{"id":763576,"date":"2026-06-27T11:08:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/763576\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T11:08:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:08:39","slug":"why-warriors-believe-yaxel-lendeborg-fits-steve-kerrs-roster-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/763576\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Warriors believe Yaxel Lendeborg fits Steve Kerr\u2019s roster \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

The viral Warriors 2026 NBA Draft \u201cwar room\u201d clip<\/a> just showed Warriors owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy going over their decision to draft Yaxel Lendeborg<\/a>, but coach Steve Kerr made his opinion known ahead of time as well, if only subtly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur group asked him a couple days before the draft, \u2018What\u2019s the biggest need when you look at our roster?\u2019\u201d Dunleavy told NBC Sports Bay Area\u2019s Bonta Hill and Monte Poole. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018There\u2019s a huge gap in the middle of it with our forward position. We need a guy that can fit in there and connect the game.\u2019 <\/p>\n

“And I was thinking to myself, \u2018Is he trying to push us in a way to take Yaxel, or is he just speaking freely?\u2019 And, sure enough, we ended up with a guy that potentially could do that. So, I think everyone is aligned on the same page and feels good about where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lendeborg averaged 15.1 points — on a 64.6 true shooting percentage<\/a> — as well as 6.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists his junior year at Michigan. Additionally, he was second in the nation<\/a> in win shares (7.9) and plus\/minus rating (plus-16.7), only behind No. 3 overall pick Cameron Boozer.<\/p>\n

As for Kerr, Dunleavy says that following the coach\u2019s decision to return to the team<\/a>, he has seen an unmatched level of dedication.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis commitment to this whole thing has been tremendous, not only just with the draft, but preparing for next season with our coaching staff and how we want to play,\u201d Dunleavy told Hill and Poole. \u201cHe spent a lot of time with these guys. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was at the workouts, he went out and got meals, we watched film with these guys. It\u2019s definitely a thing where I wanted Steve, our head coach, to be comfortable with the player we were getting and the person. I feel, no doubt, with Yaxel we vetted that out really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lendeborg\u2019s first season will be Kerr\u2019s 13th as coach of the Warriors, and with Jonathan Kuminga being dealt last season<\/a>, the Warriors adding a wing seems to be just what the doctor ordered.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The viral Warriors 2026 NBA Draft \u201cwar room\u201d clip just showed Warriors owner Joe Lacob and general manager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[79375,64,63,5552,354030,590,85,58049,275299],"class_list":["post-763576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-2026-nba-draft","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-mike-dunleavy","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-steve-kerr","tag-yaxel-lendeborg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}