{"id":1590,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/1590","headline":"Warriors rookie Lendeborg turns draft-day age concerns into a non-issue","dek":"The 24-year-old No. 11 pick has stepped up early while Jimmy Butler, Kristaps Porzingis and Moses Moody have been out.","body":"Yaxel Lendeborg spent the draft process getting asked the same question over and over: why is a 24-year-old rookie worth a lottery pick. Five games into his NBA career, the Warriors have their answer.\n\nWith Jimmy Butler, Kristaps Porzingis and Moses Moody all sidelined, Golden State needed somebody to fill gaps immediately, and Lendeborg has done exactly that. His path here was unusual, an extensive college career that included an NCAA championship and All-American honors before he ever played an NBA minute, which is why his age became such a talking point throughout the draft cycle.\n\nSteve Kerr put the absurdity of that scrutiny plainly, joking that Lendeborg should have left college unprepared four years ago if he wanted to avoid questions about his timeline, because then he would have gone second overall instead. The point lands: polish and readiness got penalized on draft night, and now the Warriors are cashing in on exactly that polish while their roster deals with injuries.\n\nFor a team trying to keep things together late in Stephen Curry's era, a rookie who can contribute from day one without needing a development runway is not a small thing. Lendeborg's age was framed as a flaw. Early returns suggest it was the opposite.","published_at":"2026-10-31T23:05:12.791291+00:00","source_count":4,"written_from":[{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Yaxel Lendeborg's age was 'own worst enemy.' Now the Warriors benefit","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7740553/2026/10/30/yaxel-lendeborg-age-nba-draft-warriors/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Here are 7 NBA players you'd never believe are younger than Warriors' Yaxel Lendeborg","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/7-nba-players-youd-never-193841745.html"},{"outlet":"CBS Sports","publisher":"CBS Sports","title":"Why Yaxel Lendeborg could be the key to saving what's left of the Warriors' Stephen Curry era","url":"https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/yaxel-lendeborg-saving-warriors-stephen-curry-era/"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Yaxel Lendeborg has just made a change to his all-time NBA starting five","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/yaxel-lendeborg-just-made-change-124500977.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Here comes Luka Dončić, and Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg won't flinch","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/comes-luka-don-warriors-rookie-072906317.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Why Kerr is building ‘big part' of Warriors' offense around Yaxel Lendeborg","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/why-kerr-building-big-part-120118191.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Yaxel Lendeborg already accomplished an NBA feat we haven't seen in over 30 years","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/yaxel-lendeborg-already-accomplished-nba-213118017.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Warriors' Yaxel Lendeborg refuses media training, vows to ‘stay true to myself'","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/warriors-yaxel-lendeborg-refuses-media-150327478.html"},{"outlet":"New York Post","publisher":"New York Post","title":"Yaxel Lendeborg is making a name for himself with Warriors","url":"https://nypost.com/2026/10/30/sports/yaxel-lendeborg-warriors-steph-curry/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Yaxel Lendeborg is making name for himself with Warriors","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/yaxel-lendeborg-making-name-himself-230524585.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Warriors' Yaxel Lendeborg gets rookie lessons in best possible way vs. Lakers","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/warriors-yaxel-lendeborg-gets-rookie-090457783.html"}],"image":null,"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}