Yaxel on playing the whole summer league: “I got drafted to play basketball. I didn’t get drafted to watch.”
You gotta respect the mentality of these young talents
They just wanna hoop Gotta love the Spirit
Load management is kinda funny when you think about how it usually turns out. Teams rest their star players then playoff comes and they get eliminated, when they could’ve played them in the season and generated more revenue for themselves.
The vast, vast majority of money made from games is during the playoffs. The regular season ticket sales and so on is a nice bonus. The TV deal money is what teams really get out of it.
what stars consistently sit games while healthy? i don’t think it’s nearly as common as people panning load management make it out to be
I’m actually surprised he played the championship game. I remember seeing a few 1st round picks sit it out due to being a back to back
Yes this draft class has definitely been living up to the hype so far. Can’t wait for the season
“Young”
Man if 23 is old, I must have one foot in the grave.
Yall be doing a lot of dick riding he’s still young wtf
In human terms, youre right but in pro athlete first round draft pick terms, youre very wrong. This mans pre frontal cortex is formed and full functioning lol
Brother even if that’s the case in terms of his class he’s older but in terms of the league overall he is still very young that’s not hard to understand you don’t enter your prime till 27-30 and even that’s not considered old by league standards
Kyrie Irving for example accomplished almost everything major he had in his career before he even hit his physical prime, these guys are just full of shit
Yes, it’s better to shove them into NBA level competition as soon as possible. But some legendary guys flourished starting at around his age.
Duncan was 21 when he was drafted. It’s not as big of a deal as people are acting.
True, MJ as well, and Kareem was 22 if I remember correctly. It really isn’t.
Yeah they’re casuals just following the internet
Even in terms of his draft class he’s still young basketball wise. He started way late
Bros 2 years older than Jordan when he was drafted. That’s not that crazy at all
To all those still harping about Yax’s age, if you google the GSW summer league roster, you’ll find that he’s one of the YOUNGest of his teammates!!! And a lot of the other teams as well…💙🏀💛 LAL has a legit 30 year old on their summer league roster!!!🤪
…and Yax’s basketball journey started way later than most!!! He didn’t even start playing organized ball till 15.
Good answer
Steve Harvey probably approves somewhere
damn Golden State got their Lebron
Hey LeBron, we’re good, Yaxel is here
LeNdeborg
His comp for me is a toned down old LeBron lol. Functional but not flashy handle, great court vision, can drive to the rim. However Yax is a better 3 point shooter and Bron is a better driver.
I just want to empathize, I said toned down. Don’t kill me lol
He was called Dominican LeBron for the exact reason you have just mentioned
Like if Boris Diaw really applied himself
honestly, you’ve got a point. like, dime store lebron
Can’t spell lendeborg without lebron
i like the kid he yaxel lot
Yaxelotl
Btw this is the mentality I wanted from kuminga back in 2021
100000000%
JK wasn’t hungry, in his mind he was already a Superstar.
plus yaxel is trying to prove himself in the right ways. he attempts shots in the flow of the offense instead of calling his own number every time he touches the ball. he gets on the glass often and is a super willing passer. he criticized his own defense after his first summer league game and said he needed to be more focused on his rotations. did kuminga ever once admit that he could be defending better?
kuminga was hungry to stack points and nothing else. when he occasionally locked in on rebounds and defense it seemed like kerr was pulling teeth to get him to do it, and he’d stop after like a week.
He seems to be very smart about the game and he definitely wants to let the game come to him rather than force it. I think the “Kerr doesn’t like young players” crowd is going to see just how wrong they’ve been. Kerr doesn’t like dumb players, young players tend to be dumb.
funnily this was a criticism he had in college where he would always let the game come to him and wouldn’t go be that guy at times when needed
Kuminga played overseas and already had money. He thought he was already a complete pro
This is the mentality teams still want from Kuminga. This plus some actual skills on the ball or off the ball.
If Kuminga had the skills or the mentality he’d already be on a team
Yaxel is 6 days older than Kuminga
Man some of y’all find a way to make everything about kuminga lol
I don’t get the point of holding rookies out. Let them play
Teams hold out rookies, especially higher draft picks, because they know they will make the team. They want to be able to evaluate other players who may make the roster or the G-League team.
I do love that this year more young guys played all or almost all the games
I HATE YOU - signed, Memphis
Always a good sign when someone wants to play. A surprising number of players are already burnt out at a young age and don’t have the passion anymore. Doesn’t usually go great for them, just collecting paychecks.
Anthony Bennett
Good.
Basketball doesn’t start for anothe 3 months. playing summer league should be the norm for these rookies.
AD crying at the soul food shop rn
This guy will be guarding Draymond in practice… all I’ll say is, if he’s planning on having kids, the sooner the better
He played to start getting in shape.
Is it that unique? I may be talking out of my ass, historical though don’t most guys drafted outside of the top 10 play the whole Summer League if they’re healthy.
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Having joined the game later in his life than other pros, he needs all the reps he can get.
Kwahi and AD said grab my beer
I’m sure he will do load management when the season starts like everyone else does.
Giving props for stuff like this is so funny to me lmao
Wow you put in an extra shift or two at your brand new multi-million dollar job, shocking!
Well, you didn’t exactly get drafted to play summer league either