Joe Lacob has already defended his stance of having a quiet season. The Golden State Warriors owner stated, "Sometimes, the best deals you ever do are the ones you don't do." But he is certainly happy with drafting Yaxel Lendeborg and his impact as a starter.
The Dub Nation picked the Michigan product at #11, and the noise around his selection is far different than their previous lottery picks. In 2020, the Warriors front office selected James Wiseman as the overall second pick over future All-Stars like LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton. Then the 7-foot center struggled mightily with injuries and never carved out a place.
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The very next year, Jonathan Kuminga was another lottery pick. But even he struggled to consistently crack Kerr's starting lineup, featuring Curry and Green. But Yaxel Lendeborg has seemingly fit right in. Injuries to Jimmy Butler and the absence of Kristaps Porzingis have led to the rookie having more minutes, but he has delivered so far.
"I do (if Yaxel changed the outlook of the season)," Lacob said on "Steiny & Guru" on 95.7 The Game
. "Look, we've made our mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes and we didn't get the draft exactly right, or maybe we didn't get the development right on a couple other higher draft choices in the past. Fine, criticize us for that, but the draft is hard guys. It is hard, and not everybody gets it. Some teams never get it right, and we got this one right. I was 100% sold that this was the guy we wanted in the draft, we were, not just me and there were some other really good players in this draft. The only question was 'Would he get to #11?'
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"And I was confident actually that he would because the NBA, I've been doing a long time now, the NBA GM's just love their 18- and 19-year-olds. We've all been guilty of looking at 'There's great upside to some of these guys,' but this guy seemed like a champion, ready to play. The amazing thing is, everything we thought he could be, he's come in and kind of exceeded that. I think Steve has stated that. He's surprised Steve for sure. He doesn't have any weaknesses is what I would say."
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The positive reaction from the Warriors owner comes on the back of Sunday's performance. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green were resting, but the shorthanded Golden State won 124-112 against the Clippers. Yaxel Lendeborg erupted for a career-high 37 points and six assists. The 24-year-old even made six 3-pointers and shot 13 of 19 from the field.
Before the Suns game on Monday, the Warriors are now unbeaten in the last four, after opening the season 0-3. Clearly Yaxel Lendeborg is making the right noise. In fact, his 37 points also made it the highest
single-game scoring total by a Warriors rookie since Stephen Curry scored 42 against Portland on Apr. 14, 2010. There have been plenty more such headline-worthy performances.
After his first five career games, Lendeborg became the first player since Shaquille O'Neal in 1992 to average at least 20 points and nine rebounds. In his second game against the Lakers, the rookie struggled with just 6 points.
But the other five include 18 points, two 26-point games, 31 points and now a 37-point performance. The rookie's 31-point outing against the Nuggets also included 12 rebounds and six assists, which again put him in Stephen Curry's orbit.
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He became the first Golden State rookie since Curry to record at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists in a single game. Yaxel Lendeborg's career so far has surpassed the expectations many Warriors fans had. Even Steve Kerr, after the Clippers game, said, "We scored 124 points, and Yaxel is the main reason that we were high powered."
The rookie has stamped his place in the head coach's rotation, and that's why Warriors owner Lacob has no doubt about selecting the right player.
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