The Golden State Warriors couldn't have done better in the 2026 NBA Draft than they did by landing Yaxel Lendeborg.
Sure, in an alternate universe, they could've jumped up to the top-four with some lottery luck and selected one of this class's 'generational' prospects, perhaps with much higher long-term upside than Lendeborg presents. But given the needs of this team and the type of energy and confidence a young player must bring into the fold to find immediate success, it's hard to think of a better fit than the Michigan rpoduct..
At 6'9" and 247 lbs, Lendeborg, first and foremost, presents the big, physical body Golden State so desperately needed to add to the frontcourt and Jimmy Butler's absence. But across his 13 NBA games, he's rapidly proved himself not only as a secondary scorer behind Stephen Curry but also a true primary ball-handler with the bench unit, taking on much of the workload on both ends of the court that belonged to Butler before his ACL injury.
Things just didn't look like that against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday. In Curry's first game out with an oblique tear—and it's possible he misses about a month of action—Lendeborg posted just three points on 1-of-13 shooting from the floor, looking more uncomfortable and more limited than he has at any point in his young NBA career.
It obviously wasn't an encouraging performance for Lendeborg. But it's another step in his development, and that's what the Warriors should be looking at through this next stretch without Curry on the court..
Yaxel Lendeborg has proven his ability to adapt and develop—this last performance should be no different
Again, even factoring in that performance against San Antonio, Lendeborg has been largely immaculate to this point in the season. He's currently averaging 20.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists while knocking down 41.4% of his attempts from beyond the arc. That alone is enough to put him in fringe All-Star territory about a month into his career.
With Kristaps Porzingis, Jimmy Butler, and Moses Moody all on the sidelines, it's almost impossible to overstate how valuable that sort of play is for the Warriors.
And it only becomes more valuable with Curry absent.
The Spurs were always going to be a tough matchup for Lendeborg. Their guards have the size to deal with him on the perimeter, and their swarming defense was going to be a major test for his facilitation abilities even if they were required purely with the bench unit. He's never had to drive to the paint with Victor Wembanyama waiting there, either.
But with Curry out, suddenly the responsibilities upon him in that matchup grew exponentially. Not only was he supposed to be the primary scorer with the bench unit, but he was also meant to play strong team defense on the other end of court while largely maintaining his role as a playmaker with both the starting five and the bench unit. That's a workload fit for a superstar—not a rookie.
The Warriors are in a position, though, where they're forced to rely on Lendeborg to that extent. And he's shown an ability, at almost every juncture, to rise to the occasion.
The New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks, while not necessarily easy team matchups with Curry out, should both present Lendeborg a chance to recover from that performance. Neither team has the perimeter defenders or the true size that the Spurs do, even if there are some individually challenging defenders on each of those rosters. An efficient shooting game, with more strong rebounding and playmaking numbers, should be the benchmark for Lendeborg over these next couple of outings.
The game against San Antonio was the highest-pressure matchup of Lendeborg's career. But these are the sorts of games that happen for any player, especially a rookie. What's important for Golden State is now how many out these outings Lendeborg has this season—but how he rebounds from them and how learns to not let the pressure of a matchup affect his game.
A dud from Lendeborg was always going to come. Thankfully, it's out of the way now, and the Warriors can focus on surviving without Curry for the next few weeks. And Lendeborg has shown, already, that he's up to that sort of task.
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