After Yaxel Lendeborg decided to start a war of words with Luka Dončić both during and after his first NBA game last week --more or less calling one of the best players in the world a crybaby for whom he "lost all respect" -- both Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr remarked that they were fine with the don't-give-a-damn brashness of the Warriors' rookie. Curry and Kerr even said that they liked it, but with the caveat that he would, of course, have to "back it up."

How's that going so far? Well, put it this way: If Lendeborg keeps playing like this, the only other thing he's going to have to back up is a Brinks truck to collect his next contract. Through his first five games, the No. 11 overall pick is averaging 22.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and four assists. 

Those are not just All-Star numbers. Those are historic numbers. Let's break them down.

Yaxel joining elite company

Let's start with the basics: Lendeborg is the first Warriors rookie since Stephen Curry to score at least 25 points in three straight games. That's more of a footnote considering Golden State's many draft whiffs over the last 15 years, but still, this is no easy feat over any three-game rookie stint, let alone inside the first two weeks of your career. 

OK, now let's get to the bigger stuff. 

• Lendeborg is the first rookie in nearly 70 years to record at least 100 points, 45 rebounds and 20 assists through his first five games. 
• His 113 total points are the third-most this century through the first five games of a career, trailing only Kevin Durant and Paolo Banchero. 
• Toss in his 46 rebounds and he's the first player to reach those five-game scoring/rebounding marks since Shaquille O'Neal in 1992. 
• Add in his 20 assists, and only one other player NBA history -- a pretty good one, it turns out -- is in his company. 

Putting up these kinds of numbers can only happen, one, if you've got the game, but two, and in the context of the Warriors this may be the even more important part, if you're given the opportunity to do so. Which brings us to ...

Yaxel has Steve Kerr's trust

This is no small feat. Maybe it's because he's an old rookie. He's 23. Spent six years in college. Started at a junior college. Grinded through every level and has the maturiity in both game and mind to show for it. 

This is important, because it would be easy to classify Lendeborg as immature for all his spouting off, but much like Draymond, listen to what he's actually saying rather than how or to whom he's saying it. Before you go off in judgment of a man with an opinion, understand that he's earned his maturity in ways that, frankly, a guy like Dončić hasn't. 

Luka was a prodigy from Day 1, and was treated as such. That isn't a shot at Luka. It's just the reality. Yaxel has worked real jobs in the real world. He didn't even play sports when he first got to high school. He was trying to make money in the same warehouse in which his mom worked. 

Don't confuse Yaxel having strong opinions with being a know-it-all. The smartest players, and people, seek wisdom, and Yaxel has talked repeatedly about sponging off Curry and Green. After putting up 31 points, 12 rebounds and six assists against Denver, he used his postgame interview with ESPN's studio show to solicit advice from Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthony and Tracy McGrady. 

I take great pride in my cynicism, and normally this kind of platform pandering would trigger all the eye-rolling alarms, but Lendeborg appears to be so authentic that you honestly believe he's asking the greats for tips on national television because he actually wants the tips. 

When Yaxel talked about the league being full of floppers, the part that didn't get circulated was him saying he is going to learn all the tricks to take "as many free throws as possible." Even when he's criticizing something, he's clocking it, too. This is a clearly an observant and, contrary to the trash-talking perceptions, humble guy who has spoken about wanting to leave Kerr with the impression of "someone who's willing to learn" and hold himself to a standard worthy of a championship coach's trust. 

For instance, you may think putting up 26 points and nine boards in your fifth career game, as Lendeborg did in a win over the Wolves on Wednesday, is a great showing, but Lendeborg described his performance as "hella soft" while lamenting a "timid" approach that led to him committing seven turnovers. 

Kerr has noted that Lendeborg needs to improve his weak-side defensive focus, that he can run the floor harder, and that he tried to "force a lot of plays" against Minnesota (Kerr has talked about sometimes it being as simple as taking one more dribble before taking to the air on a drive), which was a point he made after Lendeborg went for 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists against Phoenix. 

This is a fine line for a 6-foot-9, 250-pound "strong as an ox" guy who butters a lot of bucket-getting bread with power drives. Draymond is telling Yaxel to go through defenders' chests, while Kerr is telling him to him to slow down, see the floor and make sound decisions without compromising aggression. 

There's nuance and interpretation in both those messages, and surely this is the stuff that Kerr, Green, Curry and all the other Golden State vets are going to be talking with Yaxel about all year. Mistakes are sometimes the most important ingredient in a developmental stew. That's where the learning comes from, and Yaxel is certainly going to travel a steep curve on his way to finding his strength-skill sweet spot, particarly within the context of a team that needs him to make things happen. 

Somewhere Jonathan Kuminga is surely wondering why he was never afforded the luxury of playing through his mistakes, while Lendeborg is crashing into defenders and committing 18 turnovers over his last four games and still leading the team in minutes. 

To that, allow me to summon my inner-Yaxel and not beat around the bush with this one: He's worlds better than Kuminga (who never embraced or more importantly improved upon any part of the game other than scoring) ever was for the Warriors. And besides that, Kuminga wasn't, and isn't, the non-interruptive scorer that Lendeborg has already showed himself to be anyway, to say nothing of all the other basketball boxes he checks. 

• ✅Elite positional size
• ✅Floor spacer
• ✅Transition freight train
• ✅One-on-one creator
• ✅Pick-and-roll initiator
• ✅Grab-and-go pace pusher
• ✅Half-court ball handler
• ✅Natural facilitator
• ✅Big-boy rebounder
• ✅Physical, athletic defender

You can see the whole Yaxel package in this reel below. The bully, through-the-chest drives and a deceleration finish that speaks to the composed attacks Kerr wants to see more of. The spot-up shooting (8 of 12 from 3 so far on these shots, per Synergy). The chase-down block on one end into a floor-running finish on the other. The athletic cuts. The savvy pick-and-roll feel (watch him smoothly split the defenders at the 1:25 mark). Pay close attention to the way Yaxel spins into the lane for a finish on Nikola Jokić at the 16-second mark, and then, later, how he makes the same move but this time the defense collapses and he recognizes it immediately and zips a pass to the corner for a Brandin Podziemski 3. 

Kerr has called Lendeborg "100%" the most pro-ready rookie that he's ever coached, noting that he knew Lendeborg had the shoot-pass-dribble skill package to be effective right away, but that he also "has a better feel for the game than I realized." That's why Kerr trusts him to not just be on the floor more than any other player so far, but to actually pilot an offense that is registering a top-five rating during his minutes, per Cleaning the Glass. 

"Basically, at all the critical moments of the game, we just put the ball in his hands," Kerr said after that Denver game. "For a rookie to be that advanced already, it's extremely rare."

Does Yaxel change Warriors' short-term plan?

Long term, Lendeborg looks like the next-era star that Joe Lacob has been desperate to land since the start of the decade, which he seemingly thought was the beginning of Curry's end. Lacob was extremely wrong about that, and this ownership has been wrong about damn near every draft pick it has made over the last eight-plus years. 

• 2018: The Warriors draft Jacob Evans, whose NBA career lasts less than two full seasons, five picks before Jalen Brunson. 
• 2020: The Warriors have the No. 2 overall pick and can therefore draft anyone not named Anthony Edwards. That list includes, among many others, LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton, Tyrese Maxey, Devin Vassell and Deni Avdija. But Lacob watches a James Wiseman workout and thinks he's found the next David Robinson. 
• 2021: The Warriors don't just take Jonathan Kuminga over Trey Murphy III (who much of the front office favored), they take him over Franz Wagner. And then, with a chance at a re-do seven picks later, they take Moses Moody at No. 14 when Murphy III was still on the board, as were Alperen Sengun and Jalen Johnson, both of whom have become All-Stars. 

The 2020 and 2021 drafts, in particular, were supposed to set up Golden State's future, and they became the basis for the ill-fated two-timeline plan. The organization was too slow, or stubborn, or probably both, to ditch that plan and trade some of those guys while they still had some value. 

Wiseman and Kuminga basically were given away. Moody has been a fine rotation guy, ho-hum by lottery pick standards, while Brandin Podziemski, taken with the 19th pick in 2023, has been solid (don't listen to the idiots who say Podz has been a disaster; it's not even close to true). But those players are not home runs. 

Even at 23 years old, Yaxel looks like a home run. And beyond what this means for Golden State's long-term outlook, it begs the question of whether he changes the short-term plans for a front office that had seemingly conceded to a lost season as it gears up for a 2027 cap-space splurge. 

Is Lendeborg really good enough already to make the Warriors think they are a piece away from contention? Bill Simmons seemed to suggest as much when he recently declared that "Yaxel might have single-handedly saved the Steph era" while comparing him to 2010s LeBron James. 

If you audibly laughed at a prime-LeBron comp, you're not alone. But it speaks to the kind of buzz Lendeborg is generating, and the Warriors are definitely feeling it, too. Might they look at trading, say, Draymond Green, who's on an expiring contract? Perhaps they could pair Green with Kristaps Porzingis, who's only guaranteed $3 million next season, for close to $50 million in trade value. 

Add some draft equity to that package, and you can go hunting for some pretty big game. What about Trey Murphy III. What about adding Moody in and going after Anthony Davis? Imagine a Warriors team with Curry, who's still playing at an All-NBA level, Yaxel and a third All-Star to be named, with Jimmy Butler still coming back. Or you could trade Butler with some draft picks and do any of the same things. 

Before Yaxel shot out of a cannon, the Warriors seemed way too far away from even fringe contention to justify an all-in trade. You can argue they've been too focused on the blockbuster trades at the expense of the more peripheral moves that could've kept Curry competitive, like the ones the Knicks made for OG Anunoby (who, incidentally, was another Warriors "target") and Mikal Bridges, and Yaxel, in his career infancy, feels like that caliber of player. Not a star (yet), but a guy who can provide contention-level star support. Maybe the Steph Curry doesn't have to die on the vine after all. 

Bear in mind, the Warriors would have to trade draft picks to make anything happen, and for all the fans who love to mortgage the future, remember, this summer there were a lot of people who wanted the Warriors to trade the No. 11 pick with which they drafted Yaxel. So be careful what you wish for. 

That said, they got Yaxel. The Warriors have been wrong about a lot in post-Kevin Durant era, but all signs point toward them being absolutely right about Lendeborg. And now that they have him, it's fair to wonder if he covers enough of their future to actually start trying to maximize their present.