When the Warriors selected Yaxel Lendeborg with the No. 11 pick in the NBA Draft on Tuesday, the former Michigan forward’s phone lit up with notifications from some of the world’s most accomplished basketball players.

“Steph [Curry] actually welcomed both of us on the group chat the night of the draft,” said Lendeborg, who joined second-round draft choice Lajae Jones at an introductory press conference Friday. 

Curry and the Warriors’ other elder statesmen quickly took their interactions beyond the chat.

Curry cracked a joke about Lendeborg (opens in new tab) in the comments section of an ESPN Instagram post, and Jimmy Butler told reporters he wants to play dominoes with the rookie and “crack his head in that.” Draymond Green posted an Instagram story (opens in new tab) playing up their Michigan State-Michigan rivalry.

“I reached out to Draymond,” Lendeborg said. “I haven’t gotten the response back yet.”

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t respond to me, either,” Dunleavy joked.

Lendeborg is Golden State’s highest-drafted player since the team took Jonathan Kuminga with pick No. 7 in 2021. After Kuminga’s tumultuous five-year tenure ended with a trade to Atlanta in February, Lendeborg — who played six seasons of college basketball and is a week older than Kuminga — enters the NBA with a different set of expectations.

Kuminga was a 19-year-old rookie when he played sparingly off the bench during Golden State’s postseason run that culminated in the 2022 NBA title. The Warriors believed he had the potential to become a dynamic scorer who could bridge the gap to the post-Curry era, but the franchise also miscalculated the two-time NBA MVP’s ability to remain the team’s guiding force into his late 30s. 

It’s unlikely Curry, 38, will lead Golden State to another deep playoff run, but as he enters his 18th season in the league, his teammates refuse to rule out the possibility.

“I’m a firm believer that Steph is one of the greatest players to ever play this game,” Butler said. “His talent is game-changing alone, and you legitimately always have a chance when Steph is on the floor.”

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The Warriors’ playoff contention hopes also hinge on Butler, who, at 36, is attempting to become one of the oldest athletes in pro sports history to return from a torn ACL. Golden State owner Joe Lacob said Thursday he believed the team was “gearing up” when Butler got injured in January. Nearly five months after his Feb. 9 surgery, the six-time All-Star hopes to start running in about six weeks.

Until Butler and Moses Moody — who is rehabbing a torn patellar tendon — are healthy, the Warriors will count on Lendeborg to shoulder a bigger load than most rookies have assumed since Steve Kerr took over in 2014.

“He’s a multiskilled, versatile player that we think can play both sides of the ball,” Dunleavy said. “He’s got tremendous size, a great feel for the game, and he’s a tremendous teammate.” 

Lendeborg’s anticipated trajectory is practically the opposite of what Golden State had in mind when the team chose Kuminga following his one-year stint with the G League Ignite. The Warriors viewed Kuminga as a long-term project who could develop into a star, but his desire to play on the ball, coupled with struggles as a rebounder and defender, made his fit more challenging. 

The Warriors also already had a championship-caliber roster and few minutes to spare for young talent when Kuminga joined the team while there’s a wide open path to playing time for Lendeborg after a 37-45 season.

Kerr admitted he could have done more to help Kuminga thrive, but after acquiring Butler in February 2025, the Warriors remained committed to their veteran core and were understandably less inclined to adapt around Kuminga’s style.

Despite never reaching his potential with Golden State, Kuminga retained the support of teammates, including Curry, Butler, and Green, who recently called him his little brother (opens in new tab).  

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Lendeborg, meanwhile, enters the NBA after playing six seasons of college basketball, including three at the junior college level. While he isn’t widely perceived as a future star, Lendeborg is expected to immediately contribute and make his mark more as a rebounder and defender than as a scorer. 

“I want to go in there and be like one of the primary defenders, see if I can gain some trust for them to put me on the best player for every team,” Lendeborg said. 

Lendeborg’s ceiling might not be as high as some of the players drafted after him, but his jack-of-all-trades skill set should help a team that needs more high-level role players. 

The Warriors announced an agreement Thursday with AI Cloud provider IREN to feature the company’s logo on Golden State jerseys. A source with knowledge of the deal confirmed the $50 million agreement is the richest jersey badge deal in North American sports. 

The IREN badge will also appear on the Valkyries’ jerseys and the jerseys of the Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden State’s G League affiliate.

On a panel hosted by Bloomberg’s Emily Chang at Chase Center, Lacob was asked what Golden State gains from the deal.

“What we get out of it, I mean, we get money,” Lacob said.

Lacob said the Warriors use artificial intelligence to inform decisions across the organization, but he added that drafting players — including Lendeborg and second-round pick Lajae Jones — isn’t a process the organization will turn over to computers anytime soon. 

“We use our eyes a lot, we evaluate, we do an amazing amount of analysis, and yes, we do use AI,” Lacob said. “But at the end of the day, it’s a human thing. It’s hard to totally use logic when you evaluate players.”