The Golden State Warriors opened up the 2026-27 NBA season with a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on the road. But the bigger story that came out of the game was Yaxel Lendeborg talking trash to Luka Doncic and receiving a technical foul in the process. Following the game, Draymond Green came to his rookie teammate’s defense in calling the technical foul one of the worst he’s ever seen.
“The whole world saw them jawing back and forth, and for Yaxel to get a tech for saying something on one play where Luka doesn’t say something, I thought was the weakest s**t ever,” Green said during an episode of his podcast, ‘The Draymond Green Show.’ “I thought that was pathetic.”
Green went on to say that he understands there is a hierarchy in the NBA in terms of rookies and having to earn respect, but that when a player is not backing down in the way that Lendeborg did, he shouldn’t be punished for it regardless of status.
Article Continues BelowThe technical foul on Yaxel Lendeborg came late in the first half of the Warriors game against the Lakers, and after Luka Doncic sank a halfcourt bomb with only seconds left in the half. Doncic ended with a game-high 28 points and did not play in the fourth quarter with the Lakers comfortably ahead.
Lendeborg finished with 12 points in his NBA debut to go along with three rebounds, two assists and one steal. He shot 5-of-11 from the field, 1-of-4 from the 3-points line and 1-of-3 from the free-throw line.