De’Anthony Melton’s season debut for the Warriors could be coming soon as he participated in a 5-on-5 scrimmage on Wednesday afternoon with the Santa Cruz Warriors at Chase Center prior to the Warriors’ matchup against the Kevin Durant-less Houston Rockets.
The 27-year-old Melton is rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered last November while with the Warriors. He was traded to the Nets after the injury but returned over the summer as a free agent.
“Mel looked really good,” said coach Steve Kerr. “He’s moving well. The toughest challenge for him will be rhythm being out for a year, but really longer because he only played six, seven games for us last year and missed a chunk of the previous year. Physically, he looked really good. It was great to see him full court, five-on-five, a couple quarters of play.”
Kuminga has missed the Warriors’ last six games after exiting their Nov. 12 game in San Antonio with knee soreness. Kerr told reporters Tuesday that Kuminga had participated in 3-on-3 sessions and would likely get some 5-on-5 work on Wednesday before Golden State’s game against the Houston Rockets.
Kerr said he will talk with Warriors head trainer Rick Celebrini about Kuminga on Friday.
The 23-year-old forward started strong out of the gate this season, but struggled for a few games before the injury. He is averaging career highs in rebounds (6.6) and assists (2.8) after re-signing with the Warriors on a two-year, $46.8 million contract just before the season as a restricted free agent.
“He’s moving well,” Kerr said. “Probably played about 15 minutes of time. Full court, a little bit of half court. I talked to him after and he said he was feeling good.”
Melton will figure into the guard rotation and could become a starter for the Warriors once he returns to the NBA team. He drew rave reviews from teammates and the coaching staff last year before the knee injury, starting alongside Steph Curry in the Golden State backcourt.
He’ll compete with Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield and rookie Will Richard for minutes among the guards.
“We frequently play three guards, like with Steph and Buddy and Moses, for example,” Kerr said of playing three-guard rotations. “Will is really a guard. I haven’t given it a whole lot of thought. There’s always stuff that happens. We’ll worry about that when we get to that point. We’re excited to get (Melton) back. He’s a two-way player. He’s a great decision maker. He’s going to help us take care of the ball and often guard the other team’s quick point guards.”
Worth noting
- Center Al Horford (right sciatic nerve irritation) is “able to do some things” per Kerr, but will be out for the next two games.
- Forward Draymond Green was in Wednesday’s starting lineup after being listed as probable with a right midfoot sprain.
