Jimmy Butler labels surging Warriors teammate a ‘headache’

The Golden State Warriors have won three of their last four games, including a 119-97 blowout against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, and a big reason for their little streak is the play of De’Anthony Melton. Melton returned to the Warriors’ lineup last month after being sidelined to start the season, and his teammate Jimmy Butler is already labeling him a ‘headache,’ in a fun sort of way.

“A headache, that’s what he’s giving me, because he and Buddy [Hield], they be in cahoots. They’re like friends and stuff, so he’s automatically on my bad side because he likes Buddy,” Butler joked.

“But the one thing I will say about Melton is he’s making shots right now, he’s being hella aggressive,” Butler said on a more serious note. “We like that he’s guarding at a high level, and he’s giving us another option we can rely on. We want him to be keep being that, and talk less to Buddy.”

While Butler couldn’t help but get one last playful jab in at Hield and Melton’s friendship, he is right in that Melton has given the Warriors a major boost during a stretch that they’ve needed the additional help.

The Warriors have been inconsistent this season, and they’re currently 22-19 and in eighth place in the Western Conference standings. But during the recent stretch as they’ve gone 3-1, Melton has seen an uptick in his scoring. He’s scored in double figures in all four of those games, including two games of 20+ points. His lowest point total in that stretch was 10 points, and maybe not coincidentally, that was the one game the Warriors lost.

Since making his return from injury, he’s appeared in 16 games at a little over 20 minutes per game. He’s averaging 10.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 steals with splits of 42.3 percent shooting from the field, 31 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 79.4 percent shooting from the free-throw line.