GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 26, 2026

Yaxel Lendeborg

Lajae Jones

Mike Dunleavy

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning. It's great to be here today. We've got this press conference to introduce the two newest Warriors. Let's talk about who's up here.

At my far left we have Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy; we have Yaxel Lendeborg, the No. 11 pick in the draft out of Michigan; and Lashae Jones, the 54th pick out of Florida State.

What an exciting time it is to be drafted in the NBA and to start pursuing that dream all these guys have had, but there's also a process. They have to come in. They have had a lot of workouts for a lot of teams.

Mike, I want to start with you. Talk a little bit about Yaxel; what attracted you to Yaxel, his game and his personality?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, we've been following Yax for a few years now, and I think the biggest thing that sticks out about him is he's a winner. Speaks no further than winning the National Championship this year at Michigan.

But at prior levels, focused on winning, multiskilled, versatile player that we think can play both sides of the ball. He's got tremendous size. He's got a great feel for the game. He's a tremendous teammate. We think he'll fit in really well here.

THE MODERATOR: I want to apologize two guys I forgot to introduce at the beginning, Larry Harris and Kirk Lacob for the Warriors front office. They're part of this process, as well. The guys you pass in the hallway.

MIKE DUNLEAVY: They were a big part of this. They did a tremendous job in the draft and couldn't do this without them.

THE MODERATOR: Yaxel, as I mentioned, you've had a whirlwind couple of months, a lot of workouts, a lot of interviews, and then you go through the draft process. Is it starting to sink in that you're in the NBA and you're a Golden State Warrior?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: I would say somewhat. I'm really excited to be here, very grateful that I get this opportunity. I don't think it's going to actually sink in until I actually put that jersey on for the first time, but as of right now, everything just feels surreal and feels like a dream.

THE MODERATOR: Mike, when you looked at the pick at 54, you find a guy like Lajae available, what went through your mind? How excited were you to make that pick?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, he's another versatile player that we've followed the last few years. We have pretty good intel and relationships with the schools he's been at, St. Bonaventure with Woj, a former writer and guy who covered the NBA, and then at Florida State with Luke Loucks, a former assistant coach here.

So in talking to those guys, they were extremely high on him. We watched him a ton. Specifically for me, a guy who made a lot of threes against Duke. He almost took us down in the ACC tournament. Thank you for not doing that. But impressive performance.

But no, we're excited to add him into the program, and we feel like we've got a really good versatile player here.

THE MODERATOR: Lajae, he mentioned Luke Loucks. Have you been in touch with him?

LAJAE JONES: He called me when I got drafted, but I was there, I went to go visit Tallahassee after my last workout just to see the guys and new team and just say what's up and just give them some information.

Q. Did he give you any tips on the Warriors?

LAJAE JONES: Be in shape, play fast and knock down threes, set screens.

THE MODERATOR: Today we have members of the media here today. We have wireless mics for you.

Q. Yaxel, take me through the pre-draft process specifically with the Warriors. How interested did you know they were in you, and what do you remember from that?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Just as far as my personality-wise, it seemed like they really loved me as a person. That always goes a long way, just making a good first impression, just speaking with them as much as I could. We spoke about how I could envision myself playing on the court this year. It was all good things, all things I enjoy doing, all things that I feel like are the right thing and the simple thing to do on the basketball court. I feel like I just fit the scheme perfectly.

I was very excited to be here working out with these guys and able just to showcase that I can be able to stretch the floor out and be able to be secondary ball handler whenever it's needed.

I feel like it just went a long way, showed the character of these guys and the kind of players that they're looking for, not just basketball-wise, but player, person-wise.

Q. Yaxel, have you had a chance to talk to Steph or Draymond or any of the vets, and if so, what have the conversations been like?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Yeah, Steph actually welcomed both of us in a group chat, when he got drafted and I got drafted. I reached out to him yesterday to ask him a quick question, and then I reached out to Draymond as well. I haven't got the response back from Draymond yet --

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Don't worry, he doesn't respond to me either.

Q. Yaxel, we've gotten a little bit of your personality. You mentioned personality matches. Jimmy Butler has already commented about it, that you're bringing it. Can you describe what you see as your personality? You're coming into a team full of veterans. Do you still want to express yourself? Do you want to be cited for your big personality?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Yeah, absolutely. I never want to change myself no matter where I go. Being myself got me here, so I'm just going to try to be happy-go-lucky as I've always been, keep a smile on my face, try to enlighten the room and make everybody happy around me.

Q. Lajae, tell me a little about your game. If you were to describe your game to someone who has not seen you play, how would you do it?

LAJAE JONES: I would say I'm very versatile on offense and defense, be able to play 2 through 4, sometimes like facilitate an offense, or I can just set a lot of barely legal screens to get my teammates open. I feel like my most underrated part of my game is my passing. It might not lead to assists, but it'll lead to a good shot, as well.

Q. Yaxel, when you were playing you had a journey of a number of different places, stops along the way in your journey. At what point in that journey did you realize that you could become an NBA player?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Honestly, I would say this last year. I know I went through the process the year before that. But I didn't really feel like an NBA player until this upcoming year at Michigan; I finally developed a pro mindset, pro habits, and I actually started enjoying the game to the point where I could actually do this for the rest of my life.

Q. Lajae, the same question.

LAJAE JONES: I'd say since a child, but just going on with the steps, just developing as a player and a person, and I would say definitely this past year, too, especially with Coach Loucks running an NBA system, just making it easier to transition over, especially with the workouts that I did.

Q. It's been printed that Yaxel was a Kyrie Irving guy. We're working on that. Who was your favorite NBA player growing up?

LAJAE JONES: Kobe Bryant.

Q. How come?

LAJAE JONES: Just his demeanor and his will to be perfect as a player, even though he knew it would never happen. He just wanted to seek that, so it was very respectable to just watch that.

Q. For both of you, if you could speak to the unique dynamic, I guess, of joining a team like this with several older veteran players who have won championships. That's not often necessarily the way a rookie comes into the league. How will that impact your transition do you think?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Well, I would say for both of us, it'll be a perfect scenario to be in. We get to learn a lot from different positional players. There's a lot of veterans, like you said, so we can both get our own veteran. Just being able to pick their brains about stuff in the league that was making it tough for them to transition or stuff that made it easier to transition.

I feel like all we have to do is go in there, ask a lot of questions, be ourselves, and just learn as much as we can so we can have a successful long journey, as well.

LAJAE JONES: I would say since Cali prices are high, live with them, just be on their schedule.

In all seriousness, just pick their brains a lot, ask a lot of questions and just figure out what works best for you to make the team successful and figure out what works for them, for the guys who stayed there, who won four championships. Just develop that championship mentality even more to what you already want to do. It's all about winning at the end of the day.

Q. Mike, I know you've talked about wanting to add positional size. It seems like you kind of managed to do that. How important was that as you approached the draft, just finding guys that actually can bring the size and the length that you guys need?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, I'd say it's pretty important. No. 1 option for us was finding good basketball players, so if that player was 6'1" or 6'3" and didn't have positional size or he was a 6'7" center, if he was the best player we would do it. But it so happens to be that these guys have great positional size and we think they're good at basketball. Nice mix for us, and we couldn't be happier with who we're sitting up here with.

Q. How much do you guys know about Coach Steve Kerr, and have you had a chance to talk with him? What type of a relationship do you want to build with him?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: I know he's a Hall of Famer coach. He's played under a Hall of Fame coach, as well. He learned so much. He played with one of the best players of all time, as well. He just knows so much of the game, so I feel like the impression that I want to leave on him is someone who's willing to learn, someone who's going to value all of his core values and player values.

Just do the best I can to get on his good side as easy or as quick as possible just to see if I can get some playing time from him.

No, I'm just very excited to be coached by someone like him who is a genuine guy, who seems like a person who cares more about you as a person as well, rather than the basketball skills. It's going to be very fun to be able to play under him.

LAJAE JONES: Just hearing that Coach Kerr is a very family-oriented guy, it means a lot because he just cares about you more than as a basketball player, more as I'll say like another son or a grandson. Yeah, just playing for a winner as a player and a coach means a lot, and just learning a lot from him would be very great.

Like I said, get on his good side, find ways to get more playing time. But just being able to have an open relationship with lots of communication will go a long way, not even for him but the whole organization.

Q. For both of you, how familiar were you with the Bay before getting here? I know you just got here, but have you had a chance to explore at all?

LAJAE JONES: When was the last time I was here outside of my workout? I don't really remember, but I do have family out here. But last time I was here was last week.

Didn't really get to explore, but looking forward to exploring.

YAXEL LENDEBORG: I was here the year before prior. We played Santa Clara, UC Irvine so I was around the area, and then I'd see games.

What I know about Golden State, honestly, is the fan base is ridiculous out here. They have a lot of support, a lot of love here, which is awesome to be a part of, and I haven't got too spoiled yet, but I'm very happy and willing to. My people here love going on walks and stuff like that, so hopefully I can get that in my DNA and start doing that, as well.

Q. Yaxel, you were pretty candid in your Players Tribune story about some of the low points on your journey, where your work habits weren't great and your mom talked to you. Can you sort of articulate how necessary those moments were to get you here, to sort of learn from that and get on the right path?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: I feel like those moments especially are why I've become so just mentally strong and just strong overall. I always am grateful in every room that I walk in, no matter the circumstances. I know it's very tough to even get here, and in my situation I felt like I didn't belong to be here or belong in some rooms with guys like him or guys that I'm at the combine, all that.

I feel like those low points definitely helped me out. I learned so much through those processes, as well, and I came out stronger than ever. So I'm very happy that I went to go through that process.

Q. What are some of your goals or expectations for this upcoming rookie season?

LAJAE JONES: Honestly, just make it very easy for all the vets and all the guys that's already solidified. I just want to do the best I can to make my way to finding minutes. At the end of the day, the end goal is to win a championship. I feel like that's the only right answer is to win a championship.

YAXEL LENDEBORG: I would say just try to develop something that I can be known for, like an identity for myself. I want to try to go in there and be one of the primary defenders, see if I can gain some trust for them to put me on the best player on the other team or anything like that. Just being able to do all the little things on the court just to help out, like he said.

Q. Mike, your work is 24/7, 365. Now you're going into the Cali Classic and Summer League, how much work is that getting a roster setup, and what will these guys benefit from Summer League?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, this period we're in right now, kind of from mid-May to mid-July, it's a two-month sprint through the draft, combine, free agency, Summer League, all that. We're super busy right now. But it's a fun time of year. This is where we get to make decisions, shape the roster, do all that stuff.

But the Summer League opportunity for these guys, both here at the Cali Classic and in Vegas, you get seven, eight, nine games under your belt which is fantastic. They'll get their first taste of professional basketball, get a little bit of a feel how we do things and then get a break before training camp starts.

It's a perfect transition. I know they've been through a lot with the workouts, traveling around the country, having teams look at them, and now it's kind of this final stretch for them to get through Summer League and get a little break and then ramp up for the real thing.

Q. He mentioned Summer League. Yaxel, I know you got injured late in the tournament. I know you played through it. Where are you at physically, and how much of a challenge was that to work through after you won the title?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Yeah, right now I'm 100 percent for sure. The work afterwards was definitely tough. It took about four weeks to fully -- almost fully recover from the knee injury.

Every day was a struggle no matter what. I was battling with myself mentally, just figuring out how excited or how nervous I'm going to be coming into this process.

I feel like right now I'm all good. I'm excited to go through it, and I feel like I'll be able to perform at my best. It was a sprained ankle and it was a high bone bruise, something like that, afterwards. They said at worst an MCL sprain, but I'm all good.

Q. Yaxel, there aren't a lot of Latinos in the league. We know the Latino community loves far and deep. Any message to la Republica Dominicana or the Latino community as a whole?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: (Speaking Spanish.)

Q. Yaxel, I want to know what was the key to you guys winning the National Championship at Michigan? What were the things that made you guys champions?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: I would say honestly it's the power of friendship. We all loved each other so much. We wanted to do everything for each other. Nobody had any individual motives or goals, so I feel like that went a long way. As far as just our player, nobody thought they were the best player on the team, and it really showed. A lot of guys would make that extra one more pass that we needed to just build chemistry and get players' confidence up. I feel like that is basically the main key. We just all loved guarding. Guarding, that led to a lot of fast break buckets, a lot of fun and a lot of highlights for everybody, so it was a very fun season.

Q. Yaxel, you said it won't hit you until you put the jersey on. Has it hit you that you're going to be sharing the court with Steph Curry?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Yeah, ironically they put my locker right next to Steph's. I know we've got a lot of work to do to become best friends and all, but I'm definitely excited. I'm going to be able to learn as much as I can from him. Hopefully some of his shooting can rub off on me, and we can go a long way.

Q. What do you see as the biggest challenge for you guys in your game to make that transition from college to the NBA?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: I would say for me, it would probably be the defensive three seconds thing. I camp the paint a lot, so just getting my foot out of there is something, and I feel like the pace. We had a particularly fast pace at Michigan, but I know it's a lot faster in the NBA. I would say that for sure because at the end of the day basketball is basketball; we've been doing this for a long time. Just got to go out there and handle business.

Q. Mike, how purposeful was that locker placement, next to Steph?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Eric Housen will have to answer that for you. He handles all that stuff. That's way above me.