Yaxel Lendeborg Fires Back at Luka Doncic: "He’s Not Michael Jordan"

Most rookies would think twice before going at one of the best players in the league. Yaxel Lendeborg isn't most rookies. His NBA debut turned into a shouting match with Luka Doncic, and the Warriors forward hasn't backed off since. Now he has brought Michael Jordan into it, and he's talking about his critics and his new life in California too. Then came his second game, where the noise gave way to numbers.

“He's not Michael Jordan”

Lendeborg's debut against the Lakers on Wednesday was loud from the start. He logged 29 minutes and scored 12 points, guarded Doncic for a big chunk of the night, and picked up a technical foul along the way. After the game he said he had “lost all respect” for Doncic over how much he complained to the refs.

Asked about it again, he didn't soften anything. “I'm not afraid to talk to nobody, man. He's not Michael Jordan,” Lendeborg said.

Inside the Warriors' locker room, nobody seemed to mind. Steve Kerr said he loved the back and forth, and Draymond Green told the rookie to keep it going. ESPN's tracking had Doncic at 1-of-6 shooting with Lendeborg as his main defender, though Doncic still finished with 28 points and closed the first half with a 48-foot heave off the backboard. He laughed at Lendeborg afterward, and Kerr felt that should have earned Doncic a technical as well.

The Warriors and Lakers meet again on Oct. 30 in San Francisco, so round two isn't far off.

“I'm living a dream”

For all the heat with Doncic, Lendeborg sounded relaxed when he talked about everything else. “I'm 24 in the NBA with the best job in the world,” he said. He just moved his mom out to California, and he says he's living a dream. The No. 11 pick out of Michigan also brushed off his haters, and he didn't sound like someone losing sleep over them.

Friday gave him something better to point to. Against the Grizzlies, he had his first career double-double, with 18 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. No Warriors rookie had done that since Chris Webber in 1994. Graham Ike joined him as the second rookie in the starting lineup, and Ike scored 10 points.

It wasn't a happy night for the team. Golden State blew a late lead and lost 111-108, falling to 0-2. Lendeborg's line was the one bright spot in a loss the Warriors didn't see coming, and it came just two days after a debut that got him more attention for his mouth than his game.