Jonathan Kuminga wanted a consistent and major role with the Golden State Warriors for years, only for Steve Kerr to regularly deny that wish and bring the young forward in and out of the fold across his nearly five-year career at the franchise.
That won't be the case for Golden State's latest lottery pick, with Yaxel Lendeborg set to be granted a major role from day which could well include a starting spot given the current injuries to Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody.
Warriors set to grant Yaxel Lendeborg wish Jonathan Kuminga didn't get
Lendeborg already appeared a win-now type of player when he was drafted as a 23-year-old by the Warriors last month, before solidifying that with an impressive summer league campagin where he won MVP and led the team to a championship.
In a major report from ESPN's Anthony Slater, Kerr outlined Golden State's need for Lendeborg and essentially laid out a significant role for the 11th overall pick from opening night next season.
"He has a really good natural feel, and we have a direct need for him here," Kerr said. "It's such a position of need. Then his positional size alone. We're in a position now where we can be thinking of development and not just for Yaxel, but for our whole group. We are not in the (championship) conversation."
Kerr's comments on the franchise not being in championship contention may be brutal to hear, but also reflects a stark contrast between the start of Lendeborg's career and where the Warriors were at when Kuminga was drafted.
Yaxel Lendeborg enters into contrasting landscape to Jonathan Kuminga
Despite taking two lottery picks in the 2021 Draft and James Wiseman second overall the year prior, Golden State still had their eyes on contending for a championship and proved that by going out and winning the title in Kuminga's rookie year.
That remained the case over the next few years, leaving Kuminga's development blocked by the Warriors' win-now aspirations. Lendeborg enters a still very experienced, veteran team, but one who is fading and who understand their reality after Butler's injury in January.
If anything it's frustrating that the Warriors couldn't have drafted a player like Lendeborg back in 2021, and taken Kuminga as a high upside prospect this year. Either way it's time Golden State hit on a lottery pick, and Lendeborg will get the perfect opportunity to make good on the promising early signs.
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