Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors rookie held nothing back following his matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers superstar.
Yaxel Lendeborg is not a fan of how Luka Doncic conducts himself on the basketball court.LAPRESSE
Updated
As the first game of the new NBA season showed, the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers appear to be heading in opposite directions. While the Lakers feel that they have an exciting young trio for the present and future, the Warriors are still banking on major contributions from their aging stars mixed with young players who need to develop.
The Lakers ended up winning their matchup 127-105, with all three of Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler hitting at least 23 points scored. Stephen Curry had solid game with 23 points, but only two other starters reached double-digits: Yaxel Lendeborg and Gui Santos with 12 points each.
Lendeborg didn’t quite have the impact the 11th overall pick himself was expecting, especially since he committed four fouls, but he did a good job when being tasked with defending Doncic 1-on-1. The rookie made sure to let Doncic know that, which resulted in a technical foul for Lendeborg at one point during the game.
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Yaxel Lendeborg says he lost all respect for Luka Doncic after playing against him
After the game, Lendeborg went viral on social media for holding nothing back in his postgame press conference. While speaking about guarding Doncic in his NBA debut, Lendeborg lit into the Lakers star and said he “lost all respect” for him due to his “whining and complaining”.
Yeah, it was interesting. I got to see what the NBA is like, man. Lot of flopping, lot of foul baiting, lot of praying to the ref. Interesting first game for me, for sure.
I had a lot of respect for him. You know, just watching. I didn't really watch the NBA much, I just watched highlights. Seeing him, you know, kill people all the time. But then being in there firsthand, just watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect, man. Like that was awful.
Like me getting frustrated, it's not about the foul being called, it's about him complaining the entire game. And then you get the foul call, congratulations bro. And then you talk to me like you did something great, bro? Come on, dog. That's just weak.
Fans were loving his honesty, in an age where players a lot of times refuse to speak their minds in order to avoid confrontation or controversy. Lendeborg has already won over Warriors fans, and he’s only going to get better on the court from here on out.