Warriors guard undergoes surgery on partial ACL tear

It was initially reported over two weeks ago that Melton would undergo season-ending surgery to address a left ACL injury, though this is the first time the team referred to that injury as a partial tear.

According to the Warriors, the plan is for Melton to begin rehabilitation on the knee in the coming weeks. He’s expected to make a full recovery prior to the start of the 2025-26 season.

The next step for the Warriors will likely be to apply for a disabled-player exception, a salary-cap exception that can be awarded to teams who lose a player to a season-ending injury. It would be worth approximately $6.4M, half of Melton’s $12,822,000 salary.

Although Golden State could theoretically use that exception to sign a free agent to a one-year contract or to acquire (via trade or waiver claim) a player on an expiring deal, the team is less than $600K away from its hard cap, so taking on additional salary isn’t really an option at this point. Assuming the Warriors are granted a disabled-player exception, they’d have to move off some salary to make use of it.

Melton’s $12.8M expiring contract could also be used as a salary-matching piece in a trade prior to the Feb. 6 deadline. If the Warriors go that route before using their disabled-player exception, they would forfeit that exception.