Warriors Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg Admits He Used to Hate Steph Curry

Yaxel Lendeborg walked into his introductory press conference as a Golden State Warrior wearing the team's cap and an easy smile. Then he told reporters that, not too long ago, he couldn't stand the franchise's biggest star.

The Warriors selected the former Michigan forward with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft on Tuesday night, making him the newest teammate of four-time champion Stephen Curry. Moments later, at the podium, Lendeborg volunteered an old confession that quickly spread across social media. "It's a full-circle moment for me. I've been saying this every time I get asked this question, 2016, I'm a big Kyrie guy, so I used to hate Steph Curry," Lendeborg said.

Roots of the rivalry

Lendeborg was 13 years old in 2016, debating his friends about his favorite side of the increasingly contentious rivalry between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Warriors. It was the second year of a four-year stretch in which the two teams met in the NBA Finals, and Lendeborg was rooting for Kyrie Irving and the Cavaliers. That year, Irving hit one of the most memorable shots in NBA history, sinking a go-ahead three-pointer late in the deciding Game 7 of the Finals.

The Warriors and Cavaliers clashed in four consecutive NBA Finals from 2015 to 2018, and while Golden State won three championships during that span, Irving played a major role in lifting Cleveland to its only title in franchise history in 2016. For a teenage Lendeborg, that loyalty came at Curry's expense.

A change of heart

Whatever resentment Lendeborg held onto as a kid has clearly faded. "So now that I'm actually going to be able to be on the same team with him, play and actually learn so much from him, it means a lot. I met him a couple times. He's a very great guy, genuine person. It's going to be an honor to be able to watch what he does in person. So I'm very excited," Lendeborg said.

Lendeborg said his opinion of Curry began to shift after he met him while attending a Warriors-Clippers play-in game in April. By the time the Warriors made him their lottery pick, any old grudge had clearly given way to admiration.

Curry claps back

The comments didn't go unnoticed by the man himself. Lendeborg's remarks resulted in Curry jokingly responding underneath Lendeborg's post celebrating his selection. "Let's go! Welcome to the Bay! I'm going to work hard to be your new favorite player," Curry wrote, adding a laughing emoji.

The exchange turned what could have been an awkward draft-night admission into a lighthearted moment between two players who will now share a locker room. The rivalry that made Lendeborg a Curry hater as a teenager is ancient history now — what isn't ancient history is what Curry can still do on a basketball court at 38 years old.

An emotional draft night

Lendeborg's selection capped an unlikely journey to the league. "Every emotion possible, I don't deserve to be here right now. Didn't have the traditional path, so I am truly unworthy. But I can't believe it," an overwhelmed Lendeborg told ESPN's Lisa Salters immediately after the Warriors picked him.

After high school, Lendeborg was working in a warehouse with no plans to attend college, until his mother pushed him to keep pursuing basketball. His path through college basketball wound through three different programs. The 23-year-old had stops at Arizona Western, UAB and finally Michigan, where he helped lead the Wolverines to an NCAA Tournament championship this past season.

His production at Michigan made him impossible to ignore by draft night. In his one season with the Wolverines after transferring from UAB, Lendeborg averaged 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from beyond the arc. He was named a consensus First Team All-American and the Big Ten Player of the Year as a result.

Why the Warriors zeroed in on him

Golden State's front office had been tracking Lendeborg for months before the draft. Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy said the team started seriously considering Lendeborg after a conversation with him at the NBA Combine in May, having come to believe he had matured since first declaring for the draft the previous summer before returning to school and transferring to Michigan.

Dunleavy laid out what Lendeborg brings to a veteran roster looking for an immediate jolt. "The passing of the ball," Dunleavy said. "The defensive stuff, whether it's on the ball or off the ball. He connects some lineups with his size. He can play inside. He can play outside. So it probably makes our job in free agency a little easier."

The pick came together despite some on-camera tension in the draft room. Dunleavy addressed speculation about a heated moment between himself and team owner Joe Lacob shown on the broadcast while Golden State was on the clock, saying, "As far as the discussion with Joe and I, at that point there's probably some talks about trades and things like that. But ultimately we were all in agreement about taking Yaxel."

Dunleavy also dismissed any concerns about Lendeborg's age relative to other prospects in his draft class. "He's, what, 23, almost 24?" Dunleavy said. "I'm not worried because he's not 38."

Fitting into a win-now roster

The Warriors enter next season with a roster built around aging stars and significant injury questions, making Lendeborg's readiness to contribute immediately a major selling point. Draymond Green, Al Horford and Curry are all nearing 40. Jimmy Butler is rehabbing a torn ACL, and Moses Moody is recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon, with both expected to miss at least the first quarter of next season.

Lendeborg has already given some indication of how he sees his early role unfolding alongside Curry. "I would say, like five assists a game maybe to start off," Lendeborg said earlier this month. "A lot of defense, fastbreak opportunities for me. Depending on if I'm here or anywhere else, my role will be a lot different. But if I was here, I'll be more like a secondary ball-handler. Whenever Steph is taken out of the game, I'll be there to assist, maybe provide a little more offense or instant offense."

For now, any lingering trace of Lendeborg's childhood allegiance to Irving and the Cavaliers appears to have been replaced by genuine enthusiasm for his new teammate — one who, by all indications, has already taken the admission in stride and made sure to have the last word on Instagram.