We’re not even a week into the Yaxel Lendeborg era in Golden State and the Michigan rookie is already trying to get under Draymond Green’s skin.
I think we all kind of assumed that Lendeborg and Draymond was about to be an interesting veteran-rookie duo, but I don’t think anyone expected the banter to start this early.
Golden State drafted Lendeborg in the first round on Tuesday and most people saw it as a really good pick, and then they realized who the Warriors were likely bringing back for the 2026-27 season that could clash with the rookie, personality-wise. Draymond is known as one of the most polarizing players in the NBA and if he’s not on your team, you’re probably not going to like him — that’s why Golden State and Michigan State fans love him.
Draymond is also very vocal about his hatred for the Wolverines and he even got himself into hot water after punching Michigan alum Jordan Poole during practice a few years back. That’s kind of why no one sees this duo working out with Golden State.
I think Lendeborg sees this as an opportunity to troll the veteran.
Draymond took Lendeborg’s bait
During a press conference that welcomed Lendeborg to the Warriors, the rookie was asked about which teammates he had already talked to since getting drafted a few days earlier.
His answer insinuated that Draymond had no desire to reach out to Lendeborg. He said that heard from Steph Curry who added him to the team group chat right away, but he reached out to Draymond and had yet to hear back.
(In my best Maury Povich voice) And the lie detector determined … that was a lie.
It appears Draymond actually texted Yaxel right back 🤣 https://t.co/QdMrLG8AaR pic.twitter.com/6EHTaaZBq2
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) June 27, 2026
Draymond responded by calling Lendeborg a liar, which he was in this instance, and joked that his rookie hazing is going to be a little worse now that he put him on blast.
I think this situation can be explained one of two ways.
Either one, Lendeborg did just decide to lie and thought that Draymond wouldn’t pull out the receipts (not sure why he’d assume that). Or two, he was alluding to the fact that he asked Draymond a couple of questions and hadn’t heard back yet and he just worded it poorly.
Let’s just assume that it’s the latter. Still not totally justifiable to put him on blast publicly like that, knowing that Draymond did text him back within 20 minutes. Also, Draymond’s response was exactly what you want to hear from your veteran players when a rookie reaches out. He was more than willing to help with some advice and even retorted to Yaxel’s “go blue” with a “go green”.
The friendly banter may be running into some turbulence already.
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