[Highlight] Yaxel Lendeborg cannot miss as he hits another 3 on a catch-and-shoot to give himself 32 points
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Genuinely no one on this clippers team can guard that man
Yaxel looks legit. An actual 6’9” guy that can use his physicality to play a little bully ball, but also have the finesse to make the right pass and knock down catch and shoot 3s. I still wonder if he’s an future all star level talent but he’ll definitely have a big paycheck coming his way if he keeps this up.
He’s an exceptional all-around player. Their last game against Illinois he was basically harassing Wagler full court and Keaton couldn’t do anything.
I for sure thought DJJ would give him a hard time.
DJJ too skinny. yaxel is strong af
I have not seen a rookie bully NBA defenders like Yaxel does in a long time. Honestly, he kinda plays offense like a 6’10” Jimmy Butler
Jimmy
But who can also shoot threes.
I tell u these boys coming out of college in the NIL era are built different lol they been playing some grown ass men and they’re ready for the league intensity
Yax eats that kind of defender alive
Kawhi says “huehuehue”
Why did I see Dillon Brooks’ face when I read how you spelled that?
Ha ha ha ha 🤖
And to think, yaxel is a senior citizen and they can’t even guard him /s
At this point their only defensive scheme is praying he cools down.
its really funny that this old as bones team even has a rookie that’s considered old too. they def gonna need him in the future.
Might as well lean into our identity
Can’t spell Golden State without OLD
Olden State Babyy 💪
All we need now is Olden Polynice
Elder abuse on elder abuse type shit
Mad Yax
The Yaxecutioner
And my Yax!
Triple Yaxel
Yakety Saxel
this is the one
THE YAX FACTOR
The Y-Borg
Yaxel Foley
its just Yaxel
83% 3 pt shooter
It is so insane to see a rook that’s already so skilled at…. Everything. The guy can shoot, the guy can drive, the guy can post up. He doesn’t just have the athletic package, he’s got the developed skill set package. If that continues to get better….. Dude’s going to be a major problem
That’s the thing, I really haven’t seen many glaring exploits in his game that look like they’ll take forever to work on. The team defense will improve, the fouling will improve, and the ball pressure handling is already improving. He had some nasty handles this game that someone his size looks so weird doing cause he was smooth with it lol
He said he wanted to be a point guard growing up… It makes sense now.
Exactly. Even with the “Stars” - it’s normal to have one or two glaring weaknesses they need to work on.
He doesn’t. The eye test has him passing pretty much every part of the game right now. Not A’s across the board, but it’s all B’s, not C’s and D’s.
Well ya when he’s been working on his skills for half a decade longer than the other rookies, he would have a more developed skill set. But it also means his potential for growth is a lot smaller
Sure, but how many players 24 or older is he already better than? I would say a lot.
Even if this is his ceiling, which is doubt, hes what, a top 100 player on a rookie deal?
Sure, I’m just saying it’s silly to talk about how developed a rookie is when they’re basically as old as a rookie out of college possibly could be. When Yaxel was a freshman in college, Cooper Flagg was still in middle school
And cooper Flagg also been playing since he was 7. What’s your point?
Agreed. People need to stop focusing on the age/experience status.
These guys are all pros. Some are better than others. Every player is at a different stage in their development.
Regardless of age/experience, having a good player on a steal of a contract is a massive win for any organization.
So far, easily top 50.
Didn’t he not start playing basketball until he was 18? I don’t think he’s been working on his skills longer than the other rookies
There’s only 20 players who average more ppg than him. Stupid argument
It’s stupid to think the guy in his mid-20s is directly comparable to literal teenagers in terms of development
You sound like a casual bruh.
Yax didn’t even start hooping competitively till he was 18.
With that in line, he had way less time to develop than other rookies.
Sit your ass down
What did he do v lakersbagain?
ROTY candidate? Who else?
I don’t know but it’s so wild how underhyped he was coming out of college. He led his team to a national title! Zach Edey had the same thing even though he led his team to the final game.
He was on a stacked team and was very unselfish. He averaged “only” 15 and 7 as a super senior. If he was on a good but not great team where he had to do more himself and was putting up 20 and 10 like he easily could have, he probably gets a little more hype despite the age.
Edey was thought to be too much of an old school big that would have issues on both ends of the court going against NBA size and athletes instead of bullying college kids.
Right, I recall those being the oft-repeated reasons, almost like a hivemind of armchair analysts, but it just goes to show how little they can actually know.
I think it’s so great he was on a stacked team too because it taught him how to play within a team concept instead of just playing hero ball and carrying a team, which wouldn’t work on the dubs
I literally never understood it. As a Michigan fan he was clearly the best guy on the team, and that’s not a shot at Mara or Morez. He was just so dominant at points, and it was at everything, Paint, D, and shooting 3’s
honestly I was really surprised Dusty May, their head coach and now the new Mavs HC, decided to go with Morez Johnson Jr as his pick
I’m sure he knows plenty we don’t, or maybe Johnson can fit the Mavs better, but I was quite happy Yaxel was still available for the Warriors to pick
maybe people only watched him during the title game (when he was injured) lol
Boozer, Wilson, Acuff
Dybantsa
It’s possible ofc but I don’t see it
lmao what AJ’s barely done anything and is already putting good numbers
Might be time to get your eyes checked then
I mean this draft class is stacked. He’s definitely the favorite right now but acting like there’s no one else is kinda crazy.
Yeah as of now he’s just the first to put it together. By the end of the year there could a handful of rookies out playing well
Crazy to say that Boozer isn’t putting it together at least as well as Yax
Boozer is good too
There are already a handful of rookies that are playing well.
Maybe bad phrasing on my part. I meant the level of this dude.
Is he? Boozer’s putting up triple-doubles on a team that’s undefeated.
Of course it’s only been a few games but Boozer has put up just 1 triple double and is shooting 37% from the field.
It’s okay to say Yaxel is the best performing rookie right now. He’s much older, it’s to be expected.
He’s on track to score 40 tonight
We literally had another rookie score 38 last night.
ROTY, Allstar, MVP lets get it
He’s second behind Boozer according to the sports books
20⁄8 on 48% as the 11th pick in the draft is almost a guarantee for ROTY. And he’ll be in the limelight a lot because of the team he’s on.
lol with how good Boozer and Acuff are playing it’s almost surely going to be a tight race
Why does the draft pick number matter lmao
Expectations.
If that was the case, Knueppel would’ve won last year.
Kon felt like a lock much later into the season than this. It wouldn’t take much for Boozer in particular to take the top spot
Booze. His team is winning games for now.
DP
No one
Instant star. If you’re going to draft a 25 year old in the lottery rookie this level of performance is really everything you hope for
He’s a young 24 act. 🤓
And was 23 when he was drafted. But let’s call him 30 while we are at it
I thought he was 34 with adult children
Might as well round that up to 40 since we’re right there at it
All I’m saying is GG Jackson has been in the nba for 4 years, and he’s only 22. The age thing isn’t everything, but it isn’t nothing
NBA gave him ADA accommodations to use that third leg
Pretty much 45yo in basketball years 🥹
They drafted a 23 year old.
Your point still stands.
Good guy Yaxel purposely only scored 6 points last game to give Steph his shine. We all know he wouldve dropped a 30 ball on the Lakers if he wanted to
Is this guy good defensively as well? I’ve seen enough offence
When he’s in the right spots he has good verticality and contests well. He still struggles to stay in the right position on transition defense and can be a bit slow and prone to foul.
Yeah, I would say he guards big wings well. He is also probably pretty playable in a switching system, but he’s inattentive off-ball. He has the Jonathan Kuminga/Klay Thompson defense where he is much better on the ball than off, in part because his effort off ball is only okay. Rotates pretty well though. But if he were playing against a team that played like the Warriors, he would get back cut all the time.
Good against players his size, but is struggling with guards atm.
Hasn’t been great. I thought his defense would be ahead of his offense. But hes got size and good instincts so hopefully he figures it out.
Held Luka to one basket in first game. Thats not good?
Is there no difference between “good” and “great”?
Back from the dead
ROTY + All Star in his rookie season is gonna hit like crack.
This Rookie class might end up being one of the best ever especially with how many aging superstars there are
That was a reply to Luka in the other game lol
more efficient + plays defense + actually won
He’s the truth!!!
ROTY. Lowkey might even make all star team . Warriors got a star
I guess he’s a real deal.
The Borg. Resistance is futile.
It feels so nice to have a rookie that actually looks good.
Yax City
Ahh Rosie I love this boy
I really really like this dude
Aight so we should’ve pushed to draft yaxel fuck the doesn’t fit the team shit
Thunder didn’t want to trade the 12th + sweetener to move up
Yea i gotta see his game outside of laker games bc youd think he’s a mid player and nothing special based on his two laker games 💀
Maybe that’s purely mental. This guy is playing good basketball so far
First game was literally his first NBA game, and the second he was in foul trouble the whole game, and that did seem to affect him even more than it should have.
I think it’s more about him spending a lot of his time guarding Luka (and getting in foul trouble as a result in the second matchup).
Bro, he’s averaging a 20pt double double
Hell yeah, man! I’m glad Kerr is giving him the green light to shoot. He needed an opportunity to back up his talk.
These last 2 draft classes are fucking nuts
This man alone might now save the Warriors season but he sure might save the golden years of Steph’s career
ROTY