

This season, the guardrails on his minutes and overall games played have been removed. He has played in all eight games, and his bounce has returned, as shown via an impressive block against the Clippers where he skied for a swat on Cam Christie.<\/p>\n

Melton has also drawn tough defensive assignments as one of the Warriors\u2019 few athletic guards, and has brought energy and shotmaking to the bench unit.<\/p>\n

He might not go into the Hall of Fame, as his predecessor will, but Melton is having a phenomenal bounce-back season.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s got their own journey in life,\u201d Melton said when asked about comparisons between himself and Thompson. \u201cMe and Klay are different.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 De\u2019Anthony Melton nodded his head as he thought back to the autumn of 2024. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[402,3805,2356,2243,10831,2558,355,10836,5284,10838,99,133797,126656],"class_list":["post-907215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-peninsula","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-county","tag-sports","tag-warriors-alert","tag-warriors-hq"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}