The Golden State Warriors seem very excited about rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, the No. 11 pick in this year’s draft who won Summer League MVP. That’s a marked change from their feelings after interviewing Lendeborg before the 2025 draft, a meeting in which he was “acting like a jackass.”
Lendeborg had just finished two seasons at the University of Alabama-Birmingham last spring and was torn on whether to enter the NBA draft. He didn’t help his case for being pro-ready with flippant answers about his habits, ones that Lendeborg admits were bad before transferring to Michigan for his final college season,
“I was like, damn, I did that bad?” Lendeborg told Anthony Slater. “But thinking back I guess my answers weren’t as professional. Just giving honest answers like, ‘Yeah, I’m BSing in practice. Yeah, I’m not doing my job in games, but I’m performing.’ I guess I didn’t really give out the good vibe.”
We’re assuming he improved on those answers before this draft, while also improving on his approach to playing basketball. Lendeborg claims he didn’t practice hard enough, sleep well, or watch enough game tape until playing for Wolverines coach Dustin May, now coach of the Dallas Mavericks. That last one was the key to Lendeborg charming Steve Kerr after the Warriors coach quizzed him about his own game tape.
“I pretty much gave all the right answers,” Lendeborg said, which is good because, “I was BSing” probably wouldn’t have flown with Kerr.
For his part, the Warriors coach has gushed about Lendeborg’s “natural feel” for basketball, his pass-first attitude, and his personality, where, “There’s no filter.” At no point anywhere in the profile does he call Lendeborg a jackass, dingbat, numbskull, knucklehead, doofus, or a ding-dong.
Lendeborg specifically charmed Kerr and other Warriors officials when they went to dinner at Draymond Green’s restaurant, and watched Game 4 of the NBA Finals, where the New York Knicks came back from 29 points down to shock the San Antonio Spurs. Lendeborg was the “life of the party.”
What might have also convinced the Warriors decision-makers is seeing the Knicks, a team relying on a group of rangy, defensive-minded wing players around an undersized, scoring point guards, take down the Spurs. Lendeborg looks to be the type of player that has become hugely valuable to the Knicks and other NBA teams, and been noticeably absent on the Dubs roster.
And now he even goes to bed on time and works hard in practice! I bet he even makes his bed every morning, like James Wiseman.
Yaxel Lendeborg used to be a jackass. But he’s not anymore. No more glass houses, white Ferraris, living for New Year’s Eve, slacking off in practice, sleeping during film sessions, horsing around in draft interviews, or sloppy steaks at Truffoni’s!
People can change.
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