Yaxel Lendeborg won’t back off Luka Doncic: ‘He’s not Michael Jordan,’ but he admits he ‘took it overboard’

Yaxel Lendeborg has heard the advice to stop talking to Luka Doncic. He is not taking it. After the Golden State Warriors lost 111-108 to Memphis on Friday, the rookie was asked about people saying he should not have gone at the Lakers star in his NBA debut two nights earlier.

“Come on now. He gonna say what he want to say, I’m gonna say what I want to say,” Lendeborg said. “I’m not afraid to talk to nobody, man. He’s not Michael Jordan. Come on now. So, I mean, it’s fun trash talk.”

He did give a little ground. “I feel like I did kind of take it overboard in the media,” he said, “but I mean, it is what it is.”

Lendeborg’s postgame answers, filmed by Anthony Slater on X.

How it started

In Wednesday’s opener, a 127-105 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Lendeborg drew a second-quarter technical while jawing with Doncic. Afterward he said he had “lost all respect” for him over “all the whining and complaining,” and said he spent the game telling Doncic he could not score on him. Doncic finished with 28 points, but shot 1-of-6 with Lendeborg as his primary defender.

Draymond Green took the other side on his podcast, calling the technical “pathetic,” while still saying the rookie’s stock was going up.

‘Today I didn’t’

Friday was a mixed night for the No. 11 pick. Lendeborg had 18 points, 13 rebounds, 7 of them offensive, 6 assists and 3 steals in 37 minutes, but went 4-of-11 from the field and turned it over six times. Cameron Boozer, whom he faced a couple of times this summer, had 25 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists and hit the go-ahead jumper with 20.1 seconds left as Memphis closed on a 17-0 run.

“He played a great game today,” Lendeborg said. “We both were battling with the turnovers. But I mean, we both ended up with our first double-doubles. It was a fun matchup. He took advantage of his matchups when I was on him.” Asked if he measures himself against his draft class, he said: “Yeah, I always want to have a good game against anybody in my draft class, or try to outperform them. Today I didn’t.”

First back-to-back

Golden State plays at the Phoenix Suns on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET, which is 5 a.m. Sunday in Cairo, and Stephen Curry and Brandin Podziemski are not expected to play. Lendeborg said he expects to be out there. “I don’t expect them to, you know, sit a rookie out,” he said. “So I’m very excited to play my first back-to-back. I guess I’ll let you guys know tomorrow how I feel.”

He sees Doncic again soon. The Lakers visit Golden State on Friday, October 30, at 10 p.m. ET.