De’Anthony Melton AKA DeMelto Anthony was mostly known last season as one of the point guards on the Suns who attempted to ruin Deandre Ayton’s young career. It wasn’t really Melton’s fault, it was just that the Suns had no starting-quality point guards, which resulted in a carousel of starters: Melton started the most games with 31, Isaiah Canaan started 15, and Elie Okobo started sixteen. The other twenty games are unaccounted for, so I’m going to assume that Devin Booker was the point guard for those games.
Being forced to start on a bad team is not an ideal situation for a second-round draft pick fresh out of college. That’s way too much pressure early when you should be focused on getting acclimated to the NBA game. And then to have birdbrained internet commentators like me accusing you of deliberately ruining Deandre Ayton’s career? That’s another level of stress that he shouldn’t have to deal with. Second-round rookie PG’s should be relaxing on the bench, getting eight minutes per game, and learning from the veterans on their team, not thrown into the fire with the expectations of a fanbase heaped upon you.
Now Melton is in a situation that is more fitting for him. He backs up Tyus Jones who backs up Ja Morant (whose back spasms are utterly spasmodic). Plus, the Grizzlies are a bad team and have no aspirations otherwise, which means that nobody really cares what Melton does. He’s free to develop at his pace without too much outside interference or accusations of being a career-ruiner.
But, I mean, he did kind of ruin Deandre Ayton’s career. Ayton’s not even playing right now. And that’s because his career was ruined.