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Why Malevy Leons can earn meaningful Warriors minutes during 2026-27 NBA season
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- Why Malevy Leons can earn meaningful Warriors minutes during 2026-27 NBA season
Why Malevy Leons can earn meaningful Warriors minutes during 2026-27 NBA season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
LAS VEGAS – Just like how waiting on LeBron James ' latest and presumably last decision in free agency affected the upcoming NBA schedule, so does the draft for the summer's biggest showcase.
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Summer league schedules for Las Vegas aren't made until after the NBA draft to ensure the biggest matchups can face off for our first peek into the future. Look at the first day of summer league this year as an example.
AJ Dybantsa vs. Darryn Peterson. Darius Acuff Jr. vs. Keaton Wagler . Labaron Philon Jr. vs. Ebuka Okorie. Yaxel Lendeborg vs. Morez Johnson Jr. It was all there on Day 1.
On Day 2, Cameron Boozer vs. Caleb Wilson was the main attraction.
The rest of summer league tries to follow suit the best it can. After two straight games against former Michigan teammates , Lendeborg's third game in Las Vegas was all about his matchup with Boozer .
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It also was the first game Warriors coach Steve Kerr attended this summer. Kerr, sitting next to Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy and new associate head coach Frank Vogel, was engaged all game watching new and familiar faces. His eyes were all over Lendeborg cranking the volume on competitiveness and taking his battle against Boozer personally.
But the most animated Kerr got was for someone on a two-way contract, not the No. 11 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Malevy Leons earned a fist pump, some happy claps and verbal praise for two very similar plays during the second quarter of an eventual blowout loss to the Memphis Grizzlies .
Leons took one shot in the first quarter, missing a three. He took three shots in the second quarter, again missing a three. His two makes, however, both came off non-stop motion that finished with a cut to the basket and converting a tough layup, with the second coming on Boozer. Those are the types of plays that translate to Golden State for Leons, and bring happiness to his NBA coach.
"I love Malevy's cutting and his crashing," Warriors summer league coach Khalid Robinson said after the loss. "Last game, I think he had like five or six offensive rebounds. That is who he has to be in this league: An elite crasher and cutter, and then if he has an open shot, take it and make it."
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The number of offensive rebounds that Leons engulfed the previous game was six, to be precise.
That game was supposed to be all about Lendeborg facing another former Michigan teammate in Oklahoma City Thunder center Aday Mara, who was taken one pick after him in the draft. And it mostly was in ugly game where the Warriors won by 25 points. Lendeborg scored a game-high 14 points, and Mara had 10.
They combined for the same amount of rebounds as Leons (11). He didn't stop moving, and his nose for the ball sniffed out rebounds every which way. Leons grabbed five rebounds on the defensive glass and six on offense, which was one fewer than the Thunder had as a team.
"It's very contagious," LJ Cryer of Leons' rebounding after the win. "Offensive rebounds in the game are backbreakers, especially in a game where we didn't really have it going for a little while. When the game is slow and ugly like that, it can kind of break the other team's spirit. He's big for us."
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Leons' six offensive rebounds led to an extra six points for the Warriors against the Thunder, and a much bigger number of extra chances.
Tenacity is a word Leons has to live by on the court. The possession battle is top of the pyramid in basketball, making Leons' play style important for a variety of reasons.
"It's really important, because crashing is a big role in the NBA right now, and if you can do that consistently with a lot of energy it helps you when you're trying to get a spot in the league," Robinson said.
The Warriors signed Leons from the Thunder's G League system in December. He had played six NBA games previously and played 25 for the Warriors while spending 19 in Santa Cruz. The Warriors would love for Leons to at least be a threat to make wide-open 3-pointers after going 4 of 16 last season (25 percent) and 5 of 19 (26.3 percent) over the summer, but that would be getting greedy for what Golden State is going to ask of him.
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Leons can be a Minutes Eater. For the Warriors, that can be called a Star Saver. Or maybe even a Volunteer for Vets. Call it what you want, the description is the same: Provide energy and activity whenever you're on the floor, be reliable when the vets need a rest and be trusted upon over an 82-game season to have those games saved equal meaningful basketball at the end of the season.
At 27 years old before the regular season begins, and at 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-1 wingspan and a never-ending battery, Leons fits the bill of what the Warriors need from the end of the bench on certain nights. His role doesn't have to expand past its purpose, he just has to execute it.
