{"slug": "kurtenbach-boris-diaw-2-0-yaxel-lendeborg-is-the-cure-for-the-warriors-identity", "title": "Kurtenbach: Boris Diaw 2.0? Yaxel Lendeborg is the cure for the Warriors’ identity crisis", "summary": "The Golden State Warriors selected Yaxel Lendeborg with the 11th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, signaling a commitment to winning now. Lendeborg, a versatile forward from Michigan, is expected to provide immediate impact with his passing, defense, and shooting, drawing comparisons to Boris Diaw. The move addresses the Warriors' need for a high-IQ, plug-and-play player to support Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...If you ever really want to see Steve Kerr light up, you only need two words: Boris Diaw.\n\nThe versatility, the intelligence, the playmaking, and that ineffable ability to win — the Frenchman was a basketball romantic’s dream.\n\nMan, what a player Diaw was.\n\nAnd now, [the Warriors have their own, modern version.](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/23/warriors-draft-yaxel-lendeborg-2026-steph-curry-mike-dunleavy/)\n\nWith the 11th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Golden State did [the obvious thing](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/23/warriors-2026-nba-draft-steph-curry-prospects/), the safe thing, the right thing, and took Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg.\n\nAnd in that move — [the move they had to make](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/22/kurtenbach-my-official-warriors-draft-guide-get-weird-mike-dunleavy/) — a definitive statement from the previously purgatorial Dubs:\n\nIt’s all about the here and now.\n\nThere was not a single prospect available, or even theoretically available, who would have positively affected winning in the immediate future more than Lendeborg. Who cares that he’s turning 24 in a few months? He’s the ultimate fix-it tool for a franchise that has spent too long looking at the horizon instead of the floor right in front of them.\n\nWhat is it he cannot do? We’re playing basketball, not buying stocks here.\n\nTo start, Lendeborg is an exceptional passer who can run point from the forward position. A man for a Warriors fan’s heart.\n\nStanding 6-foot-9 with a monstrous 7-foot-3 wingspan, he spent last season breaking college basketball by altering every single possession he played.\n\nHe averaged 15 points, nearly 7 rebounds, and 3 assists while anchoring a national championship run.\n\nNeed rim protection? He blocks a shot and a half a game and adds just as many steals.\n\nShooting? He hit 37 percent from beyond the arc on real volume.\n\nRebounding? He single-handedly dragged down 12 boards against Alabama in the NCAA tournament, a game where he casually threw in 23 points and seven assists just to show off.\n\nHis footwork? Blueprint perfect. He’s the kind of bouncy, switchable player that defines today’s NBA.\n\nThe Warriors don’t need a teenager who needs a map to find the weight room — some long-term project who turns tantalization into annoyance — just add time.\n\nNo, they needed a player.\n\nThey grabbed the ultimate player.\n\nThe man was as good as Larry Bird in the statistical ledger, becoming one of only two players in NCAA history to record 600 points, 400 rebounds and 150 assists in a single season. The other guy went to Indiana State and turned out okay.\n\nBut it’s that stuff that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet that’s most impressive: Feel.\n\nIf the offense stalls, he hits a corner three; if the defense rots, he covers three positions on a single switch.\n\nIs he the centerpiece of a post-Stephen Curry era for the Warriors? Probably not.\n\nBut now or later, he will help this team win basketball games that actually matter.\n\nIn the short term, he is exactly the shot of espresso the Dubs need. He is a perfect fit for Kerr’s motion offense — hoops-savvy personified.\n\nHe is a much-needed, high-IQ power wing who can absorb heavy minutes while Jimmy Butler recovers from his knee injury. An heir apparent to Draymond Green. A backup five, a starting wing, a point guard in a big man’s body.\n\nDo-it-all, and do-it-all well.\n\nWhat more could you ask for?\n\nTaking Lendeborg isn’t just a win for the depth chart; it’s a surrender to sanity. It’s general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. looking at the final, precious chapters of the Curry era and deciding to stop wasting pages.\n\nNo more waiting for the light bulb to turn on. No more squinting at raw tape and praying for a basketball IQ transplant.\n\nInstead, the Warriors just injected a heavy dose of immediate reality into Chase Center. In Lendeborg, they get the ultimate plug-and-play fixer—a guy who will walk into training camp, look Green in the eye, and speak the exact same basketball language. He won’t need instructions on how to find the open man, and he won’t need a year in Santa Cruz to figure out how to set a screen in Kerr’s blender.\n\nThe post-Steph future is a problem for tomorrow. Tuesday, the Warriors got a hell of a lot smarter, a hell of a lot tougher, and infinitely better.\n\nAt some point during this process, Kerr was watching tape of a 6-foot-9 forward making a backdoor pass, and thinking of Boris Diaw.\n\nI guarantee it brought a smile.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kurtenbach-boris-diaw-2-0-yaxel-lendeborg-is-the-cure-for-the-warriors-identity", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/23/kurtenbach-boris-diaw-2-0-yaxel-lendeborg-is-the-cure-for-the-warriors-identity-crisis/", "published_at": "2026-06-24 02:00:23+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-24 02:15:15.253927+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products"], "entities": ["Golden State Warriors", "Yaxel Lendeborg", "Steve Kerr", "Boris Diaw", "Mike Dunleavy Jr.", "Stephen Curry", "Jimmy Butler", "Michigan"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kurtenbach-boris-diaw-2-0-yaxel-lendeborg-is-the-cure-for-the-warriors-identity", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kurtenbach-boris-diaw-2-0-yaxel-lendeborg-is-the-cure-for-the-warriors-identity.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kurtenbach-boris-diaw-2-0-yaxel-lendeborg-is-the-cure-for-the-warriors-identity.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/kurtenbach-boris-diaw-2-0-yaxel-lendeborg-is-the-cure-for-the-warriors-identity.jsonld"}}