{"id":2008843,"date":"2026-06-24T18:45:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T15:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2008843"},"modified":"2026-06-24T18:45:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T15:45:25","slug":"warriors-get-a-good-player-in-yaxel-lendeborg-but-still-need-something-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2008843","title":{"rendered":"Warriors get a good player in Yaxel Lendeborg, but still need something great"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Blame this one on Giannis Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

And the irony of that. The whale the Golden State Warriors couldn\u2019t corral, the pipe dream they never manifested, wound up biting them in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee, owners of the No. 10 pick, added the No. 13 pick to its bounty with the trade of Antetokounmpo to Miami on Monday. The expectation: the Bucks would take Nate Ament from Tennessee at 10. So when Atlanta took Houston guard Kingston Flemings at No. 8 and Dallas selected Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr. at No. 9, the Warriors thought they had their guy.<\/p>\n

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But having acquired a second lottery pick one day earlier, Milwaukee could be greedy. And they did. The Bucks selected the best player on the board at No. 10 \u2014 Arizona guard Brayden Burries \u2014 knowing they could get Ament at No. 13. And they did.<\/p>\n

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Yaxel Lendeborg is one of the best high-leverage role player bets in the 2026 NBA Draft<\/div>\n
Sam Vecenie<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/RREh9C77jZQjKzZ\/”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/RREh9C77jZQjKzZ\/”,”name”:”Yaxel Lendeborg is one of the best high-leverage role player bets in the 2026 NBA Draft”,”description”:”Ahead of the 2026 NBA Draft, Sam Vecenie breaks down what makes Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg stand out as a draft prospect.”,”uploadDate”:”2026-06-10T18:53:03.406Z”,”duration”:”PT1M50S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/RREh9C77jZQjKzZ\/P8Nsdv4CrRk6.0000000.jpg”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/RREh9C77jZQjKzZ\/P8Nsdv4CrRk6\/P8Nsdv4CrRk6.m3u8″,”transcript”:”Michigan’s Yaxel Lindeborg led the Wolverines to a national title this year with well-rounded play at 23 years old. A consensus first-team All-American, Linenborg’s two-way contributions have teams really, really excited. Here’s why Lindenborg is one of the best high leverage role-player bets in the 2026 NBA draft class. With a journey to this level unlike any other, Lindenborg only played 11 games of high school basketball before heading to junior college, then transferred to UAB. And eventually got to Michigan. But this isn’t your normal 23-year-old draft prospect. Lindeborg is massive at nearly 6’9 without shoes, possessing a 7-foot3 wingspan and a 9-foot standing reach as a wing. He defends on the perimeter and on the interior. He knocks down shots from distance and is an elite transition player who attacks the glass and creates opportunities both for himself and teammates. Here’s why it’s easy to imagine Lindeborg fitting in the NBA. Linenborg is a Threat from behind the three-point line, having drilled 37% from 3 this season. The ball comes out of his hand clean off the catch with good rotation. If you give him room, he’s gonna make it. That 3-point shooting opens up the floor for Lindenborg with how he’s able to attack off the bounce. Watch how he’s able to attack the top foot here as he sees Xavier Edmonds get his back turned too far and drive to the rim, bumping Edmonds and finishing through contact to the nice floater. Then Lindenborg will just make winning plays. Pretty regularly. This one, he crashes in from the perimeter when he feels no one is gonna get a body on him. He just goes, catches in the air and finishes all in one motion. The closest point of comparison I could come up with for something like this was Aaron Gordon, a player who’s probably a little bit overmatched as the top two option in the NBA but can be one of the three best players on a great team due to how he impacts the game on both ends of the court. That’s really kind of what we’re looking for in terms of upside with Yaxel Linderborg.”,”ineligibleRegion”:[“BI”,”BY”,”CD”,”CF”,”CU”,”IQ”,”IR”,”KP”,”LB”,”LY”,”ML”,”NI”,”RU”,”SD”,”SO”,”SS”,”SY”,”UA”,”VE”,”YE”,”ZW”],”publisher”:{“@type”:”NewsMediaOrganization”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher”,”name”:”The Athletic”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/”,”foundingDate”:”2016-01-25″,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”url”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”creditText”:”The Athletic”,”height”:”60″,”width”:”435″},”publishingPrinciples”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/”,”sameAs”:”https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic”},”author”:[{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”Sam Vecenie”}]}<\/p>\n
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