Yaxel Lendeborg was the story of the Golden State Warriors' 134-114 win over the Denver Nuggets on Monday.

In his fourth career game, Lendeborg had 31 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

The Associated Press' Josh Dubow put that stat line in perspective:

Any time you are on a list with Kevin Durant, you are doing something right.

Other Lendeborg Benchmarks from First 4 Games

Since 1985-86, Lendeborg is one of four players with 85-plus points and 35-plus rebounds in his first four games:

The other three are Hall of Fame centers, which makes sense considering it's rare for a forward to be averging 9.3 rebounds per game like Lendeborg is.

But taking his scoring alone puts him in rarified air.

With 87 points, Lendeborg has the second-most points for a Warriors rookie in their first four games.

What Is Yaxel's Ceiling?

The main reasons Lendeborg fell to the 11th pick of the 2026 draft was his age. He was 23 at the time, and he's since turned 24.

The history of older prospects being taken in the lottery is filled with disappointments. The premise is that older prospects are less likely to continuing developing in the NBA.

Lendeborg could be an exception to the rule.

Unlike most prospects, Lendeborg did not play much organized basketball until he got to Arizona Western Junior College. He didn't play much on the perimeter until his sixth and final season in college.

That final year at Michigan, he made 67 threes after making just 37 combined the two seasons prior at UAB. He got some reps as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, but the Wolverines didn't put the ball in his hands constantly, instead using a more egalitarian offense.

What they did certainly worked, as they had eight players average at least 7.3 points per game en route to winning a national championship. But my point is Lendeborg's ceiling was possibly hidden, first by previous college coaches who didn't think to make him a perimeter player, and then by a Michigan team so loaded it didn't need one player to be an offensive star.

It's too early to say what Lendeborg will become. NBA teams will learn his tendencies and try to take away what he does best.

But what's so exciting is Lendeborg has so many ways he can impact a game.

As I wrote here, his ceiling is higher than I thought when I predicted he'd be a high-end role player. We'll see if he reaches it.