Why Brandon Williams had ‘confidence' coming to Warriors with De'Anthony Melton

Why Brandon Williams had ‘confidence' coming to Warriors with De'Anthony Melton originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Two former teammates are reunited in the Bay Area.

When the Warriors signed guard Brandon Williams this offseason, all they envisioned was a key depth piece to help the franchise return to the NBA playoffs after a one-season absence. For Williams, coming to Golden State meant so much more. It meant reuniting with guard De’Anthony Melton, his former high school teammate in Southern California.

Williams and Melton grew up 15 minutes from each other, Williams in Panorama City and Melton in North Hollywood. The two shared the floor at Crespi Carmelite High School and won back-to-back state titles in 2015 and 2016.

Speaking with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson and Bonta Hill on the latest episode of “Dubs Talk,” Williams shared when it became clear that he would join forces with Melton on the Warriors.

“It’s crazy, I was telling him about how I should go through free agency and what I should expect,” Williams told Hill and Johnson. “But we didn’t know that it was going to happen. Because we played a game every day, we talked probably too much. But I want to say the second week of free agency. That’s when I started to get a good glimpse. I didn’t tell him initially when I got the call. But a couple of days later, when I started to feel like it was going to happen, I’m like, ‘Hey bro, it might happen.’ It was kind of cool.”

Williams’ basketball journey has been wild. After one season at Arizona in 2018-19, he missed his sophomore campaign due to a knee injury. After leaving college in 2020 to prepare for his pro career, he went undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft and joined the NBA G League’s Westchester Knicks.

Williams signed a contract with the Portland Trail Blazers for the rest of 2021-22, played in 24 games and despite showing promise, averaging over 12 points per game, was released in October 2022 and spent the next season in the G League.

Joining the Dallas Mavericks on a two-way contract in December 2023 before signing a standard multi-year contract in April 2025, it was there that he learned the most about himself and credits the opportunities he got in Dallas for setting him up for success in Golden State.

“I learned a lot,” Williams told Hill and Johnson. “Coming from a two-way [contract] and working my way up in the league, it’s always difficult. You’re going to have your days where it’s going to be good and getting days where it’s going to be bad, but you’ve got to have a good team around you, a good development crew, and Dallas [Mavericks] had me ready for that for any given situation. 

“Unfortunately, [Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving] went down two years ago, and I knew I was ready on the spot just based on the work that was behind me and the team I had behind me. I knew I was ready to go into it, and at least until now, I got a standard contract and I got a foot in the door. I can never be comfortable in this league, but now I got that confidence and having someone that I know here on the team as well gives me that much more confidence.”

Williams signed a one-year deal and is playing well early this season. Through 11 games, he is averaging 11.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists. If the team continues to get good performances from bench players like him, the Warriors could be a dangerous team in the West.

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