Yaxel Lendeborg isn’t your typical rookie.
He’s fearless.
He’s willing to speak his mind about the NBA’s best offensive player, knowing full well the consequences that entails.
And mark my words: There will be consequences after he lit into Luka Doncic, saying he “lost all respect for him” after the Lakers hosted the Warriors in their season opener on Oct. 21.
When the teams meet Friday, there will be fireworks.
Doncic is leading the league in scoring with a blistering 36 points per game. He’s going to be well rested after not playing in the Lakers’ 103-87 win over the Clippers on Wednesday in the second leg of a back-to-back because of back tightness.
And he feeds off trash-talk, so much so that Austin Reaves recently told Sports Illustrated that he has “thought about paying people in the stands to just talk crazy to him.”
Lendeborg’s words have had over a week to gestate in Doncic’s mind. To taunt him. To electrify his competitive nerves which are already perpetually firing on overdrive.
The 24-year-old Lendeborg called out Doncic for “whining and complaining.” He hit Doncic where it hurts. Where shots are fired at him in the media. Where points are deducted from him on mental scoresheets for awards.
Lendeborg is holding the line, knowing he has fed Doncic a steady diet of his superfood.
While acknowledging that he “did kind of take it overboard in the media,” Lendeborg doubled down when prodded about his comments about Doncic. “I’m not afraid to talk to nobody, man,” he said Oct. 23. “He’s not Michael Jordan.”
This is going to be a blast.
Doncic is coming off back-to-back 41-point and 52-point performances for the Lakers (4-1).
Lendeborg is gaining momentum for winning Rookie of the Year after opening the season averaging 22.6 points on 47.5% shooting, 9.2 rebounds, four assists and one steal per game for the Warriors (2-3).
When the teams last met, Lendeborg actually did a good job guarding Doncic, holding him to 1-of-6 shooting as the primary defender, according to ESPN tracking stats.
The Warriors were helpless against Doncic. And Lendeborg can be blamed for sparking things.
After they began jawing at one another, the Lakers went on a 13-4 run. Doncic scored 10 of those points.
The highlight of that stretch? Lendeborg was assessed a technical foul with 22.2 seconds left before halftime for chirping at Doncic. The Slovenian superstar responded by making a 49-foot shot with 1.4 seconds remaining and then approached Lendeborg, trash-talking him.
Doncic had 28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in 30 minutes, finishing with the highest plus-minus (+31) of anyone on the court in the Lakers’ 22-point blowout win over the Warriors. He had more than twice as many points as Lendeborg (12).
Doncic got the last laugh, as he usually does in these situations.
What started their so-called beef, you may be asking?
Said Lendeborg: “I was telling him he sucks. He can’t score on me. You talk and you can’t score on me. I said it the whole game. … I was letting him know because he was laughing and talking and all this because of that one call. His only bucket on me was a banker from half court.”
Added Doncic: “He was talking crazy. But I wasn’t trying to talk back. This season, I’m not trying to get techs.”
It could’ve started and ended there.
But Lendeborg took the drama off the court.
He called out Doncic from the podium. He took things to another level.
The Warriors loved it — but only so long as Lendeborg aces his next test Friday.
Said Steph Curry: “He set the table for himself to have to show up — and I like that.”
Added Warriors coach Steve Kerr: “I love it. I think the bravado, the not backing down, it’s great. But Steph had the perfect comment. He loved it, too, but he said now you’ve got to back it up, and that’s right. The way you back it up is to not getting lured into that [next time] when we play them again.”
Well, the stage is set.
We know Doncic will cast the bait.
And what happens next should be pure entertainment.
