GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 28, 2026

Yaxel Lendeborg

Media Conference

Q. Yaxel, how was summer and going back to Michigan and all that?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: The summer has been great. It's been very, very fun. I've definitely been feeling like a big -- like a different vibe here, and just being like an NBA player, it definitely makes me feel like a whole different person. It's kind of weird, but it's really fun.

Going back to Michigan was amazing. Seeing everybody was very, like, emotional, you know, but I was happy I got to go back.

Q. Steve said that he's had multiple conversations with you like to get out of the gym. What has that process been like for you, your mentality and wanting to stay here and entrench yourself? Did you listen to him, or no?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: No, I didn't listen to him. It's kind of ironic that he's saying that because me, I've always been the kind of person that you would have to tell to get into the gym, so now that it's kind of reversed, it's like I'm in the NBA now. I'm a rookie. I got to make a name for myself here.

It kind of made me feel a lot better about myself that he's saying that, you know, but I mean, I'm going to stay here and try my best to make a name for myself on this team, try to figure out what my role is going to be, where I can make the best of whatever I have and continue to get better.

Q. What was the couple of days at Jimmy's like and how did that benefit you?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Oh, it was -- we got to play together. That was my first time being able to play with the entire team. So it was cool just getting the feel for how everybody is, the spacing and all that, the movement, and just being able to ask those guys question about, like, the defense, what kind of, like, off-ball moves have to do on offense and then just kumbaya-ing with the people. It was awesome.

Q. Draymond mentioned a specific play where Steph back-cut -- or back-picked, and I think Draymond passed it to you. Is that kind of what you're talking about, getting comfortable? They have a pretty unique system, but getting comfortable in that?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: It was an out-of-bounds play. It happened -- I had a wide-open dunk. They were both like, "That's all year! All year!" Super loud and aggressive. Like, oh, wow, okay. If it's going to be like that, then it's going to be a lot of fun. So hopefully it is like that.

Q. I know it was just a scrimmage, but did you feel that Steph gravity? That's basically what --

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Absolutely. I've never came off of a back screen and seen nobody in front of me or behind me, so yeah, it was ridiculous.

Q. How much were you on Steph and Draymond's team?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: I only got to play with Steph for about one game. Draymond I think one game as well, but I played against them. I'm going to say this because I told everybody I was super happy when it happened, but Steph shot a three, and I blocked him. They said me it was a foul, but I told my friends it was a block. So I blocked Steph, yeah.

Q. Was it a foul?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: No, no, no.

Q. What would a successful rookie season look like for you?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: For me would I probably just say playing meaningful minutes. You know, when the game is on the line, I want to be the guy on the court trying to make a play on defense or offense, whatever it has to come to.

Then just hopefully becoming like First-Team All Rookie. I feel like I could win Rookie of the Year, but that's not my main focus. I just want to be able to set in stone here on the Warriors.

Q. What's this moment kind of building up to your debut like right now? Obviously there's a lot of emotions involved.

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Yeah, speaking of emotion, everything is very emotional for me especially. There's been many, many times where I'm, like, I'm driving here or I'm just sitting in the locker room like I'm really an NBA player, like I'm really here on the Warriors.

It's a lot to take in, but I mean, just counting down the days to actually rep the jersey for the first official game. I'm very, very excited.

Q. Do those moments kind of make you think about your journey here and everything that came with that?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Absolutely. You know, you could, like -- two years ago you couldn't say I'd be here in this position. Maybe not even a year ago.

It's very crazy how life can just change and how many blessings can come so quickly, so I'm very grateful. Just happy to be where I am now.

Q. How is your relationship with Draymond been so far, and how has it compared to what you expected heading into it?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: It's been very, like, funny. You know, very goofy in a way. He's definitely like one of those uncles that you have that you see at a barbecue one time and don't see them for a long time, you know. So it's definitely kind of cool to have him around like that.

I didn't expect it to be like that you know because he looks super mean. He looks like, I don't even know you or I'm not going to talk to you kind of guy. Being able to joke around with him -- I actually just took a picture with him, and it was kind of cool. I'm happy that he's that way, and he's allowing me to be kind of like annoying without him getting bothered for now, so yeah.

Q. I know you've had some of these conversations, but how are you approaching earning the veterans' respect? Draymond, Steph, Jimmy.

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Well, for me it would just be asking them a bunch of questions. At Jimmy's house I asked him every question that popped up, even maybe created some, just to ask some questions. I do that.

Just play basketball the right way. Let them know that I'm willing to do whatever. I'm getting all the rookie duty stuff like cleaning up the court, grabbing all these cards and stuff for them too. You know, just doing my job, making sure that I don't do nothing dumb.

Q. Yaxel, you've obviously had a glimpse now of sort of the NBA game and life through Summer League, through these workouts here, playing with your teammates in San Diego, like you said. What's your sense of -- Steve talked about how you can handle the ball, you can pass, and these things you can do. What do you need to do or need to get better at to play those meaningful minutes right away?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Yeah, for are me I would probably still stick with, like, defense. I feel like I've been kind of getting a little confused on when to switch, when not to switch. At Michigan we switched everything. Here it's more like a chase over, fight over kind of game.

I've never really done that, so I'm still trying to navigate that. Then some of the rotations off ball as well. Just, like, when to help, when not to help. Those kind of things have been confusing me a little bit. Other than that, I think I'll be fine.

Q. You talk about meaningful minutes at the end of games. Does it matter to start? How much -- Steve has said you're going to play, but he obviously hasn't committed yet to the starting line-up. How do you view that?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Yeah, starting for me doesn't really matter. Everybody would want to start, but as long as I'm in the game, you know, I'm going to be happy regardless. If I get the opportunity to prove myself, and then if I don't start playing the starting or something like that, I'm going to be grateful regardless.

Q. What can you take from being the go-to guy in Summer League, and what do you think will be the biggest adjustment going to the league?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Dang, that's tough. Being the go-to guy in the Summer League kind of gave me more of a college feel, and I was able to do a lot more with the ball. Going into the season I know it's going to be a lot different. Like, you know, we have guys who earned that for multiple, multiple years. So I'm going to have to play off of that guy this year rather than being the guy handling the ball. I'm probably going to get a lot more grenades this year as well.

But, yeah, no, I'm very excited just to learn and figure out how he does it so well. There's a lot of double teams that gets thrown at him. How does he navigate through double teams? I'll probably be able to learn a lot more off ball.

Q. For you, you mentioned you maybe didn't used to be that guy who had to be told maybe to get in the gym. At what point do you feel like that really sort of flipped for you and has it been an emphasis like how you've talked about, again, trying to earn the veterans' respect? Have you had that thought, like, I need to be this kind of guy for this organization?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Yeah, definitely. This is the first year honestly where it's, like, I want to be here every single day at all times just because I know how it's going to get. The average year, lifespan I guess that people are in the NBA is three, four years I think I keep hearing. I definitely have hopes and plans of being in it for way longer. If I can get, like, Grandpa Al, then hopefully 20 years would be great, but we'll see how it all goes.

I'm going to continue to try to work out and stay in the best shape as I can be.

Q. Now that you're in the league, are you finding you have, like, new cousins and nieces and nephews and friends everywhere? Has that happened yet?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: I haven't been speaking to anybody else except the same people. So I'm not going to give nobody the chance.

Q. Draymond said earlier that because of where you played, he didn't like you, didn't want to care, didn't want to watch, but he also said that you're really good. Has there been much talk back and forth Michigan versus Michigan State, and how do you navigate that?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Well, I mean, I try to bring up Michigan the most that I can. We actually -- in the picture that we took I threw up the M, and he tried to throw -- you know, get rid of the M. It's, like, you know, Michigan players are better than Michigan State players. We all know that.

We're going to talk about it as much as we can. Whenever we play them in football, I'll let them know when we beat them in football, when we beat them in basketball, soccer, whatever. Michigan is superior over Michigan State. He knows that. He just tries to play it cool. It's cool.

Q. When you look at the way this team is built, earlier in the season without Jimmy, without Moses, yeah, obviously going to get minutes, but you mentioned that play earlier with you and Draymond and Steph. Did that give you a glimpse of what's possible even?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Especially just for me. I feel like it will give me a lot of opportunities to be more athletic and make plays off of them. So maybe I catch it and there's somebody coming to help, I can hit the guy in the corner, easy three.

I'm definitely going to have a pretty good role starting off just because of those two guys out, but I mean, it's definitely going to help me out just to navigate because then when they do come back and that role changes again, I'll be able to adapt and switch over to something else.

Q. I saw that you were back in Pennsauken and got that open court run with a lot of the neighborhood. How was that? What was that experience like?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: It was ridiculous. Taking so many pictures, autographs, giving away shoes. It was awesome for me because me and my friends grew up playing on that court pretty much. It was really, really fun just being out there and enjoying the moment. We had some of the guys in high school that were always bullying us on the basketball court there, and we got to bully them back this year. So it was really fun being able to do that.

Hopefully I'll be able to do something like that here in the Bay or San Francisco, wherever. I mean, I'm going to be looking forward to doing that.

Q. Does it feel different every time you go back home? How has that changed at all?

YAXEL LENDEBORG: It definitely feels different. You feel like -- I don't know if you have ever seen the meme. You go back home and it's dark and gloomy, and then a ray of sunshine comes in. It's starting to feel like that ray of sunshine. Whenever I come back, I want to try to bring as much, like, light as I can, and I try to bring the community back one day by another.