Biggest Winners and Losers from the Warriors' 2026 Draft

What the Lendeborg pick means for Steph, Dray, Jimmy and more

Stephen Curry and Draymond Green | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The Golden State Warriors selected Florida State small forward Lajae Jones with the No. 54 pick of the 2026 NBA draft on Wednesday, but the headline of their draft happened Tuesday.

That's when they used their first-round pick on Michigan star forward Yaxel Lendeborg.

The ripple effects of their choice at No. 11 overall can be felt for several Warriors players. Let's go over who are the team's biggest winners and losers.

Winner: Draymond's Workload

In some ways, the Warriors have done a great disservice to Draymond Green over the last two years.

They have asked him to guard forwards and centers much bigger than him for about a decade. They should have anticipated that he would need to have his role scaled back as he got in his mid-30s.

Instead, due to injuries and poor roster depth around him, he's been essentially forced into playing heavy minutes.

In 2024-25, Green played 1,983 minutes. Only Stephen Curry played more among Warriors.

In 2025-26, Green played 1,869 minutes. Only Brandin Podziemski played more among Warriors.

Now, with Lendeborg and Gui Santos providing forward depth and a good chance that Kristaps Porzingis (UFA) and Al Horford (player option) are back at center, Green can be given more rest days like any 36-year-old player with his wear tear should get.

Loser: Draymond's Chances of Being on the Roster in 2027-28

This is a prediction that could blow up in my face in a few days, as Green has to decide on his $27.7 million player option by June 29. But if he opts in, there's reason to believe this will be his last season as a Warrior.

Lendeborg's best position will be the 4. If he has a quality rookie season, he'll likely be ready to start in Year 2.

That should be enough reason to move on from Green.

If that happens, there's no shame in it. Green will have spent 15 years with the Warriors franchise. He'll be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame one day.

But the bottom line is using the 11th pick on a do-it-all forward might have accelerated Green's Golden State departure.

Winner: Stephen Curry

One could argue that drafting a dynamic ball-handler would have helped Curry more than Lendeborg would.

But the next-best thing for Curry is a high-IQ, possession-dominant player like Lendeborg.

The 23-year-old is the type of player who will make the extra pass to get Curry a good look. He's also a quality rebounder, and the offensive rebounds he gets will often end up with Curry getting threes with the defense in scramble mode.

Though Lendeborg doesn't project to be a major offensive creator, he's not a zero at that either. He will make the correct drive and find high-level passes that will lead to good offense.

He's much more ready to play than, say, Nate Ament, who was a rumored Warriors target who ended being taken with the 13th pick.

As long as the Warriors address their need for another ball-handler in free agency, Curry should have enough support for another strong individual season.

Loser: Santos' Chances of Being Long-Term Starter

For the 2026-27 season, Gui Santos has a great chance to be a starter. He'll likely be the opening-night small forward, and on nights when Draymond Green needs a rest, he'll shift to the starting 4.

But at some point Moses Moody will return from injury and take over the starting 3 role, even if it's in 2027-28.

That will leave Lendeborg and Santos fighting for the starting 4 spot.

It's possible Santos beats him out for it, but it will be much more contested than it would've been if Lendeborg got taken by a different team.

I should add that if Butler returns for the 2027-28 season, the Warriors could consider a starting lineup with Moody at the 2, Butler at the 3 and one of Santos and Lendeborg at the 4.

But in almost no scenario would I expect the Warriors to start both Santos and Lendeborg when the rest of their roster is healthy.

Winner: Jimmy Butler

There have been rumors that the Warriors are interested in trading for Kawhi Leonard and Trey Murphy III.

The outgoing player in a Leonard trade would almost certainly be Butler.

The outgoing player in a Murphy trade could be Butler if the Pelicans also wanted to get off Dejounte Murray's salary.

In any case, those rumors were accelerated by those teams potentially wanting the No. 11 pick in a strong draft.

Now that the draft has come and gone, the chances that Butler will remain a Warrior are strong.

I'm sure Butler would prefer to come to back to a Warriors team with Curry instead of having to play for a Kawhi-less Clippers team or a Murphy-less Pelicans team.