Warriors' drive for playoff berth likely needs push from rookie Yaxel Lendeborg
· Yahoo Sports
In the quiet of September, during a pickup game at last week's players-only gathering in San Diego, Draymond Green prepared to throw an inbounds pass. Stephen Curry set a back screen for one of his new Golden State Warriors teammates, then spun away.
Both defenders shadowed Curry (no surprise), allowing Yaxel Lendeborg to take Green's pass for a wide-open dunk. Curry and Green, envisioning the merger of Curry's gravity with the team's uber-skilled first-round draft choice, exuberantly shouted, "All year!"
Visit rouesnews.click for more information.
"If it's going to be like that, then it'll be a lot of fun," Lendeborg said. "I've never come off a back screen and seen nobody in front of me or behind me. Yeah, it was ridiculous."
The Warriors obviously hope to see plays like that unfold regularly in the season ahead. Their precarious blueprint for 2025-26 already absorbed a blow Monday, when general manager Mike Dunleavy announced that center Kristaps Porzingis would miss this week's training camp in Hawaii with an undisclosed health issue.
Golden State needs Porzingis on the court, maybe moreso than any player not named Curry. And the Warriors, if they want to defy the skeptics and return to the playoffs, also need Lendeborg to make an immediate splash.
They exuded optimism about the No. 11 overall pick on media day at Chase Center. The positive visions stemmed from Lendeborg's triumphant 2025-26 season at Michigan … and his MVP performance in leading the Warriors to a Summer League title … and his all-around play in informal scrimmage in recent weeks.
And also in his sheer size.
"He's f-ing massive," Jimmy Butler said of Lendeborg. "He's a big human being, and he shoots the ball incredibly well. He's smart. He wants to learn, and he's a winning player."
Lendeborg stands 6-foot-9, weighs 240 pounds and turns 24 on Wednesday. The Warriors covet all of that - height, thickness, youth - and also his diverse game, including ball-handling, court vision and passing ability.
But is it too much to ask of a rookie, filling a key supporting role for Curry right off the bat?
Dunleavy and head coach Steve Kerr have little choice but to discover the answer on the fly. The Warriors enter the season severely short-handed at the wing position, with Butler (torn ACL) and Moses Moody (torn patellar tendon) both likely to miss at least half the season while recovering from major knee injuries.
So, yes, Lendeborg could start alongside Green and Porzingis (or Al Horford) in the Oct. 21 season opener against the Lakers. Or maybe Kerr will bring Lendeborg off the bench, behind Gui Santos.
Either way, the Warriors do not have the luxury of slowly bringing along Lendeborg. He's not a teenager, like six of the 10 players chosen before him. He's not even 20 or 21, like the other four on that list.
Lendeborg also played six years of college basketball and arrives with an NBA-ready body - so, yes, he will learn in the cauldron of competition.
"He's clearly going to play a ton," Kerr said. "He gives us the size and versatility we need. He can guard bigs. He can guard wings. He's a connector on offense, a really good passer and ball handler.
"I always try to check boxes with guys, and Yaxel checks all those boxes. He's really an exciting young player for us. Whether he's a starter or coming off the bench, that will be determined in the next couple of weeks."
Lendeborg acknowledged he needs to improve on defense. He struggled at that end of the court during long stretches of Summer League, and he confessed he's occasionally confused by whether or not to switch on screens.
But his new teammates are encouraged by the way he conducted himself this summer. One example: During last week's retreat at Butler's home, Lendeborg peppered the host with questions, hoping to tap into his 15 years of NBA experience.
So what would a successful rookie season look like in Lendeborg's mind?
"I'd probably just say playing meaningful minutes," he said. "When the game is on the line, I want to be the guy on the court trying to make a play. Then just hopefully becoming first-team all-rookie. I feel like I could win Rookie of the Year, but that's not my main focus. I just want to be set in stone here on the Warriors."
Kerr pointed to Lendeborg's meandering path as a good sign. He spent three years at Arizona Western, a junior college in remote Yuma, and then two seasons at Alabama-Birmingham before soaring to prominence last season at Michigan.
Lendeborg didn't simply sail to the NBA, in other words.
Kerr had three conversations with Lendeborg this summer, he said, in which he encouraged his prized rookie to stay away from the practice facility at Chase. Save some energy for the 82-game grind on tap.
Lendeborg, who had a less-than-stellar work ethic throughout his high school years and intermittently in college, found irony in Kerr's message.
"I've always been the kind of person you would have to tell to get into the gym," Lendeborg said. "So now that it's kind of reversed, it's like I'm in the NBA now. I'm a rookie. I've got to make a name for myself here."
That would include earning the respect of a certain feisty, four-time NBA champion with whom he had a lively, mostly friendly back-and-forth over the summer. Lendeborg likes to tout his Michigan ties, creating a natural conflict with Green, the ever-proud Michigan State alum.
This naturally surfaced Monday, in a good-natured way, amid Green's praise of his new teammate.
"I'm really impressed," Green said. "As you know, he went to a s- school. … But he's really good. Michigan guys usually aren't that good. The last one was Chris Webber."
Lendeborg's response: "Michigan players are better than Michigan State players. We all know that."
Subscribe
There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Warriors' drive for playoff berth likely needs push from rookie Yaxel Lendeborg.