Steve Kerr has barely watched Yaxel Lendeborg play an NBA game, and he is already picturing him as the player who carries the offence when Curry sits down.
After the Warriors’ preseason opener in Honolulu on Sunday, Kerr said the 23-year-old is “capable of being the lead offensive threat when Steph is not on the floor.”
It is an unusually direct endorsement for a player who had been in the league less than a week.
The headline numbers from the 104-101 loss to the LA Clippers were modest. Lendeborg played 19 minutes and finished with 4 points on 1-of-6 shooting, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and no turnovers. Curry was limited to the first half and scored 10 on 3-of-4 shooting in 12 minutes.
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A sloppy pass becomes the teaching moment
Kerr was not uncritical. He pointed to a second-half sequence when Lendeborg caught the ball under the basket, tried to pass instead of finishing, and the Clippers hit a three the other way.
“Yaxel was good. We need him to be more aggressive,” Kerr told reporters after the game.
“That’s got to be a layup. We need Yaxel to have an aggressive scoring mentality and that’s something we want to work with him on, because he can make plays and he can score.”
From junior college in Arizona to the No. 11 pick
The confidence in Lendeborg’s trajectory predates the opener. Earlier in training camp Kerr called him “100 percent” the most pro-ready rookie he had ever coached, a path that took him through two years in junior college in Arizona to Michigan under Dusty May and then to the No. 11 pick in the 2026 draft.
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“He wasn’t the five-star recruit,” Kerr said.
“He’s had to fight his way to get here, and he’s so appreciative of the opportunity, and he’s a pleaser. He wants to be coached, and he wants to do the right thing.”
Kerr also said Lendeborg is “one of our best players already” and that he deserves the minutes he is getting.
Curry wants aggression, mistakes and all
Curry framed it as a question of tempo.
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“The balance for a young guy who’s expected to have an impact is to walk that fine line of aggressiveness but being OK knowing you’re going to make mistakes,” Curry said.
“But we don’t want anything passive.”
The Warriors are back at Chase Center on Tuesday to face the Los Angeles Lakers in their second preseason game, before a short trip to the Portland Trail Blazers the following night, per the team’s schedule.
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