Yaxel Lendeborg has been a Golden State Warrior for all of a week. His group chat has not let him forget it.
At the team’s Summer League media day, the 11th overall pick was asked if he’d caught any of the internet buzz about the Warriors potentially signing LeBron James and trading for Anthony Davis this offseason. The rookie from Michigan laughed and said his friends have been blowing up his phone nonstop, already picturing a superteam in the Bay.
“It was hard to stay away from because my friends kept saying to me, in the group chats, they’re just telling me, ‘The lineup would be ridiculous,’ and stuff like that,” Lendeborg said. “So, I’m like, man, like, where would I fit in in this, you know?”
How the Warriors could actually pull this off
The idea sounds like a video game cheat code, but there’s actual math behind it. Draymond Green declined his $27.7 million player option, which gave Golden State enough cap flexibility to operate below the luxury tax and first apron. That opens up the non-taxpayer mid-level exception worth around $15.1 million, or a smaller taxpayer MLE at roughly $6.1 million, either of which could be used to sign LeBron if he wants to take a serious pay cut to chase another ring.
Then there’s the Jimmy Butler contract. Butler is on an expiring $56.8 million deal, and if the Warriors and Wizards get creative, Davis could end up in a Golden State uniform too. Add 37-year-old LeBron and 33-year-old AD to Stephen Curry and an aging roster, and you’ve got a title window that’s both incredibly exciting and terrifyingly fragile from an injury standpoint.
Lendeborg, who grew up a Kyrie Irving fan and admitted to being a Curry “hater” during those Cavaliers-Warriors Finals wars, sees the irony in it all. His own nickname is “Dominican LeBron.” So yeah, his friends want to know if he’s about to win a ring as a rookie.
“They just wanted to know if I was getting to play with LeBron, Stephen, and Draymond,” Lendeborg explained. “Playing with a bunch of guys that’ve been doing this for a long time. Played with each other on the Olympic gold medal team and stuff, so I mean, they’re just trying to figure out, man, am I going to get a ring my first year, you know? That would be something to tell. But hopefully it all happens. We’ll see how it goes.”
What happens to the kid if the big deals go through?
Lendeborg profiles as a versatile defender and connective glue piece — exactly the kind of cheap, young energy a veteran-laden team needs. He sees himself as the guy diving for loose balls and chasing plays so the old heads can save their legs for crunch time. But he’s also aware that in blockbuster trades, rookies are often the first chips to get moved.
“Hopefully I don’t get the back end of that and get traded,” Lendeborg said. “Hopefully, I can stick around to see how that goes, and learn from all the veterans that are gonna come in.”
General manager Mike Dunleavy and owner Joe Lacob have both spoken highly of the 23-year-old, which suggests he’s not just filler in their eyes. But in a league where stars move mountains, nobody’s untouchable until the ink dries.
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