The Golden State Warriors probably know it now, but they have a fearless rookie in Yaxel Lendeborg. Since he was drafted, it seems like he has the ultimate confidence in his abilities, and he doesn't care who's in front of him. Just recently, it felt as if some of that confidence took a step back when he found out he was guarding Luka Doncic in the preseason.
Lendeborg spoke about the moment he found out he was guarding Doncic, and his reaction was priceless.
“I’m on my phone chilling. He walks up to me, ‘Hey, you're guarding Luka tonight.’ I said, ‘What the f–k?’ Like, he's just going to throw me in,” Lendeborg said. “I'm like, ‘What the h–l?’ So, I tried to act all cool and not spooked. But I was spooked, man. That's crazy. But yeah, I mean, after that he just said like, I think he averages 30 to 35 so he’s like, ‘Nobody can stop him. Do your best.’ I mean, my mind was all over the place after that, but we come here, they say he's not playing… It was a complete shift of what I had planned in my mind.”
Article Continues BelowYaxel Lendeborg reaction to when Frank Vogel told him to guard Luka Doncic:
“I was like what the fu*k?”
(h/t @Yaxel_Muse) pic.twitter.com/k9taKsGyIZ
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) October 15, 2026
Guarding Doncic as a rookie could probably be your welcome to the NBA moment, but luckily for Lendeborg, he didn't have to experience it that early. It would've been good experience to guard one of the better players in the league in a game that doesn't matter, so he could get ready for the real moment.
The team is also showing that they have confidence in Lendeborg to take on that matchup, and he has the size and length to make a defensive impact. At the same time, you can have everything you need and still lose a battle against a player like Doncic.