Latest / Bleacher Report / Why Yaxel Lendeborg is Perfect Fit for Warriors | 2026 NBA Draft

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Why Yaxel Lendeborg is Perfect Fit for Warriors | 2026 NBA Draft · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, it's Jacks so Lenneberg and is not a
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: dime Mara. Maybe more Mara in a moment. But Yaxel,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the big ten player of the year on the National
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: champions is off the board to the Golden State Warriors.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: As I mentioned, guys, this had been a rumor and
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  Speaker 1: there were concerns he would fall in this draft if
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  Speaker 1: he was not taken by the Warriors here at eleven.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Ultimately those concerns don't come to fruition. Guys. I love
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: this pick. We'll see what they do in free agency.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, Yaxle's a beloved teammate, a guy that
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  Speaker 1: really became this infectious energy tone center for Michigan, and
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  Speaker 1: a guy who flat out at his best can do
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  Speaker 1: things that only the top four players in this draft
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  Speaker 1: can do. I'm excited to see how he pairs with
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  Speaker 1: Steph Curry Kark.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I am too. And I think the one thing
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: that works in Yaxle's advantage here too, is that he
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: played with so many good players at Michigan.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: At a time.
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  Speaker 2: He would take a back seat. He would let Mores go,
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  Speaker 2: he would let mar go, he would even let Eliot
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Candou go a little bit, which is crazy to say,
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  Speaker 2: but I think that'll help when he's playing with players
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: like Steph Curry. He can come in play a role
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  Speaker 2: and there's not a lot of guys his side. With
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: his versatility and his defensive level too, I think it's
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  Speaker 2: gonna be special for the Warriors.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Boy, we were talking pre show a little bit on
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: the maturity point with Yaxel. He's one of the oldest
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: players that's going to be taken in this draft, and
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: yet maturity is one of the question marks on his
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  Speaker 1: profile with a very unorthodox story of how he got
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  Speaker 1: to this point in his career. How do you think
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  Speaker 1: it's going to work in Golden State.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: I'm hear to work out fine. You know, you under
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  Speaker 3: a guy like Draymond Green, he takes no crap, the leader,
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  Speaker 3: the engine of that team, the tone center of that team.
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  Speaker 3: So being under that guy like Draymond, I think he'll
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  Speaker 3: mature quickly. He'll learn a lot. It's actually a good
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  Speaker 3: guy to learn from. As far as some of the
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: intangible intangibles Yaxel has, they can have some sort of similarities,
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  Speaker 3: you know, being able to play that kind of point
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  Speaker 3: forward role, being versatile defensively and at the same time.
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  Speaker 3: This kid is just a straight up man child. So
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  Speaker 3: I like him in this system. I think I think
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  Speaker 3: it can work work well for both parties. And as
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  Speaker 3: far as the immaturity thing, I think he'll matured greatly
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  Speaker 3: under this organization.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: All Right, I have an eye on the chat right now.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: And somebody said, Draymond gonna sleep, bro. Look, I almost shuddered.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: He did it to my Michigan guy before Boogie Jordan
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Poole caught the right hook. Is this gonna be a concern, car, No,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: it's gonna think Yaxles too goofy to be honest, to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: be like, oh, he's gonna punch me like he's just
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: a goofy kid.
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  Speaker 2: That's really what goofy twenty five year old kid that is.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: But he's just a goofball.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Chat is loving this. We're also getting Yaxles the next
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Yannis Boogey, your thoughts the next, the next Giannis.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a one on one man. We just can't
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  Speaker 3: throw those type of things out. Does he probably have
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  Speaker 3: some similarities, Yes, but let's put respect on that legend.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Respect the greats. We have to all right, was so
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: we made you wait on this one.
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  Speaker 4: What do you think listen, history says, don't take a
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  Speaker 4: twenty three year old and lottery, and I'm gonna side
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: with history here. I'm gonna give this a B. I
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: think that's a terrible grade. I had a source telling
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  Speaker 4: me of the weekend that the Golden State Warriors were
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: going to take Yaxle with the same reason what you
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: guys just said. They want to capitalize on this last
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: window that they have there. And he is considered an
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  Speaker 4: NBA ready guy reminds me a lot of Aaron Gordon.
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  Speaker 4: Obviously not as much athletic pop, but that archetype of
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  Speaker 4: a forward who's going to give you a little bit
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  Speaker 4: of everything, not too much of one thing. You know,
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  Speaker 4: this is where in the open floor you see a
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  Speaker 4: little bit more of the explosiveness than you do in
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  Speaker 4: the half court. I love that at his size, he
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  Speaker 4: can handle the ball. He'll give you a couple of
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  Speaker 4: assists per game. Yeah, I mean Aaron Gordon. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: I mean that's the type of guy I think he
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  Speaker 4: has to be if he is going to justify, you know,
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  Speaker 4: being the eleventh pick in the draft. He's going to
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  Speaker 4: be a Swiss army knife type of guy. And so
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  Speaker 4: let's see how does he fit in this lineup? And
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  Speaker 4: I mean, maybe you could slide him in obviously we
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: don't have Yeah, I guess you could slide him in
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  Speaker 4: for Santos right here if you do want to start
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: him and Golden State it's the perfect place for him,
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  Speaker 4: right he doesn't He can play the same role he
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: played at UAB, the same role he played at Michigan.
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  Speaker 4: Kind of just do a little bit of everything. You
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  Speaker 4: don't have to be a big time shock creator. Hopefully
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  Speaker 4: he continues to make strides with his spot up pre bowl,
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  Speaker 4: which he has every single year, becoming capable enough as
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: a spot up three point shooter. But yeah, this is
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  Speaker 4: a Swiss army knife, and I understand why Golden State
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: went for him. But by the way, Demarra still on
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: the board, and I think he is a little bit
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  Speaker 4: more of an interesting prospect.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe we'll talk maar next. I have a good
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: feeling on that. First, let's go to fish Fish.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: What do you got so again?
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: The trade talk here, I think was focused on trying
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: to get Oklahoma City or Charlotte to move up for Mara.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: We're definitely expecting him to be in play in these
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  Speaker 5: next couple of picks, but I want to pour some
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  Speaker 5: cold water. I saw a lot of noise online about
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: the wars potentially trading this pick for Trey Murphy. I
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  Speaker 5: don't think that was ever in play here. The Warriors
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  Speaker 5: don't really even have the salary that makes sense to
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  Speaker 5: send out to match Trey Murphy. They've liked him, but
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  Speaker 5: I think the second Jonathan Cominga went to Atlanta that
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: took the Trey Murphy dream out of reality for Golden
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  Speaker 5: State