Golden State Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg has now had a dual welcome to the NBA at the hands of Luka Doncic. While he not only found out the hard way that poking a sleeping superstar comes with an immediate receipt, he probably got a good lesson on how he needs to back up that trash talk. Fans already called him out, but Gilbert Arenas expects the rookie to step up.
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Following an opening-night feud where Lendeborg claimed he “lost all respect” for Doncic, the brash rookie faced Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers again on Friday night in their NBA Cup group-stage opener. While the Warriors pulled off a stunning 25-point comeback that unfolded over the final three quarters, after the Lakers’ lead reached 25 points early in the second quarter and the Warriors clawed back to tie the game by halftime before taking the lead in the third and defeated the Lakers 112–95, former Warriors player and now Lakers die-hard Gilbert Arenas refused to let Lendeborg off the hook for his dismal individual outing.
Lendeborg finished with a nightmarish stat line of six points, one rebound, zero assists, and five turnovers in 24 minutes before fouling out with a -20 rating. Meanwhile, Doncic poured in 37 points, including 21 in a blistering first quarter alone, leaving Lendeborg stuck in foul trouble before watching the game on the sidelines.
A couple of days after that on Gil’s Arena, Arenas pushed back aggressively against narratives trying to gloss over the rookie’s struggles simply because the Warriors won the game behind Stephen Curry’s 31-point heroics.
“Oh, I thought this game was Yaxel versus Luka. All that was talking… the Yaxel versus Luka show,” Arenas quipped and left Josiah Johnson, Danny Green, and Demarcus Cousins in splits. “I don’t want to hear about Big Brother Steph. No, don’t bring your big brother out ’cause your a— is sitting on the bench with them fouls and a n—— got 21 in the first quarter.”
Arenas mocked Lendeborg for hiding behind his veteran teammates after talking trash between the season-opener and the rematch.
“Where was the shutdown everybody was talking about? Is Luka going to guard him? No. The bench did it. That bench guarded him very well,” Arenas added. “Next to that water. He was right there with the water and the towel, watching the big brother do what the big brother do. Watching superstars do what superstars do… So until you address that, I don’t want to hear about the Stephen Curry. I want to hear about the matchup that everybody tuned into.”
When Josiah Johnson pointed out that Lendeborg’s squad ultimately secured the victory, Arenas stood firm, warning the rookie against taking unearned victory laps.
“Hey, I told you this ain’t nothing,” Arenas said. “Don’t get your a— busted, then you try to lean on the team win.”
Despite savoring the Warriors’ comeback, Lendeborg himself exhibited remarkable self-awareness postgame. Unlike players who use a team win to shield poor individual performances, the 2026 first-round pick took full ownership of his struggles.
When asked postgame about what he learned from the matchup, Lendeborg bluntly admitted, “Try not to wet the bed as bad as I did, or when you’re having moments like that, try to lean in on your teammates a little more.”
He acknowledged that Curry and the Warriors’ bench, which outscored LA’s reserves 50–7, rescued him on a night when he himself admitted he had been playing like a Debbie downer.
“It was amazing to see Steph Curry again did his thing. The bench mob showed up today. It was awesome. They all played a great game.”
It was indeed The Chef’s night. Apart from a typical Curry stat line, he also served Yaxel’s vengeance with a cold ankle-breaker on Doncic that he followed with a shocked gesture while running back on defense. While fans loved vintage Curry, Lendeborg wasn’t free of criticism.
Yet his post-game accountability earned a measure of respect back from the Gil’s Arena crew, who acknowledged the rookie’s willingness to accept his loss like a true competitor.
“Yaxel, after the game, he acknowledged… He understood that, hey, you know, there are different levels,” Arenas admitted, pivoting to Lendeborg’s postgame presser. “I need to keep working. I accept it. Didn’t even use, ‘Oh, we won the game.’ Didn’t use, didn’t stand on none of that. Just, ‘Hey, hey, he got me.’ You know what I mean?”
For the Warriors, the victory pushed their record to 3–3 (which extended to 4-3 after beating the Clippers yesterday) following a 0–3 start, proving that their deep roster can bail out young prospects when they hit a wall. But as Arenas made crystal clear, talking trash to the league’s elite comes with a standard that no amount of Steph Curry magic can salvage.