My Biggest Yaxel Lendeborg Takeaway Wasn't About The Warriors
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If you’re an NBA Draft aficionado, the most interesting thing Yaxel Lendeborg said during Thursday’s Warriors pre-Draft media session wasn’t about being a “secondary ball-handler” to one Wardell Steph Curry II.
It wasn't about comparisons to Draymond Green. And it wasn’t even about why he believes his game fits Golden State.
It was what workouts he has left.
“I have the Clippers and the Hawks and I'm done,” said Lendeborg, apparently only “two minutes” (plus about ten minutes on the podium) after finishing his with the Warriors.
At first glance, that sounds like a routine Draft process answer, but the more I thought about it, the more interesting it became.
Lendeborg revealed his workout list:
Oklahoma City
Miami
Chicago
Milwaukee
Charlotte
Dallas
Golden State
LA Clippers (upcoming)
Atlanta (upcoming)
With workouts scheduled with teams owning the 8th through 15th picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, why is the No. 5 team, the Clippers, looking at Yaxel?
Indeed, with their trade for Darius Garland and four marquee points guards projected to be picked between 5th and 10th, eyeing a move down should come as no surprise for LAC.
Makes you wonder who is thinking about moving up. My guesses are either Milwaukee at 10 or Dallas at 9. NBA Draft season is all about connecting dots and this should be one of the most intriguing Drafts in recent memory.
Be sure to join us on both Draft Nights for livestream watch parties. The link will eventually post in our NBA Draft playlist.
Actually, we’ve also got Eric Guilleminault of NBADraft.net scheduled for Monday, June 22nd, the night before the Draft — he’ll be too swamped on Draft Night itself to join us.
But yeah, I had other takeaways from Lendeborg’s Q&A, too. Remember, I said back on March 30th during the Final Four that he would be “perfect” for the Warriors:
Yaxel and I seem to be thinking on the same wavelength because when asked about Golden State, his reasoning wasn't complicated. He immediately referenced Curry’s gravity and off-ball movement.
“I think it fits perfectly,” said Lendeborg.
And by the way, that’s how the Michigan Wolverines played this season, as Steve Kornacki wrote on his Substack, The Wolverine Report:
“I think he’s done an unbelievable job of giving what the game has given him and playing smart, practical basketball all year,” said (Dusty) May. “That’s not easy to do to play two different styles and especially learning a new system. We play in flow 90 percent of the game. We call [plays] out of timeouts. Other than that, our guys are playing off of each other. For him to go from a set offense, 1-3-1 defensive team to a switching man and a free-flowing offense, he’s had to learn a lot, and he’s had to be two different people for us.”
Incidentally, I found this tidbit while looking up another tidbit, see transcript below: Yaxel got the nickname “Dominican LeBron” from his teammate LJ Cason.
I also liked how Lendeborg referenced “getting five assists” in the Warriors’ system — much more preferred than, say, 30 points?
“Whenever Steph is getting taken out the game I'll be there to assist,” added Lendeborg.
That answer felt important. The Warriors have spent years searching for players who can connect possessions, move the ball, defend multiple positions and keep the offense flowing when Curry sits. Whether he becomes that player remains to be seen, but he clearly understands the role.
Finally, my favorite answer of the entire session wasn't about basketball. When asked what he wanted teams to learn about him during interviews, he said, “I'm a very real, honest guy.”
That tracks. This is the same player who openly discussed crying in the medical tent after suffering his Final Four knee injury [again, see transcript below].
The same player who admitted yesterday that he was probably only operating at “40 or 50 percent” during Michigan's championship run, who admitted to a national audience at halftime in a Final Four game that he could not contribute to his fullest.
The honesty feels genuine and, frankly, it reminds me a little bit of how Draymond has always bonded with people inside the Warriors organization — well, other than that one time with the punch, of course, although the problem with that was mainly because it became public (fights happen all the time at practice, if you’ve ever been on a basketball team).
BONUS TIDBIT: I have more intel on Lendeborg coming up soon. It is also comforting to know that Warriors bear writer Danny Emerman of the SF Standard agrees that Yaxel is the guy.
We will be at the edge of our seats on Draft Night, whether or not Lendeborg is taken before the 11th pick.
This is precisely the reason why the Warriors should not trade the pick out. As I have said on the YouTube channel, if there’s a trade involving a draft pick to be made, it should be for an additional first-round pick:
There are other names DubNation seems to like that make sense, who seem to be falling in recent mocks: Karim Lopez, Cameron Carr, Hannes Steinbach, Aday Mara, Labaron Philon and more. It is a deep Draft and the Warriors roster needs to get younger.
So, go get a second first-rounder!
The idea of trading the 11th pick for two lower first-rounders would likely take Yaxel out of the equation, plus there are only two possibilities: OKC at 12 and 17, and Charlotte at 14 and 18.
I do not see a good reason for OKC to simply move up one spot to 11 at the cost of the 17th pick.
For Charlotte, they already have high picks on their roster pecking order like LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel. They have a couple open salary slots, so there is no urgency to reduce their picks to move up just three spots on the Draft board. Building a team with two more solid rookie scale contracts in a deep Draft makes more sense for the Hornets.
I don’t see a realistic “trade down” scenario for the Warriors.
The full transcript from Lendeborg's pre-Draft workout media session is available below for paid subscribers. It will be opened up to all subscribers next week.
