Голдэн Стэйт Уорриорс багийн 24 настай довтлогч Яксэл Лендеборг NBA-д хөл тавьсан анхны улиралдаа өөрийн өвөрмөц зан араншин болон талбай дээрх гайхалтай тоглолтоор лигийн шилдэг залуу тоглогчдын нэг болоод байна.
Өнгөрсөн долоо хоногт болсон тоглолтуудад Яксэл Лендеборг Денвер Наггетсын эсрэг 31 оноо, 12 самбараас бөмбөг авалт, 6 дамжуулалт өгч, Лос Анжелес Клипперсийн эсрэг 37 оноо авсан байна. Тэрээр NBA-д орохоосоо өмнө лигийн тоглолтуудыг тогтмол үздэггүй байсан бөгөөд өдөрт 12-14 цагийг видео тоглоом тоглоход зарцуулдаг байсан түүхтэй. Өдгөө Уорриорс багийн бүрэлдэхүүнд 6 фут 10 инчийн өндөртэй Лендеборг хамгаалалт, гурван онооны шидэлт болон дамжуулалтын хувьд багтаа чухал нөлөө үзүүлж байна.
Улирлын эхэнд Лос Анжелес Лэйкерс багтай хийсэн тоглолтын үеэр Лендеборг Лука Дончичтой ширүүн маргалдсан нь олны анхаарлыг ихэд татсан юм. Тэрээр Дончичийн тоглолтын хэв маяг, ялангуяа торгуулийн шидэлт авахыг оролддог байдлыг нь илэн далангүй шүүмжилсэн нь хэвлэлийнхний анхаарлыг татаж, өөрийн гэсэн өвөрмөц дүр төрхийг бүрдүүлэхэд хүргэжээ. Хэдийгээр зарим хүмүүс түүнийг хэвлэлийн төлөөлөгчтэй болох хэрэгтэй хэмээн зөвлөдөг ч Лендеборг өөрийн үнэнч, илэн далангүй байдлаа хадгалахыг эрхэмлэдэг байна.
Голдэн Стэйт Уорриорс сүүлийн зургаан тоглолтод дараалан ялалт байгуулж байгаа бөгөөд багийн амжилтад Стефен Карригийн тоглолт болон Лендеборгийн оруулж буй хувь нэмэр чухал үүрэгтэй байна. Лендеборг Майами Хит багийг хожсон тоглолтод 17 оноо, 8 самбараас бөмбөг авалт, 6 дамжуулалт, 3 бөмбөг таслалт, 1 хаалт гүйцэтгэсэн нь түүний хувьд даруухан үзүүлэлт мэт санагдах болжээ.
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If a screen-addled pickup basketball player teleported into the body of a high-level athlete, they might resemble Yaxel Lendeborg. The most commonly cited fact about Lendeborg is that he used to spend 12 to 14 hours a day gaming, and didn’t debut on his high school basketball team until he was an upperclassman. Professional athletes often have origin stories that resemble the superhero more than the mortal, but Lendeborg really was just like us at one point. Lendeborg has also said that prior to entering the NBA, he didn’t really watch it, either. The Puerto Rican forward racked up more than enough accolades in college to qualify for the NBA, but still. Any of you reading this could smoke the man who may be this season’s rookie of the year in trivia about his profession.
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The 24-year-old Lendeborg is a forward on the Golden State Warriors, a team caught between the ancient, gleaming remnants of the most fearsome dynasty of the 2010s and its future. The balance didn’t work out last season, as the Warriors produced flashes of old greatness to win one play-in game before flaming out in the next. Such results are a frustrating waste of Stephen Curry’s wonderful form even at 38 years old. Lendeborg is the best hope in a while to help maximize it. But even more importantly, Lendeborg is the character of the season so far. He’s spent its first two weeks antagonizing superstars, firing off unselfconscious takes in the press and vacuuming up the spotlight from his blander peers. What a joy to bear witness to an athlete who probably didn’t even hear the words “media training” until college.
Lendeborg and the Warriors kicked off their season with a resounding loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, which quickly became the most talked-about blowout of the season so far thanks to Lendeborg making an enemy of the Lakers’ star, Luka Dončić. The two jawed at each other throughout the game, in which Dončić torched the Warriors as a whole but somewhat struggled when working one-on-one against Lendeborg. After the game, the rookie took issue with Dončić’s style of play – presumably too distracted by playing NBA 2K, he’d previously only watched Dončić via highlights and wasn’t familiar with the crafty Slovene’s foul-baiting abilities. “You get the foul call. Congratulations, bro,” Lendeborg said in a press conference. “Then you talk to me like you did something great. C’mon, dog. That shit is weak. It kind of threw me off because I have so much respect for him. Gone, man. Gone.”
Angering Dončić, an all-time great who famously levels up even further when furious, is certainly a choice. (Also, foul-baiting made Lendeborg lose all respect for him? I hope he didn’t see this effort from Duncan Robinson; it might propel Lendeborg into manslaughter.) Dončić has been on a historic offensive heater ever since, and if he maintains this temperature and wins his first MVP, he owes thanks to Lendeborg for the motivation. But the friction between the players was fascinating – a player shaking their head at Dončić like a disapproving uncle is certainly a new image – and nobody got hurt. Lendeborg later said that he took his complaints a little far. On the contrary, Yaxel: keep it up, your press conferences are now appointment viewing.
Not even a week later, Lendeborg was drawing fouls against the Nuggets like the best of them, taking 13 free throws and making 12. Just listen to him after that game, openly aspiring to new free-throw shooting heights that everybody seeks but nobody is shameless enough to admit to. I find Lendeborg challenging my staunchly held opinion that not a soul should start a new podcast until the current market desaturates.
It’s common for players like this to come out of the gates with color and gradually accept the beige, conflict-avoidant stock quotes spouted by the rest of the league. “Get this man a PR manager,” smirks the Redditor, perhaps unaware that they are advocating against their own interests. The more athletes succumb to the monochrome group of the media-trained, the more crucial dissenters become. The longtime reality show Survivor is in decline in part because modern contestants know the game too well, and thus often play the same way. Lendeborg brings to mind a similar truism about professional sports: the less a player cares about the PR contours they’re expected to follow, the better TV they make. Luckily, Lendeborg seems to understand his responsibility as an interesting athlete. “I’m not doing that, man,” Lendeborg said of media training to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’m going to stay true to myself, and be honest. I’ve seen plenty of interviews where people are talking and it’s like, ‘Man, I don’t want to watch this,’ you know what I mean? And it’s not like I’m click-baiting or click-farming or whatever the heck people are saying.”
It’s a bonus that Lendeborg is also on an encouraging trajectory on the floor. At 6ft 10in, he provides the Warriors, who rely on exceptional shooting and quick ball movement over height, with some much-needed size. Lendeborg can do a little of everything: defend, shoot threes, pass sharply enough to keep up with Golden State’s manic style of play, drive to the basket and lay the ball in through contact.
Lendeborg rained 31 points, 12 rebounds and six assists upon the Denver Nuggets last week, the best performance of anybody in that game. He also helped hold the Nuggets’ Aaron Gordon, who often feasts against the Warriors thanks to their small lineup – he scored 50 against them early last season – to seven points. And yet, after that game, Lendeborg had the urge and lack of self-consciousness to ask a panel of former NBA greats for advice on his game during an interview. It’s no surprise that some of the feedback was for Lendeborg to keep up the “nasty” edge he’d established. Against the Los Angeles Clippers a few days later, Lendeborg piled up 37 points.
Even in plays Lendeborg isn’t a part of, you can see him twitching on the perimeter, calling for the ball and hopping in disappointment when it doesn’t arrive. (He may have gotten too excited in a rematch against the Lakers: the Warriors won, but Dončić repeatedly fried Lendeborg, who was benched and eventually fouled out.) In a win against the Miami Heat on Thursday night, Lendeborg drew a foul on Bam Adebayo and hopped up and down with his arms raised in celebration, an NBA finals-grade reaction for a routine play. He recorded a 17-8-6 stat line on the night (with three steals and a block thrown in for good measure) and it already felt quiet by his standards.
Don’t raise your expectations for the Warriors just yet – the ligaments holding them together are too frayed for that – but the team have won six games in a row. Behind Curry’s gleaming star, much of the credit has to go to Lendeborg. Warriors fans will delight in their maybe-savior, but Lendeborg’s personality has given the whole basketball fanbase reason to cheer.
