The Golden State Warriors will head into the 2026-27 season with minutes up for grabs at the wing positions. Steve Kerr's team will navigate the majority of the regular season without Jimmy Butler and potentially Moses Moody, too. As such, rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg could find himself thrust into a sizeable role right out of the gate.
When speaking with Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area, Kerr addressed Lendeborg's potential role within Golden State's rotation. Kerr admitted that he's excited about working with the Michigan product, although he now needs to figure out his rotations and who works best together when on the court.
“We’ve got to win some games early and stay with the pack," Kerr said. "But I’m excited about it. We’ve added some good
players with Yaxel and Georges Niang, and we believe Brandon Williams can help us. Our young guys obviously had a great summer, winning Summer League and really putting in a lot of work. The biggest things are figuring out who’s going to start, and what’s the rotation going to look like? Can Yaxel will play the 3 with Draymond at the 4, with Kristaps or Al at the 5? What would that look like? We’ll have a lot of time to determine that."
Lendeborg enters the NBA after a strong end to his collegiate career. In his lone season with the Wolverines, the rookie averaged 15.1 points, 6.8 boards, and 3.2 assists throughout 40 games. He shot 63.9% on two-point attempts and hit 37.2% of his three-point shots. Nevertheless, Lendeborg will need to adjust to the NBA game and the step up in competition. Fortunately, he'll have some highly experienced veterans to help him navigate that adjustment.
So, as we head into the new season, it's fair to assume we'll see a lot of the rookies, who were selected with the 11th pick in the draft, and that he could carve out a key role within Kerr's rotation. From that point, it'll be up to Lendeborg to ensure that he keeps that role long-term.
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This article originally appeared on Warriors Wire: Warriors' Steve Kerr discusses Yaxel Lendeborg's potential role
