Why Warriors Fans Are Already Going to Love Yaxel Lendeborg

[Yax Q&A commentary/video/transcript]

The Warriors drafted Yaxel Lendeborg with the 11th overall pick and while most of the discussion immediately turned to his versatility, defense and playmaking, I came away from his first interview as a Warrior thinking about something else: his personality.

Over the last few months, I’ve watched a lot of prospects go through the pre-Draft process. Most of them are polished. Most of them say the right things. Yaxel feels different.

One of the reasons I became such a believer in him during the Draft process is that he consistently gave honest answers, even when those answers weren’t necessarily the safest ones.

That continued Thursday night. Sure, the one about Wardell Stephen Curry II went viral, but he also said this about the impending Michigan-Michigan State tug-of-war that’s about to happen behind closed doors between him and Draymond Green:

I know he’s a Michigan State guy, so it’s not really— I’m not really too, not too fond of that, but I’m definitely excited to be able to meet him, speak to him in person and learn, just learn everything I can…

I only been there for one year, but I definitely hate those guys [Michigan State]. All that they were saying, and they can’t really say much because I went 2-0 against them this year, so they’re gonna be little brother for me forever and I’m not gonna represent the losers, ever.

As for the question about Steph, in case you missed it on social media, Yaxel admitted something that Warriors fans probably never expected to hear from their newest first-round pick.

Back in 2016, he hated Steph.

Not because of anything personal. He was a huge Kyrie Irving fan and, like a lot of young basketball fans at the time, he found himself rooting against the Warriors dynasty. Now he’ll be learning directly from Curry every day.

That alone made for a funny full-circle moment, but there were other moments that stood out even more. When asked what kept him going through the years when his basketball future wasn’t guaranteed, he didn’t talk about rankings, trainers or personal ambition. He talked about his mother.

Yaxel said there were many times he wanted to quit, but he always thought about how his mother would feel if he gave up. It was another reminder that his path to the NBA wasn’t the typical five-star journey.

Later, during a question about Men’s Mental Health Month, he spoke openly about meditation, prayer, music and learning how to replace negative self-talk with positive self-talk. I can’t wait to delve into that side of Yax more, as I myself am a practitioner of meditation and it has helped changed my life for the better.

Again, Lendeborg doesn’t exactly give standard Draft-night answers and I had been told, even before Eric Guilleminault hopped on our livestream to discuss all the faults he was hearing…

…that Yaxel doesn’t have a filter — DubNation, get used to that! I think it’s a good thing, though. The honesty.

The basketball fit is obvious. I’ve already written and spoken extensively about why I think he fits what the Warriors do offensively and defensively, but the more interviews I watch, the more I think the Warriors may have drafted someone whose mentality fits their culture just as well as his game does. He sounds like someone who genuinely believes he still has something to prove.

One other update from Draft Night: while Yaxel joked about Draymond’s No. 23 jersey being unavailable, the Warriors later announced to reporters at Chase Center, present for the Mike Dunleavy, Jr. presser, the transcript of which I will post soon, that he’ll wear No. 1 with Golden State.

The full interview is embedded below, with 40 seconds of my celebration at 6:12PM of the pick. Paid subscribers can continue below the paywall for the complete edited transcript, which includes a translation from a Spanish-speaking reporter…

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