Grading Warriors' Decision to Draft Yaxel Lendeborg with No. 11 Pick

The Golden State Warriors selected Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg with the 11th pick of the 2026 draft.

There were rumors that they wanted Arizona guard Brayden Burries, but he was taken 10th overall.

Then there were rumors that they wanted to trade down, perhaps because they believed Lendeborg would be available a few picks later, as had been reported earlier this week.

In the end, the Warriors stayed put and took the 23-year-old Puerto Rico native.

Grading the Pick

Lendeborg was my No. 9-ranked prospect and the best available player left on my Warriors big board.

The main draw of Lendeborg is his all-around talent and versatility.

In two seasons at UAB, he played power forward and center and did most of his scoring in the paint. He considered staying in the NBA draft last year after averaging 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds, but instead he transferred to Michigan.

The Wolverines had Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr. manning the frontcourt, so Lendeborg had to learn more wing skills, including shooting threes and defending ball-handlers.

He excelled at both, helping Michigan win a national championship. His scoring average went down to 15.1 points per game, but his three-point percentage raised to 37.2, and he finished with the second-best Box Plus/Minus in the nation.

There are two concerns often cited with Lendeborg's prospect profile.

The first is that he's not an advantage creator on offense.

This is a valid concern, as Lendeborg doesn't project to be a one-on-one scorer or someone who can break down the defense with advanced dribble drives.

That's why I didn't have him as a top-eight prospect, but he should still be plenty valuable as a 6'9" glue guy on offense and potential game-wrecker on defense with his 7'3.25" wingspan.

The second concern is that he's already 23 years old, which raises questions about his upside.

This isn't a valid concern for me. First off, he doesn't need to get much better to be a quality NBA player.

But there's no reason to think he'll stop improving considering he didn't start playing basketball until high school AND he just made major strides as a 23-year-old at Michigan.

It is true that older prospects taken in the lottery tend to have disappointing careers, but none of them had the size, strength and versatility combination that Lendeborg has.

I've written that Lendeborg, with his ability to defend, handle the basketball from the forward position and score in transition, reminds me of a young Draymond Green.

Of course if Lendeborg is anything close to Green on defense, this pick will be a major success.

Lastly, Lendeborg has the ability to play the 3 and 4 positions, which fills a massive immediate need for the Warriors.

Golden State was about to enter free agency with just one healthy player (Gui Santos) who is a true wing with positional size.

Lendeborg will be an immediate rotation piece for the Dubs at both forward spots, and there's a good chance that he'll be the starting 4 at some point in the future.

Grade: A

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