Getty De'Anthony Melton
De’Anthony Melton was born on May 28, 1998, in North Hollywood, California, to Monique Young and Anthony Melton. The Philadelphia 76ers point guard was raised by his mother along with five siblings and tried out several different sports as he was growing up.
Here’s what you need to know about De’Anthony Melton’s family:
1. De’Anthony Melton’s Parents Were Both Athletes But He Followed in His Mother’s Footsteps & Chose Basketball
Melton’s parents, Monique Young and Anthony Melton, were both athletes. His father played football in college while his mother played basketball, Ringer reported. The Sixers star, who grew up with his mother and five siblings, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, also played both sports when he was in high school.
After Melton’s freshman season, he began focusing only on basketball as his coaches told him he might be good enough to pursue a career in the sport. Once he choose to play basketball, his mother helped to teach him, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
While many of Melton’s family members were fans of the Los Angeles Lakers when he was growing up, he and his mother supported the Clippers. “I was a Clippers fan. I promise you,” he told Sixers reporters. “My mom had Elton Brand’s jersey, Corey Maggette… So remember seeing all those in her closet.”
“I wanted the Clippers to win four or five championships when I was younger,” he added. “So it’s just crazy to see [Elton Brand] now and how everything unfolded, especially with Doc [Rivers].”
Melton has kept many details of his family life and childhood private, and the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he “politely declined” to share details about his childhood with his mother and five siblings. “We [didn’t] grow up with money,” he did reveal, and said, “It was a lot of trials and tribulations.”
“But all that stuff made me who I am today,” Melton continued. “Put extra armor on me to prepare me for what’s going on. You’ve just got to understand nothing’s easy. Sometimes, stuff’s going to get even harder, and you’ve just got to keep going.”
2. De’Anthony Melton Grew Up With 5 Siblings & Picked a College Close to Home Because of His Younger Brothers
Melton’s love of sports was nurtured from a very young age by his grandfather, who took him to Brentwood’s Barrington Park, the Inquirer wrote. The young boy tried many sports, including tennis and soccer, but loved football and basketball.
Melton was close with his mother and five siblings and he decided to go to USC for college to stay home and also so his younger brothers could go to see him play regularly, the Athletic wrote, describing his family as one of “limited means.”
“Everyone loves De’Anthony,” his coach at USC Andy Enfield told the publication. “He has a big heart and is always smiling. He loves to be on the basketball court, and his energy is contagious. It makes him very easy to coach.” When Melton was drafted number 46 by the Houston Rockets, he was surrounded by loved ones who celebrated loudly.
“He was staring at the television with this grin on his face,” his sister Destiny told the Inquirer. “Everybody was jumping on him, jumping around him, and he was not moving. He was looking at the TV like, ‘That’s me. Wait a minute, they said my name.’”
3. De’Anthony Melton Has a Sister, Destiny Melton, Who Is a Girls’ High School Basketball Coach
Melton has five siblings, but many of them have remained more private. He has a sister named Destiny Melton and the two are very close. Like the NBA star, Destiny Melton played basketball throughout high school and college.
“My entire family are athletes,” she told Voyage LA. “I played ball at the college level, & still, currently play in the women’s drew league and Basketball Beauties, my mother played, my sister played, my little brother, is currently in the NBA. So it’s in our blood.”
She attended Birmingham High School, where she won a L.A. City Section championship, Los Angeles Daily News reported. She attended Our Lady of the Lake University in Texas and studied mass communications and multimedia, her athletic profile states. It also states that she was on the presidential honor roll.
Destiny Melton is now the girls’ head basketball coach at Calabasas High School, her Instagram bio states. She’s also a mother and the owner of Pop Candles.
Another of Melton’s sisters, Dasjanae Melton, is a health care advocate with Cigna, her LinkedIn states, and she graduated from Texas A&M with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
In an episode of “Do I Know You?” with Jordan Davis, the sister of another NBA star, Dasjanae Melton said she was planning on returning to school to get a master’s in business. She’s also a business owner on the side, running a beauty supply store out of Houston, Texas.
4. De’Anthony Melton Has Shared That One of His Younger Brothers Was Diagnosed With Down Syndrome
Melton has younger twin brothers, Damauri and Damani, who were born on January 8, 2013. Melton’s sister Destiny Melton has shared that Damani was diagnosed with Down syndrome when he was very young. Melton posted about his sister’s initiative to start a basketball clinic for kids with Down syndrome. “As some of you may or may not know my little brother is diagnosed with down-syndrome but still loves to get buckets,” he wrote.
“We found out that [our mother] had been dealing with this, going to therapy, trying to wrap her mind around caring for a child with special needs,” Destiny Melton opened up to Voyage LA about her initiative called Playing Special Foundation. “She knows she’s an amazing mother, and she is, but she needed to make sure she was ready, willing, & able to give this child everything he needed. Once my mother told me about this the way my heart & brain work I’m just all in.”
Destiny Melton explained that Damauri Melton loved playing basketball and she wanted to create the right environment for his twin brother to be able to play too because he also loves the sport.
“So I created playing special to not only give back to our youth but to teach the love and passion that me and my family have for sports to children with special needs,” she shared. “Damani is the happiest kid [on] earth, and with just a smile he brings so much life. We want to share that with the world.”
5. De’Anthony Melton Is Very Close With His Family & Bought His Mother a Car After Signing a Contract
The Melton family is very close and the Sixers star shared that he bought his mother and sister cars after signing a four-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, Commercial Appeal reported in 2020.
“It’s not a surprise anymore because they already know,” he shared. “But yeah, that’s definitely the first thing, they got cars. Now I just got to work getting my stuff out here, establishing my home and everything like that.” He said it was a “breath of fresh air” to be able to help out his family and have his finances set.
Melton’s mother had nothing but praise for her son as she told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “If there’s somebody out there that doesn’t like my son De’Anthony, then that means there’s something wrong with them. Because everybody likes him. Not just likes him, loves him. They [take] a liking to him even when they first meet him.”