Joe Lacob claims Yaxel Lendeborg's development has changed Warriors' outlook

Joe Lacob claims Yaxel Lendeborg's development has changed Warriors' outlook originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Yaxel Lendeborg has exceeded just about everyone’s expectations. Including his own.

Does that change the Warriors’ outlook on the 2026-27 NBA season? Golden State owner Joe Lacob certainly believes so.

“I do,” Lacob told 95.7 The Game’s “Steiny & Guru” on Monday when asked if Lendeborg’s immediate breakout has changed the team’s outlook on the season. “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 percent 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 No. 11?’ And I was confident, actually that he would, because the NBA, I’ve been doing this a long time now, the NBA GMs 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.”

In eight games this season, Lendeborg is averaging 21.5 points, seven rebounds and 3.9 assists per game on 50-percent shooting from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range.

Not only has the rookie been an important piece to coach Steve Kerr’s rotations, but he is Golden State’s No. 2 scorer behind superstar Steph Curry. Lendeborg is putting up All-Star-caliber numbers early in his first NBA season for a team that is without its second scorer in Jimmy Butler, who still is working his way back from a torn ACL sustained last season and won’t return until midseason.

When he does return, the Warriors could have a very formidable Big Three with Curry, Lendeborg and Butler.

“The amazing thing is, everything we thought he could be, he’s come in and kind of exceeded that,” Lacob added. “I think Steve has stated that. He’s surprised Steve for sure. He doesn’t have any weaknesses is what I would say.”

Of course, it still is very early in the season, and Lendeborg almost certainly will experience plenty of highs and lows throughout the 82-game campaign. But the early returns on their first-round pick have Lacob and the Warriors very encouraged, and seemingly believing the team’s ceiling might be higher than they initially thought it was.

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