SAN ANTONIO — Yaxel Lendeborg isn’t just one of the most impressive rookies in the NBA over the first month of the season. He’s also one of the most honest.
The Golden State Warriors’ 24-year-old forward knows that even more eyes will be on him heading into Friday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs (and beyond) now that Stephen Curry is out for multiple weeks because of an oblique abdominal tear. While fielding questions from reporters with a smile after Friday’s shootaround, Lendeborg acknowledged he’s still not overly confident in being the focal point of the offense.
“Probably like 6 out of 10, honestly,” Lendeborg said. “It’ll be fun trying to figure out what ways I can score best, or what I got to do to be an efficient scorer. And then the other four is, ‘Man, am I going to be able to live up to it? Am I gonna be able to help out the team the way I want to?’ Time will tell.”
Lendeborg is certain that he wants to be more of an “alpha dog” without Curry on the floor. The Warriors are confident the rookie, who comes into Friday averaging 21.7 points a game, can do just that.
“I got to be a lot, lot, lot more aggressive,” Lendeborg said. “Definitely have to be more in the score-first mindset now. My mindset so far has been, like, ‘Support Steph.’ This is more supporting Steph than ever, but just more aggressively, I guess you can say. Some can say first option, I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes. I know me and (Brandin Podziemski) are gonna do a lot of extra scoring now.”
Lendeborg said he noticed more help directed toward him from Houston Rockets defenders after Curry exited Wednesday’s loss in the first quarter. He knows extra bodies will fly at him now, and he’s trying to prepare himself for the change in coverage. On Friday, that likely means seeing even more of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama. Lendeborg said he will be looking to shoot from the outside more instead of going into the paint to try and challenge Wembanyama.
“He averages like five blocks,” Lendeborg said. “He’s gonna be in help a lot. And obviously, you see all the stats that he put up. The most recent one was, like, 52 and 24, that’s crazy. You know me, I’m gonna try to shoot as many 3s as I can tonight, and just try to bait him into helping out. Maybe we get some more kickouts. And try to rough him up as much as we can.”
Lendeborg said he uses meditation and “positive self-talk” to calm his nerves during games. He will do the same on Friday night and see how it goes as the Warriors’ new leading man without Curry.
Veteran Al Horford said he won’t give Lendeborg an extra motivational talk prior to Friday’s game. Like many within the organization,
“He’s one of those rookies, he’s kind of come in and has been able to have an impact right away on the offensive end, in a way that it’s hard for a rookie to do that,” Horford said. “And he’s doing it. His presence is felt. We know that Steph is out, but I think for (Lendeborg), this is just another game to come out, be aggressive, play his game. He does a really good job attacking when he needs to, passing the ball when he needs to. So I think he’s gonna be fine.”
After Wednesday’s loss, Warriors forward Draymond Green said Lendeborg must understand that he will often be the best player on the floor. Lendeborg isn’t quite there yet, although he is creeping toward that idea.
“I have not thought that at all,” Lendeborg said. “I’m coming into this league like a new guy. I don’t really feel like I’m one of the best at all, especially with how much is going on on the outside perspective. … In general, I do got to start thinking more like an alpha dog, rather than beta, or whatever’s after beta. But I’m definitely going to try to shift the mindset.
“That’s why I do need to talk to Draymond a lot more, because he kind of helps shift (it) as quickly as possible. So we’ll see if it shifts or not. It’ll be great if it does, but we’ll see.”
