What Melton’s ACL injury means for Warriors’ starting lineup

A mere two games after Warriors coach Steve Kerr settled on a starting lineup, the team was bitten by the injury epidemic raging through the NBA’s Western Conference.

De’Anthony Melton, who started the last two games at shooting guard, sustained a sprained left ACL against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday and will be out indefinitely, the Warriors announced Thursday afternoon.

“It’s disappointing,” Kerr said after practice. “That was really the perfect mix. De’Anthony does a little bit of everything: on-ball defense, rebounding, 3-point shooting, playmaking. It was great fit, and that’s why we targeted him.

“The fact that he’s going to be out the next game is a bummer. We were finding some momentum. We’ll see how this unfolds. We’ve got options, we’ve got a lot of depth, and we were very capable of filling in. But it’s very disappointing for him and for us.”

With Melton joining Stephen Curry in the backcourt, and Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis starting up front the last two games, the Warriors defeated the Thunder last Sunday in Oklahoma City and then returned home to beat the defending Western Conference champion Mavericks.

That was Golden State’s seventh different starting lineup, and likely the one Kerr will deploy when Melton returns.

For now, once again, Kerr must go into shuffle mode. The last time there was a vacancy in the backcourt, on Nov. 8 at Cleveland, Kerr started Gary Payton II. GP2 also started in Washington on Nov. 4. On Nov. 6 at Boston, it was Moses Moody. Earlier, when Curry was out with a slight ankle sprain, Brandin Podziemski made three starts.