Yaxel Lendeborg has already been dropped into Golden State’s first unit, and Steve Kerr is preparing to give the rookie wing a heavy workload. With Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody still rehabbing significant knee injuries, the 24-year-old has become an immediate option at small forward beside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, while also offering the Warriors a bigger look alongside Green in smaller combinations.
“He’s going to play a ton,” Kerr said after the Warriors’ preseason win over the Los Angeles Lakers. “Honestly, he’s earned it. He’s already one of our better players.”
That is a fast climb for a 6-foot-9, 241-pound rookie with a 7-foot-4 wingspan. Golden State believes Lendeborg’s body, passing instincts and willingness to move without the ball fit an offense that asks wings to read Curry’s movement as much as their own defender.
From the locker room
The first sign came before camp, during a players-only run at Butler’s San Diego home. In the one pickup game where Lendeborg shared the floor with Curry and Green, he made the type of off-ball read the Warriors want from their frontcourt pieces.
On a sideline inbound, Green received the ball above the break while Curry cut toward Lendeborg to set a back screen. Both defenders followed the action toward Curry. Lendeborg immediately slipped behind them, took Green’s pass and finished an open dunk.
Green and Curry erupted after the play, shouting that the connection would be there throughout the season. Green said the sequence looked like the three had been together far longer than one summer run.
For Lendeborg, it was simply the clean read: Curry drew the attention, and the lane opened. For Golden State, it was evidence that the rookie was already seeing the spacing and timing that drive its offense.
Butler has been struck by the rookie’s physical profile. “He’s huge,” Butler said. “He’s just a big person.”
Golden State had Lendeborg closely grouped with Arizona combo guard Brayden Burries on its final board before the June draft. Holding the 11th selection, the Warriors would have taken Burries if he had reached them; Milwaukee selected him at No. 10. The Warriors then chose Lendeborg, preferring his readiness to contribute during the remaining prime years of Curry’s career.
Lendeborg had also impressed Kerr before the draft. In a film meeting, the coach saw a player who understood the game, carried himself well and wanted instruction. Kerr later called him “incredibly coachable.”
The organization has also taken note of the workload Lendeborg handled before arriving in camp. He came off Michigan’s national championship run, where an MCL issue and ankle sprain bothered him during the NCAA tournament, then played eight summer league games and helped Golden State win the Las Vegas championship.
His route to this point was not automatic. After two seasons at UAB, where he averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds in his final year while often playing undersized center, Lendeborg entered the 2025 draft. At the Chicago combine, Golden State’s front office came away concerned about his approach.
Lendeborg later recalled being told he had acted poorly in those meetings, a blunt assessment that caught him off guard. He withdrew from the draft, transferred to Michigan and changed his daily habits. With the Wolverines, he averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 51.5 percent from the field.
“The biggest part was practice, period,” Lendeborg said. “I didn’t really take practice seriously before Michigan.”
That has changed with the Warriors. Kerr has pointed to Lendeborg’s consistent gym time, while teammates have responded to a player who regularly asks questions and seeks feedback.
“I don’t think he’s scared,” Curry said. “There’s so much information for a rookie to take in and process. He’s receptive, he listens, and you can see he’s mentally engaged.”
The minutes will come with a rookie’s corrections. Lendeborg’s easygoing personality has shown up early in preseason, including a moment on the opening possession when an official told him to tuck in his jersey. More importantly, Golden State’s staff wants sharper defensive concentration away from the ball.
Kerr said Lendeborg has a tendency to rise out of his stance when he is not guarding the ball. Against the Clippers, Rui Hachimura came off pin-down screens and found room because Lendeborg was not ready for the action. The Warriors had emphasized the need to chase Hachimura off the perimeter, but Lendeborg sagged back and allowed several jumpers.
Green showed frustration during that game, then reinforced the defensive message after Lendeborg texted him for advice following his first preseason appearance. The rookie has the trust to start and the path to major minutes; the next part of his introduction will be sustaining the same alertness on the defensive end that got him noticed in the first place.
