SAN FRANCISCO : After weeks of speculation on if the Warriors were going to trade the pick or possibly draft a center, we finally have our answer.
The Warriors took Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg from Michigan with the 11th overall pick. A pick I was hoping for since April. They chose the 6 foot 9 forward from Michigan who recently worked out for the team earlier this month. Lendeborg is 23 years old and one of the oldest prospects in this draft, a very big change from recent Warriors’ selections in the past. For example, in 2021 the Warriors took 18 year old Jonathan Kuminga.
Lendeborg helped lead the Wolverines to a National Championship this past season. He averaged 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists a game. Prior to transferring to Ann Arbor this past season, he was a force at the University of Alabama Birmingham and a two time All Conference player.
Per Anthony Slater, an anonymous source described the prospect after Lendeborg’s workout, as an “obvious fit.” So maybe Yaxel was always the plan at pick 11.
This was the right pick for many reasons. He immediately addresses some of the Warriors’ biggest needs right now. They needed a two-way wing and a young player from the draft who can come in and contribute immediately, something they have missed in previous drafts. Yaxel ticks both boxes.
He is an extremely athletic two way wing who can play the 3 and the 4, can knock it down from three point range, and probably his most important quality as Mike Dunleavy says “He can play everything.” That is what the Warriors needed coming into this draft knowing they will be without Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody to start the 26-27 season in October.
An athletic 6’9 wing with championship experience was too hard to resist. The Warriors made the right and logical choice.
Sports Talk by Zach Walsh 
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