Golden State Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg thought he was about to face one of the toughest assignments in basketball Tuesday night: guarding Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić in a preseason game at Crypto.com Arena.
Lendeborg, the No. 11 overall pick out of Michigan, said he was scrolling his phone before tip-off when Warriors assistant coach Frank Vogel walked over with the news.
“‘Hey, you’re guarding Luka tonight,'” Lendeborg said. “I said, ‘What the f—? You’re just gonna throw me in the fire?'”
Lendeborg said the moment completely rearranged his mental preparation for the game. “It was a complete shift of what I had planned in my mind,” he said.
In the end, the showdown never happened. Lakers coach JJ Redick opted to rest Dončić for the game, and Lendeborg instead matched up with center Walker Kessler, who was making his Lakers preseason debut. The Warriors won, 101-89, with Lendeborg scoring 19 points.
Lendeborg said Vogel had briefed him on just how difficult the assignment would have been. “I think [Vogel] said he averages like 30, 35. Nobody can stop him, so do your best. That was it. My mind was all over the place after that,” Lendeborg said. He added, “I tried to act all cool, but I was spooked. That was crazy.”
Dončić led the NBA last season with 33.5 points per game. Lendeborg, meanwhile, arrives with his own defensive pedigree — he was named Defensive Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference at UAB and earned first-team All-Big Ten defensive honors at Michigan in 2025, a season that ended with a national championship.
At 6-foot-9, Lendeborg is expected to be used by Warriors coach Steve Kerr as a versatile defender capable of guarding multiple positions as the regular season approaches.
The Warriors and Lakers are scheduled to open their regular-season series on Oct. 21 in Los Angeles — a game where Lendeborg could still get his first real crack at defending Dončić.
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