I bit my tongue during the preseason. If there was ever a time for a young NBA player to learn the ropes, that was it. But apparently, those two weeks of games before the regular season aren't enough, because Golden State Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg still has a lot to learn. He runs his mouth entirely too much.
Maybe it's because he's an older rookie at 24 -- the same age as sixth-year Warriors vet Moses Moody -- and fresh off a national championship at Michigan that he feels so comfortable yapping so freely. But it's not an earned confidence that had him jawing at six-time all-star and two-time scoring champ Luka Doncic during Wednesday's season opener.
"I was telling him he sucks. He can't score on me," Lendeborg explained after the game.
"You're talking, you can't score on me. I said it the whole game."
Rookie Yax goin' at Luka 🍿
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 22, 2026
Yaxel Lendeborg and Luka Doncic got into it during Warriors-Lakers 👀 pic.twitter.com/DRQb9kTVqI
Rookie mistake. And the Warriors paid the price as a team. Doncic responded by dropping 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in a 22-point win for the Los Angeles Lakers. He confirmed after the game Lendeborg awakened something in him.
The problem isn't so much that Lendeborg is comfortable trash-talking an established star. It's that he doesn't carry the burden to respond to that star. It falls on 38-year-old Stephen Curry, who will have a hard enough time carrying the Warriors this season without some big-mouth rookie making his life harder. Last night, Curry's 23 points in 21 minutes weren't nearly enough, and still nine more than the next-closest Warrior.
BB gun Lendeborg, who played a team-high 29 minutes, finished with 12. Yet, he wasn't done talking.
Yaxel Lendeborg on Luka:
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) October 22, 2026
"I had a lot of respect for him. But being in it firsthand and seeing all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect."
"I was telling him he sucks. He can't score on me" pic.twitter.com/EGwxqR8k8f https://t.co/LkaKZ1Qc7A
"Being in it first-hand, just watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect. That was awful," Lendeborg said of Doncic -- just one week after admitting he was spooked by the matchup. "Me getting frustrated, it's not about the foul being called. It's about him complaining the entire game. And then you get the foul call, congratulations. Then you talk to me like you did something great? Come on, dog. That's just weak. It kind of threw me off a little because I had so much respect for him. Gone. Gone."
This shouldn't come as much of a surprise. The signs of someone who doesn't know when to be quiet were there early. Lendeborg said during preseason it was "a lot easier" to rebound in college because NBA players are "lazy" on the glass (he only had three rebounds last night, by the way). After winning the Summer League championship, he said some players weren't built for the moment like him.
To be fair about Wednesday night, Lendeborg wasn't completely wrong in what he was saying. Doncic does complain a lot. His whining to the refs has been a critique since he entered the league. Also, Lendeborg apparently did well in his personal defensive matchups against Doncic. But that's besides the point for someone who's still a role player in the NBA. Until he can back up his words with his game, and go toe-to-toe with the other team's star, he should probably just keep his mouth shut.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg talks too much
