Golden State Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton will undergo ACL surgery that will keep him out for the remainder of the season, the team announced on Wednesday. Melton had missed Golden State’s last two games with a sprained left ACL, but further testing showed that “it is in De’Anthony’s best interest to proceed with ACL surgery.”
Melton had appeared in six games for the Warriors and started two, averaging 10.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists for Golden State. He signed a one-year mid-level exception contract with the Warriors after two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. This will be his second consecutive season that has been seriously altered by an injury. Melton played in only 38 games last year in Philadelphia because of a back injury, and while he did return toward the end of the season, he barely played down the stretch and in the playoffs.
Melton was an ideal fit in the starting lineup for Golden State at shooting guard because of his 3-and-D skill set. The starting lineup of him, Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis had an impressive net rating of plus- 22 in limited minutes. Melton can comfortably fit within almost any lineup structure, but without him, the Warriors will have to decide how best to manage its remaining guards. Buddy Hield has thrived in a bench role, and Brandin Podziemski’s ball-handling has more value with the reserves because the Warriors lack a traditional backup point guard. In Golden State’s last two games, Steve Kerr has started Lindy Waters III at shooting guard, but he hasn’t exactly run away with the job. Ace defender Gary Payton II and explosive forward Jonathan Kuminga would also figure to be candidates for starting roles as well.
The Warriors are arguably the NBA’s deepest team, and Kerr has frequently used 11- and 12-man rotations this season. Nobody wants to lose a key player to a season-ending injury, but the Warriors are as equipped to handle one as any team in basketball.
Welcome to the NBA Hater Report: A breakdown of some of the players, teams and trends around the league that are drawing the ire of yours truly. If you’re not a fellow pessimist, proceed with caution.
Early Paul George returns are horrific The Sixers are a certified mess. They lost again on Wednesday, this time to a Grizzlies team playing without its best player, to fall to 2-12. This is not Paul George’s fault. Tyrese Maxey has been hurt. Joel Embiid has played in four games and been trash in three of them. But George isn’t getting off the hook here.
In seven games this season, George has only cracked the 20-point barrier once. He’s shooting under 40% overall and 27% from 3. Throw out one game in which he went 7-of-11 from deep against the Knicks and his numbers are flat out abysmal. On Wednesday he had two points on 1-of-6 shooting in 17 minutes. Oh, yeah — he also hyperextended his knee and didn’t return.
Nick Nurse said George was close to returning but the knee stiffened up at the last second, so perhaps it’s not too serious. It better not be, because the Sixers are in a serious hole and they’re not going to dig out of it unless George starts producing at a level that comes a lot closer to justifying his max contract than what he’s currently doing.
Yes, there was sort of a built-in understanding that George didn’t have to be “the guy” when he signed with Philadelphia this summer, but making $212 million over the next four years when you’ll be 35 in March and are shooting like Russell Westbrook is a bust. Plain and simple. Everyone understand it’s early and George can certainly change the narrative on his season and the value of his contract overall, but until he does, this looks downright awful.
KAT is canceling out his own brilliance I played college baseball with a guy who affectionately came to be known as “Even Steven” because he would hit a home run and then give the run back with an error the next inning. It was all in good fun. The guy was a great hitter. But yes, there was a bit of an offense-defense tradeoff baked into his very talented equation.
With Karl-Anthony Towns, the tradeoff is extreme. You could actually make a case that he’s been the league’s most valuable offensive player while at the same time qualifying as the least valuable, or, put another way, most harmful, defensive player.
The Knicks are the 22nd-ranked offense in the league, per Cleaning the Glass, and they get four points worse per 100 possessions when Towns is on the floor. Teams are also shooting 14% better at the rim against the Knicks when Towns is on the court as opposed to off. That literally puts him in the lowest percentile among all defenders. It’s rough stuff.
Towns is having to guard centers far more often this season than he did last year when he had the cover of four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. It’s allowing him to feast on offense as most opposing bigs are equipped to credibly defend his shooting and ability to create off the dribble, and when teams go small he punishes you in the post.
But defensively, he’s getting worked at the rim and not getting out to fellow shooting bigs. The Knicks can, and have tried to, hide him on the least threatening offensive player, but that puts an enormous stress on OG Anunoby or Mikal Bridges to guard way above their weight class, and Towns isn’t much of a helper in these scenarios, either.
Perhaps when Mitchell Robinson comes back the Knicks can mitigate some of this with two-big lineups in which Towns stretches the floor offensively and Mitchell protects the rim defensively. But until then, Towns needs to up his defensively level to at least passable.
Warriors free throw shooting The Golden State Warriors are atop the Western Conference with a 10-3 record and a top-five offense and defense, so yes, in a sense, I’m nitpicking when I point out that their free-throw shooting has been terrible. But don’t be fooled by the record. This is not a team with much margin for error, at least not against good teams, and shooting 69.7% as a team from the stripe, the worst mark in the league, is absolutely going to bite them if it continues.
It already burned them against the Clippers on Monday, when they lost by three points and missed 10 free throws (9 of 19). Throw out Stephen Curry’s 94.3% clip and Buddy Hield’s 85.7%, and these percentages are brutal.
MILWAUKEE — What’s going on with Khris Middleton? That’s been the big question in Milwaukee this season with the Bucks off to a sluggish start amid their third-best player’s absence. Middleton has yet to play after undergoing surgery on both ankles during the offseason, despite having been medically cleared for a “period of time,” according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Here’s a quick timeline of how things have progressed since the offseason, and when Middleton might take the court again.
Optimism after offseason surgery Initial reports back in the summer were positive about his chances of being ready for the season. Middleton himself told The Athletic that “having a successful season out there is playing damn near 82 games.” He continued, “Anything below 70, 75 games, no, I do not consider that a successful season for me.”
While he had not been cleared for 5-on-5 action when training camp opened, the Bucks, as a whole, were speaking as if his return was imminent.
“Khris is doing really well,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said at media day. “It’s just a normal offseason clean-up procedure. He literally is on the court right now as we’re talking. He’ll be a very active participant in camp, so Khris is also healthy.”
Middleton, for his part, said that day that he felt “great.” A week later, coach Doc Rivers indicated he was hopeful that Middleton would suit up during the preseason: “I do think maybe the last two (games), but there’s no guarantee there.”
Ambiguous absences Middleton did not play in the preseason, and was soon ruled out for the team’s season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers. Rivers said that Middleton had not suffered a setback and added, “if this is a playoff game, he’d probably be playing or close to it.”
Nearly a week later, Rivers told reporters ahead of the Bucks’ loss to the Brooklyn Nets that Middleton was “getting closer” and had progressed to playing 3-on-3.
On Oct. 31, Middleton spoke to the media for the first time all season
“I feel good, just not good enough to play that’s all,” Middleton said. “That’s really all I can say at this point. And just working to get back on the court. I’m feeling better and better each day, just not good enough to play yet.
“There’s been no setbacks, no concerning things that had me saying I need to take some days off or whatever. There’s just every day, every day trying to make the next step without blowing this thing up and doing it smartly. Just for myself, for the team, for the everything, for the long term, for the health of my career.”
In early November, with Middleton still stuck on the sideline, Rivers said, “I don’t know the answer” when asked if Middleton’s status was day-to-day or week-to-week. He added that there was no frustration with Middleton’s continued absence.
“Some people heal [faster] and everybody’s different,” Rivers said. “And Khris has had a lot of injuries and surgical stuff, so it’s just not as fast as we thought it was going to be and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
More of the same Rivers still had no answers on Nov. 13 ahead of the Bucks’ dramatic overtime win over the Detroit Pistons, though he reconfirmed that there was no setback.
“He’s just progressing and going along,” Rivers said. “I mean, I don’t know what the return date was or that there was one set, so what we’re doing is get him healthy so that when he’s ready to play, he’s ready to play.
“As I’ve jokingly said a million times, Doc’s a nickname. I don’t really know [what progressing looks like]. I just check in with the medical team and they tell me the same stuff. He’s getting there, he’s getting closer, and basically I relay the same stuff to you. … I check in with Khris and guys that are injured about how they’re feeling, more human stuff, because Khris wants to play and he’s frustrated that he’s not.”
It was more of the same before the Bucks took care of the Bulls on Wednesday. Rivers said that Middleton had still not progressed to playing 5-on-5, but had looked “really good” in 3-on-3 sessions: “He’s working his but off. You know, listen, I think he’s close. I think I’ve said that before, but he is, and he’s just going to keep working. This is the best I’ve seen him, I will say that.”
When will Middleton play again? Charania’s report on Wednesday indicates that someone, or multiple people, within the organization are getting tired with Middleton’s lack of progress. Putting public pressure on a player, particularly one of Middleton’s standing, is a rare occurrence in Milwaukee.
At this point, there is still no timeline for Middleton’s return, though the leak suggests that the Bucks hope it will be sooner rather than later. While they’ve won four of five to improve to 6-9 on the season, they need Middleton back in the lineup, and playing at his best, to seriously contend in the Eastern Conference.
