As the Golden State Warriors look to return to contender status, the pressure on Yaxel Lendeborg to produce becomes more immense. Lendenborg is coming off of a national championship win with Michigan in the spring as one of the Wolverines' key players. In a quote obtained by ESPN, Steve Kerr sees the rookie forward having a key part in the success of the Warriors this season.

“He's going to play a ton,” Kerr said. “Frankly, he deserves it. He's one of our best players already.”

Following Lendeborg's big moments in the summer league, in which the Warriors squad won the title and he won MVP, Steve Kerr believes that Lendeborg can be a huge offensive weapon for the Warriors outside of Stephen Curry. He spoke about it in media availability following the Warriors' preseason matchup against the Clippers on Sunday.

“He's very capable of being our lead offensive threat when Steph (Curry) is off the floor. He connects the game beautifully. He makes it easy playing over and over again and looks good shooting the ball. He's a really good player.”

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Stephen Curry also spoke highly of the new Warriors forward in comments obtained by ESPN.

“He's obviously a winner,” Curry said. “He had a successful year in college in the big role he had. He has great feel. He has great size. He's been shooting it really well. You can tell he wants to make the right play. For our offense and game plan, that's usually going to shine.”