{"id":108780,"date":"2024-11-25T08:40:24","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T13:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=108780"},"modified":"2024-11-25T08:40:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T13:40:24","slug":"warriors-trade-rumors-ignite-after-melton-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/25\/warriors-trade-rumors-ignite-after-melton-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors Trade Rumors Ignite After Melton Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/22\/2024-25-nba-mvp-odds-can-this-warriors-star-win-the-mvp\/\" target=\"_self\">Golden State Warriors<\/a> have enjoyed an incredible start to their season. The<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/21\/melton-season-ending-injury-puts-pressure-youth\/\" target=\"_self\">\u00a0news<\/a> of the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/meltode01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De\u2019Anthony Melton<\/a> injury hurt, but the team isn&#8217;t expected to sit and mourn. With Melton out for the season, many around the league are wondering if the Warriors are going to use his 12.8 million dollar expiring contract to make a trade. Melton can&#8217;t be traded until December 15th, but Warriors trade rumors have started to pick up. As a surprise contender this season, if the Warriors chose to make a Melton trade, it could have a huge impact on the Western Conference playoff picture.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Warriors Trade Rumors Ignite After Melton Injury<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>The Melton Injury Creates Options<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the Warriors signed Melton this offseason, the hope was that the team would be able to retain him with Bird-rights this offseason and re-sign him. Now, with the Warriors news that the Melton injury will have him out for the rest of the season, the team will have to weigh different options.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">De&#39;Anthony Melton injury update: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D9Vy3Wkx0p\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/D9Vy3Wkx0p<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WarriorsPR\/status\/1859401415900397910?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Warriors could apply for a Disabled Player Exception (DPE), which would be worth $6.4 million (half of Melton\u2019s salary). The only problem is they are hard-capped at the first apron, making using the DPE very difficult. So, a Melton trade may be the best option moving forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Warriors Trade Rumors\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even before the season, there have been loads of Warriors trade rumors. The team <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.goldenstateofmind.com\/2024\/10\/22\/24276931\/dub-hub-warriors-reportedly-wanted-both-paul-george-and-lauri-markkanen-this-offseason-nba-trade\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">supposedly<\/a> went big game hunting this summer, looking for players like <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul George<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/markkla01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lauri Markkanen<\/a>. Now that the Warriors have established that the team is quite good as is, they may be more apprehensive to shake things up in a big way. Players like <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ingrabr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Ingram<\/a> or <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lavinza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach LaVine<\/a> are likely still available, but the Warriors didn\u2019t move on them this summer and likely won\u2019t move on them now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NBA insider <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/inside-look-warriors-trade-options-replace-deanthony-melton-siegels-scoop\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brett Siegel reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that a more likely trade would be for the Warriors to bolster their front-court rotation with a trade for a big man. The Warriors haven\u2019t played a single player bigger than 6\u20199\u201d this season. To compete against teams like the Denver Nuggets, getting more size could be helpful. Two names that are linked to the Warriors as possible targets are <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/valanjo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonas Valanciunas<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/olynyke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelly Olynyk<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bulls offered Zach LaVine to Warriors for a trade package centered around Chris Paul and Andrew Wiggins, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisBHaynes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ChrisBHaynes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Warriors declined.<\/p>\n<p>(via B\/R&#39;s NBA Free Agency Show) <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5XDf2pEbFs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/5XDf2pEbFs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BleacherReport\/status\/1807544657448173746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The More Likely Melton Trade Targets<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both Valanciunas and Olynyk would fit great in the Warriors offense. Their ability to shoot threes makes them playable with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greendr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Draymond Green<\/a>, and they both have shown themselves to be high-IQ players with some passing skills. This would be essential for fitting in the Warriors&#8217; read-and-react, ball-movement-heavy system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another way the Warriors could go is grabbing another wing, replacing some of Melton\u2019s defense and scoring abilities. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/19\/brooklyn-nets-trade-rumors\/\" target=\"_self\">Brooklyn Nets<\/a> are expected to trade multiple players before the deadline. Players like <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsca02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Johnson<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogdabo02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bojan Bogdanovic<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/finnedo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a> could all potentially fit with the Warriors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regardless of who the Warriors end up trading for, it probably won\u2019t be a name. The Warriors are sitting pretty as the number-one seed in the West. Shaking things up mid-season is also not usually how the Warriors do things. Hopefully, the Warriors will be able to make something of Melton\u2019s contract and can get <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Curry<\/a> a bit more help in his pursuit of a fifth NBA championship. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Golden State Warriors have enjoyed an incredible start to their season. The\u00a0news of the De\u2019Anthony Melton injury hurt, but the team isn&#8217;t expected to sit and mourn. With Melton out for the season, many around the league are wondering if the Warriors are going to use his 12.8 million dollar expiring contract to make [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":108847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1608,62,3],"tags":[308,1781,1593,2272,409,167,517,1382,48],"class_list":["post-108780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-warriors","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-cam-johnson","tag-deanthony-melton","tag-dorian-finney-smith","tag-draymond-green","tag-jonas-valanciunas","tag-kelly-olynyk","tag-nba-trade","tag-stephen-curry"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}