Steve Kerr Sends Message to Warriors Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg Ahead of His Most-Awaited Matchup Against Luka Doncic

For both Yaxel Lendeborg and Luka Doncic, that golden moment has come when they’ll get to settle the score from their last meeting, where the 24-year-old rookie experienced some interesting feelings about Doncic being Doncic. And this time, the Golden State Warriors head coach needs him to keep a few things in mind.  

“I told him, it's a completely different game than the college game,” HC Steve Kerr said of Lendeborg on 95.7 The Game. “And you have to get used to all those tricks. So, he's got five games under his belt, but one against Luka. So, we'll see how he handles it tomorrow. Because you have to be really crafty to avoid the reach-in fouls, jumping at pump fakes when you play against Luka.”

The seniors aren’t new to Doncic’s foul baiting, constant pleas to the referees after every drive and trash talk. However, the Warriors’ 127-105 blowout season-opener loss to the Lakers was exceptionally hard on the rookie, who sort of had the 27-year-old Slovenian guard getting into his head throughout the game. This led to some trash talk between the two, with Lendeborg making a strong postgame admission.

“It was an interesting first game for me,” he said. “I had a lot of respect for him. I didn’t watch the NBA a lot, but I saw highlights of him killing people all the time. But being there firsthand, watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect.”

But even so, for a rookie going through it all in his debut game, Lendeborg guarded Doncic 1-on-1 pretty impressively. He limited the Slovenian to 7-of-18 from the field, while scoring 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists himself.

But ultimately, what matters in a team sport is the team’s win. The Warriors’ overall defense wasn’t good. Several costly slip-ups allowed Austin Reaves to get into the charity stripe and shoot 10-of-10, and Doncic 9-of-9. Even Quentin Grimes had 2-of-2 coming off the bench.

And that’s why Kerr wants Lendeborg to look into the bigger picture. Undeniably, he has got his rookie’s back. But going forward, the youngster has to learn to handle players like Doncic, who can pull the physical and mental games on opponents simultaneously. He also needs to avoid getting caught up in moments that can lead to technical fouls. Or, in the worst case, ejections.

The astonishment at how that game was played was real. But whatever happened that week “was great,” and Kerr would only hope that Lendeborg “will have learned from (it)."

After all, the season has only begun, and so has his career. With many new experiences ahead, building resilience will surely give him a significant edge throughout the process.