Stephen Curry Injury Leaves Golden State Warriors Rookie With Huge Responsibility As Yaxel Lendeborg Shares Honest Reaction

Yaxel Lendeborg and Stephen Curry© Instagram/ yaxellendeborg

Yaxel Lendeborg is about to learn how heavy a No. 1 scoring role feels in the NBA. Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has an oblique tear and is expected to miss around a month, which puts the rookie in charge of a much bigger share of the offense. Speaking to reporters at Friday's shootaround, before a game against the San Antonio Spurs, Lendeborg gave his confidence level a number. It was not a perfect score. The Warriors are now asking a 24-year-old to carry a bigger load while their veteran heals.

How Does Yaxel Lendeborg Feel About Carrying The Warriors Without Stephen Curry?

Lendeborg did not hide the nerves. Asked whether he can fill the space Curry leaves behind, he put the belief at “six out of 10.”

The missing four points are doubt, and he said so plainly.

“The other four is like: Am I going to be able to live up to it?” Lendeborg said.

The 24-year-old forward also knows what the job needs.

“I gotta be a lot more aggressive. I definitely have to be more in a scorer-first mindset now. My mindset so far has been to support Steph,” Lendeborg said.

“We'll see how it goes.”

It is a big shift. Until now, Lendeborg has been more learner than leader while adjusting to NBA play.

Curry went down in the first quarter of Wednesday's 115-108 loss to the Houston Rockets, and the Warriors later announced an oblique abdominal tear. It is the first extended absence of the season for the veteran. He sat out two games earlier, on Oct. 24 and Nov. 1, but both fell on either end of a back-to-back.

Before the injury, Curry was averaging 30.6 points on 45.7 percent shooting from three, with 4.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds, through nine games.

Lendeborg's Numbers Without Curry Give Warriors Some Hope

Lendeborg has stood in this spot twice already. On Oct. 24, he put up 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists against the Phoenix Suns. On Nov. 1, he set a career high with 37 points on 13-of-19 shooting in 34 minutes, then tied another career best with six assists in a 124-112 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Friday brings a tougher test. Golden State visits Frost Bank Center to face Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, a harder matchup than either of those games.

Lendeborg entered the league as an older rookie at 24 and has looked ready for each task so far. Nothing in those two games suggests he will back away from this one