Sporting a stellar 12-3 record, the Golden State Warriors currently occupy the Western Conference's No. 1 seed. But, with a pricey injured role player's contract now burning a hole into majority owner Joe Lacob's pocket, the club hopes to get even better ahead of the 2024-25 February trade deadline.
After newly-acquired starting shooting guard De'Anthony Melton was ruled out for the year with an ACL injury, it quickly became clear that the capped-out Warriors could probably best maximize his expiring one-year contract in a trade. Due to cap restrictions, Golden State would probably have to make another move to accommodate signing a new player into a disabled player exception, which would be worth $6.4 million, half of Melton's current salary.
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Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer ruminated on exactly how the Warriors could look to move on from Melton and continue the team's current momentum.
"The Warriors loved Melton's fit next to Steph, loved the fact that he could be an off-ball combination guard offensively, who could potentially take the ball and allow Golden State to put Steph off, and run off screens, and all the type of pin-down, flare actions that the Warriors always do. He looked really sharp," Fischer said.
"How do you use that one-year, $12.8 million [deal] as a pure expiring contract?" Fischer wondered. "You're gonna have to attach some type of incentive, whether it's draft pick compensation or some younger piece on your books."
Melton, a 6-foot-2 USC product, finishes his first (and, possibly, last) season in Golden State with averages of 10.3 points on .407/.371/.625 shooting splits, 3.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals, while tackling the tougher defensive assignments and letting All-NBA point guard Stephen Curry focus on his offense.
"Now, I know plenty of people... are hoping for the Warriors to supplement their frontcourt rotation," Fischer offered. "There's also something to be said about trying to replace the type of role that De'Anthony Melton was going to fill."
For now, head coach Steve Kerr has installed third-year shooting guard Lindy Waters III as his Melton replacement in Golden State's starting five. The team's starting five is filled out by small forward Andrew Wiggins, power forward Draymond Green, and center Trace Jackson-Davis.
In the four games Waters has started, he's averaging 6.0 points on 40.9 percent shooting from the field (40 percent shooting from long range on 3.8 triple tries), 2.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.0 steals.
"There's a real opportunity for Golden State to shore up that rotation," Fischer said. "One clear data point on the board... the Warriors clearly looked at finding a second starter-level crunch-time-level, two-way wing to defend wings next to Wiggins. They plugged that hole with Melton, Melton's now gone... One name that would be fascinating that I know his team is more willing than ever to discuss him in a trade [is] someone like Patrick Williams in Chicago. Not an insurmountable salary to get to.
Williams, who possesses the skill set of a 6-foot-8 bench small forward but whom the Bulls perpetually miscast as their starting power forward, inked a generous five-year, $90 million contract as a restricted free agent this offseason. The 23-year-old is averaging 9.9 points on .376/.394/.840 shooting splits, 5.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.5 blocks a night. He is a solid man-to-man defender and a good-if-hesitant 3-point shooter.
Fischer added that Williams, the No. 4 selection in the 2020 NBA Draft out of Florida State, has "lottery pick upside" and "has never truly tapped that potential." Fischer also floated Brooklyn Nets veteran small forward Dorian Finney-Smith.
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