For months, I’ve watched Michigan basketball fans laugh ominously about the big personality of Yaxel Lendeborg, the super-senior who led the Wolverines to a national championship run in 2026 and then headed to the NBA draft, where he was selected 11th overall by the Golden State Warriors. They would murmur something about how blunt he is, how clumsy he is, how the world isn’t ready for him, etc. Of course.
I knew the story: Born to parents who had both played basketball for the Dominican Republic national teams, Lendeborg barely participated in organized basketball for most of his schooling because he couldn’t keep his grades up, preferring to play video games all day, and had no intention of playing college ball until his mother pushed him to play in a showcase for Dominican players late in high school. His highlights there landed him the final scholarship spot at Arizona Western College, and after six combined seasons of college hoops, a first-round NBA selection, a Summer League MVP and a strong preseason, he started at power forward in his NBA debut on Wednesday. A remarkable sequence of events.
The Warriors targeted Lendeborg, 24, rather than taking a younger prospect, likely because they wanted a straight-out-of-the-box starter to keep a team competitive around Steph Curry. It’s a lofty thought, but at least one game, with Jimmy Butler still months away from a return from an ACL repair, and Kristaps Porzingis reportedly considering retirement due to a chronic illness, the Warriors look dismal. As they were being shredded by the Los Angeles Lakers, 127-105, Lendeborg exchanged many heated words and gestures with the inveterate asshole Luka Doncic. Just before the halftime buzzer, Doncic launched a half-court shot over Lendeborg, and the two began barking at each other again.
Taunting Doncic is a losing strategy, and by the end of his 30 minutes, the Lakers superstar had recorded 28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Meanwhile, Lendeborg had 12 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal, while playing decent man-and-team defense. “He was talking crazy,” Doncic said of his rookie opponent after the match. “But I wasn’t trying to answer. This season I’m not trying to get technicians.”
What did the two discuss throughout the entire match? Sitting in his first-ever NBA postgame dais, Lendeborg was happy to elaborate. This famous personality emerged:
A partial transcription:
Yaxel, how are you? Good start?
Yeah, that was interesting. I gotta see what the NBA is like, man. Lots of flops, lots of fouls, lots of prayers to the ref, man. First interesting game for me, that’s for sure.
Obviously, the back and forth with Luka, we’ve all seen it, maybe trying to put it in your head: what do you think about that and how do you feel you handled that?
I had a lot of respect for him, you know, just because I looked at him. I haven’t really watched the NBA much. I just watched the highlights, seeing him kill people all the time. But being in there and watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect, man. Like, it was horrible. I’m frustrated, it’s not a fault. It’s about him complaining the whole game, and then you get fouled. Congratulations, brother. And then you talk to me like you did something great, brother. Come on, dog. This shit is weak, you know? So it kind of threw me off for a little while because you know, like I said, I had so much respect for him. Gone, man. Disappeared.
What were you two talking about?
I told him he was rubbish. He can’t score on me. If you talk, you can’t mark me. I said it throughout the match. I said some bad words obviously, you know, that’s why I got the technique and all that, but I let him know, because he was laughing and talking all that because of that foul, and his only bucket on me was a half-court banker. I know it’s a team sport, he had—what did he have, 28 on us as a team. Me, I took my match personally, I tried not to get caught in the mistakes. I did my best. I was thinking about playing it with my hands behind my back to see if it worked. He probably still would have gotten a foul, but you know, it’s interesting.
A rookie preparing for his very first NBA game and slamming a future Hall of Famer is bold, yes, but he has an accurate read on Doncic’s general layout on the court. Official game data shows that Doncic shot 1-of-5 from the field (plus 6-of-6 from the line) in the 2:58 he spent with Lendeborg as his primary defender, so he was really just the half-court banker. Some might find this all a bit spicy for a beginner, but no matter: media training is Satan, and these guys are only three years apart in age. Let them fight.
Gn sports
