Steve Kerr has already made up his mind about Yaxel Lendeborg’s role with the Golden State Warriors, and it has nothing to do with easing a rookie into the league. The No. 11 pick in the 2026 draft has started multiple preseason games, drawn praise from Draymond Green and Stephen Curry, and heard his head coach call him one of the team’s best players before he has played a single regular-season minute. The Yaxel Lendeborg development push says as much about where the Warriors are as a franchise as it does about the rookie himself.
A Starting Role Built On Readiness, Not Patience
Lendeborg started the Warriors’ preseason opener, a 104-101 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, and followed it with 17 points, nine rebounds and two assists in a blowout win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Kerr told ESPN‘s Anthony Slater that Lendeborg “is going to play a ton,” adding, “Frankly, he deserves it. He’s one of our best players already.”
Kerr went further when NBC Sports’ Bonta Hill and Dalton Johnson asked if Lendeborg was the most pro-ready rookie he has coached. “Yeah, 100 percent,” Kerr said. “He’s the most prepared, most ready guy.” Kerr credited that readiness to the coaching Lendeborg received from Dusty May at Michigan, where he averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds during the Wolverines’ run to the national title.
A Winding Path That Produced A Finished Product
Lendeborg did not arrive in the NBA through a conventional route. His college career started at Arizona Western College before stops at UAB and Michigan. At UAB, as a small-ball center in his final season before declaring for the draft, he averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds. Kerr has pointed to a chip on Lendeborg’s shoulder that traces back to his start as an unranked JUCO prospect.
Physically, he is already built for NBA minutes. Lendeborg weighs more than 240 pounds, the same weight class as established forwards like OG Anunoby and Paolo Banchero, which separates him from most rookies who need time to add bulk.
Roster Need Meets Rookie Opportunity
The timing works in Lendeborg’s favor. Golden State is dealing with injuries to Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis, and the Warriors went into the draft looking for a lottery talent who could contribute immediately rather than a long-term project. Lendeborg has spent camp and preseason working within a potential starting five alongside Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Green and Al Horford.
Green has already bought in. “He understands the game, he’s smart,” Green said of Lendeborg. “And this was really my first time getting eyes on him in person, consistently shoot the piss out of the basketball.
I was very, very impressed.” During one scrimmage, Green and Curry shouted “That’s all year! All year!” after a sequence with Lendeborg, and Kerr later called him “unbelievably coachable” following a preseason win over the Lakers.
The Rough Edges Still Showing
None of this means Lendeborg is a finished product. In the preseason opener against the Clippers, he managed just four points on 1-of-6 shooting to go with nine rebounds, three assists and a block in 19 minutes. Kerr said afterward, “We need him to be more aggressive offensively.”
Defense has been the bigger issue. In an open intrasquad scrimmage, Lendeborg’s lapses gave De’Anthony Melton and Gui Santos open looks from three, frustrating Green in the process. Lendeborg has been candid about the adjustment.
“Everybody in the NBA can shoot,” he said. “I’ve been a guy that’s always given up the jump shot and kind of baited players to go into the paint and attack me. Here I can’t do that.
It’s more like a chase over, fight over kind of game in the NBA. I never really done that, so I’m still trying to navigate that.”
Kerr named defensive awareness as Lendeborg’s biggest focus heading into his first NBA season. People inside the organization describe a natural goofiness in Lendeborg that shows up on the court, which they expect will cause growing pains, including moments of nonchalant defensive focus. Green has also noted on his podcast that players who see the floor as well as Lendeborg and Jimmy Butler sometimes default to looking for a pass when coaches want them hunting their own shot.
The Counterpoint: Early Hype Comes With Real Risk
The strongest case against reading too much into Lendeborg’s preseason surge is the preseason itself. His rebounding numbers, 18 boards in 40 minutes, have come partly because he has noticed the paint is less crowded and opposing rebounders have seemed less engaged than what he faced in college, by his own admission. That is a small-sample observation from exhibition basketball, not a guarantee it holds once the regular season begins.
Lendeborg has also acknowledged he is still adjusting to professional habits. He said Warriors’ front office feedback at the combine was blunt, telling him he was behaving like “a jackass,” and he admitted, “The biggest thing for sure is just practice overall. I never took practice serious until Michigan.” A player still building those habits, with defensive lapses already on tape, remains a projection rather than a sure thing no matter how pro-ready Kerr says he looks.
What It Says About Golden State’s Priorities
Kerr has framed this season in terms that go beyond one rookie. “We’re in a position now where we can be thinking of development,” Kerr said. “Not just for Yaxel, but our whole group.
We are not in the championship conversation. So let’s see what we can do as a group to kind of reestablish what we stand for and how we operate and new beginnings in a lot of ways. All of that is really exciting to me.
And Yaxel’s a big part of that.”
That statement, paired with the plug-and-play role Lendeborg has already earned, suggests the Warriors view this season less as a title push and more as a chance to find out what their next core looks like with a 240-pound, NBA-ready frontcourt piece in the middle of it.
What To Watch Next
Lendeborg’s first regular-season game comes Oct. 21 at the Lakers, where the Warriors will see whether his preseason production and defensive issues carry over against a non-exhibition opponent. Three games later, on Oct. 24, Golden State faces the Phoenix Suns and Dillon Brooks, a matchup with some extra attention attached after Lendeborg said during a summer livestream that he would give Brooks a belt. How Kerr manages Lendeborg’s minutes and defensive assignments in those opening weeks will be the clearest early signal of how far the Warriors are willing to lean on their rookie right away.
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