The Golden State Warriors may have landed one of the cleanest value moves of free agency when they signed De'Anthony Melton to a two-year, $11.2 million deal after he opted out of his player option for next season.
At the time, the contract already looked smart even with Melton coming off an uneven finish to last season. Now it looks even sharper after the Milwaukee Bucks handed Gary Trent Jr. a four-year, $64 million deal on Saturday.
Trent’s new contract has already sparked plenty of raised eyebrows from fans and analysts on social media, especially considering he’s coming off his worst season since his rookie year last decade and had spent the last two years on a minimum contract.
That backdrop makes Melton’s deal stand out even more. There’s a strong case that the Warriors guard brings more value than Trent because his game is more complete, while Trent is largely viewed as a 3-point specialist.
Melton also outperformed Trent across the board last season in points, rebounds, assists and steals. He even posted a better field goal percentage, despite shooting just 40.7% overall and under 30% from 3-point range.
At 28, Melton is only a year older than Trent, and there’s reason to think the upside may still be there. He’s also further removed from the torn ACL that kept him out until December.
Golden State has plenty of critics, especially when it comes to the front office’s reluctance to part with future draft assets for major win-now swings. But when it comes to role-player contracts, the Warriors usually get it right. They don’t tend to hand out the kind of inflated money that just went to Trent.
There’s some frustration around the idea that Golden State is largely running it back next season, but the recent deals for Melton, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford all look reasonable, or even better than that, based on what those players bring on the floor.
The same goes for February’s extension for Gui Santos and the value of Moses Moody’s deal before his devastating injury. Taken together, those moves show a front office that knows how to negotiate well with its supporting cast.
And the Warriors could still end up with the biggest bargain of free agency if they manage to sign LeBron James, whether that comes at the veteran’s minimum or the non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
In Other News...
Warriors Suddenly Have A New Jimmy Butler Dilemma
Yaxel Lendeborg has given the Warriors something to think about this summer, and not just because of his strong play in Las Vegas. The rookie has flashed the kind of size, versatility and ball skills that have already prompted some observers to wonder whether he can grow into a role that looks a lot like Jimmy Butlers, which is not the sort of comparison a team usually hears when it is still sorting out its roster for next season.
That is where the conversation gets interesting for Golden State. If Lendeborg keeps showing he can handle that kind of responsibility, he could become more than just a nice summer-league story and turn into a piece that changes how the front office views Butlers place on the roster. For now, it is all speculative, but the Warriors have at least created a new layer to a bigger decision they may have to make sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Just Watched Another Free Agent Slip Away During LeBron Wait
The Warriors have spent the opening stretch of free agency mostly taking care of their own business, re-signing familiar faces while the rest of the market keeps moving. One more guard came off the board when Gary Trent Jr. agreed to stay put, another reminder that the pool of available options is thinning even as Golden State has yet to add an outside free agent.
For a team still sorting through its backcourt depth, the timing matters. De'Anthony Melton is back in the mix, LJ Cryer got a look during summer league, and the front office has had to balance patience with urgency while the market narrows around them. Even with the possibility of using the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, the Warriors are still waiting to see how the rest of the board shakes out. [Read more 🡒]
Stephen Curry May Face A Title Decision Warriors Fans Know Well
Stephen Currys next contract conversation is starting to feel familiar in Golden State, where every big-money decision eventually circles back to the same question: how much is one more championship worth? Curry is eligible for a two-year extension worth nearly $140 million, and the Warriors know that kind of deal comes with the usual tradeoff. Paying their franchise icon at the top of the market would be the easy path, but it would also leave less room to build the kind of deeper roster that has been missing around him in recent seasons.
Curry has already lived through this kind of calculation before, and the Warriors have benefited when the math tilted toward flexibility. The difference now is that the stakes are tied not just to roster construction, but to legacy, with every dollar potentially shaping how competitive Golden State can be in the years ahead. If Curry decides to keep that door open, it could give the front office a chance to chase more help around him. If he does not, the Warriors will have to find another way to make the numbers work. [Read more 🡒]