Player Facts
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 200lbs.
Date of Birth: May 28, 1998
College Experience: Southern California (1 year)
Selections
All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0
Player Grades
Speed/Explosiveness: 9
Physical Strength: 6
Positional Size: 5
Positional Wingspan: 7
Paint Scoring: 4
Midrange Scoring: 4
Three-Point Scoring: 7
Dribbling: 7
Passing: 7
Perimeter Defense: 9
Interior Defense: 6
Rebounding: 5
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STRENGTHS
Intro
De’Anthony Melton is a great role player at 6-foot-2 with a 6’8.5” wingspan. He’s speedy and has elite instincts when it comes to defending off-the-ball. The other side of the court is where he will contribute with athletic cutting, strong spot-up shooting, and sneaky playmaking.
Glue Guard
The former Trojan impacts winning by bringing different forms of playmaking on each end of the hardwood, all wrapped up in an electric athlete. Melton has served as connective tissue on both ends in several different lineup machinations so far in his career. Star players Ja Morant, James Harden, Joel Embiid, and Stephen Curry have enjoyed playing beside the unselfish guard.
Off-Ball Smarts
One of his many scalable skills that help to amplify his teammates is cutting. He makes the simple cuts to score (with a dunk-heavy approach), but couples these with an intuitive feel for finding soft spots in the defense to force offensively advantageous rotations.
These intelligent movements can lead to the freeing up of a teammate without Melton ever touching the rock. When the basketball does find its way into his hands, he can make snap decisions regarding where he’ll fire the pass. From his rookie days, the USC product has posted comfortably positive AST/TO ratios at the NBA level.
On-Ball Passing
He pairs that high IQ off-ball passing with some on-ball creation juice. Melton spends chunks of time at point guard but is at his best when playing alongside a superior creator. When called upon, though, he can capably run a pick-and-roll and make good decisions out of this action.
His functional handle and strong burst help him get to that second level of the defense in P&R and DHO sets. While not the most prolific scorer here, he does use these advantageous positions to create for others in a value-adding way.
3PT Drainage
Melton’s next notable half-court offensive pillar is his catch-and-shoot prowess (outside of an uncharacteristically streaky 2025-2026). He’s got a compact, bouncy jump shot that has been going in at a strong clip for multiple seasons. As a slight aside, Melton uses the uphill gravity he commands to fiercely attack angles in space.
2021-2022 saw him sink 37.4% of his treys overall. He hit 36%+ in his following three seasons as well, going through 2024-2025. That 2021-2022 clip rises to an elite 40.6% when exclusively examining his standstill threes off-the-catch. The same way he cuts towards open space inside the arc, Melton will slide along the perimeter to optimize spacing/passing angles, too.
Open Court Impact
The springy 6’2” hybrid guard loves to get out into transition and just generally plays with a good verve to him. He can cram it himself, catch lobs, set up his running mates, or fan out and set his feet for three. 2021-2022 had him amass 255 fast break points – superior to Darius Garland, Dejounte Murray, and Donovan Mitchell.
Defensive Maneuvering
De’Anthony Melton is a great help defender. He lies squarely within the upper echelon in the league in terms of guard team defenders. He combines phenomenal instincts with great closing speed to get a hand on the ball.
Melton stands out with both perimeter and in-the-paint defensive playmaking at only 6-2. He both plays passing lanes and pickpockets unsuspecting bigs à la Fred VanVleet. During the 2021-2022 campaign, he notched a whopping 4.5 deflections per 36 minutes. Melton was up around this statisitcal neighborhood again in 2025-2026 season with the Golden State Warriors.
He couples his deflection artistry with the more traditional steals compilation. He was second to Matisse Thybulle in the entire league with a 3.0 steal percentage in 2021-2022. That same year, he was tied for third with 2.3 steals/36.
The De’Anthony defensive stat story does not end with mere deflections and steals. His inside rotations are near-perfect. Surprisingly, he is a factor once there too thanks to top-end timing, vertical explosiveness, and a plus-wingspan. He found his way into the top-50 leaguewide (including all players of all positions) in 2021-2022 block percentage at 2.1% - tied with Deandre Ayton, Jusuf Nurkic, and Wendell Carter Jr.
Last but certainly not least in the off-ball defense section would be his board-crashing. Melton really sticks his nose in there to help his squad close out the defensive possession the right way. His 2021-2022 D-REB’s of 5.7/36 minutes knotted him with 6’5” + players Jaylen Brown, Keldon Johnson, and Jaren Jackson Jr. He brought down 4 per-36 then in 2022-2023.
WEAKNESSES
Big Scoring Holes
Melton’s notable weaknesses all lie on the scoring side. To start, his one-on-one scoring bag is not very deep. He needs the help of a ball screen – but even then, he is non-threatening as a scorer.
2021-2022 had him in just the 7th percentile for his isolation scoring. Shifting to another common play type, the ball screen advanced statistics weren’t all that kind either. He was in the 25th percentile as a scorer in these actions that same season.
The lack of self-creation as a scorer bogs down his overall efficiency numbers. His broader shooting clips are rough in their own right, but often get worse upon deeper analysis. 2025-2026 even saw a lack of reliability from a previously dependable floor zone - three-point land.
Melton is consistently a sub-60% guy right at the rim despite vertical pop and long arms. He isn’t the sturdiest player, so that could play a role here. Taking a few feet back, he remains inefficient from floater range and typically even worse from midrange (28.1% in 2021-2022).
Players Appearing Here – Check Out Their Profiles
- Ja Morant [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- James Harden [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Joel Embiid [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Stephen Curry [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Darius Garland [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- Dejounte Murray [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Donovan Mitchell [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Fred VanVleet [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Matisse ThybulleOpens in a new tab
- Deandre AytonOpens in a new tab
- Jusuf Nurkic [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- Wendell Carter Jr.Opens in a new tab
- Jaylen Brown [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Keldon Johnson [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- Jaren Jackson Jr. [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
