Yaxel Lendeborg is doing things at the start of his NBA career that few others have ever done before.
After his first four games, Lendeborg, the former Michigan basketball star, was one of just four players, since the inception of the NBA draft lottery, to start his NBA career with at least 85 points and 35 rebounds in the first four games. The others are Shaq, David Robinson, and Patrick Ewing, all Hall of Fame players.
On Wednesday night, after scoring 26 points in the Warriors' 119-114 win over Minnesota, Lendeborg became just the second player in the history of the Golden State Warriors to score over 100 points in his first five games. The other was Wilt Chamberlain.
However, it gets even more impressive than that.
Yaxel Lendeborg does something only Larry Bird has done in NBA history
Yaxel Lendeborg is first Warriors rookie with 100+ points in the first 5 games of the season since Wilt Chamberlain in 1959-60
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) October 29, 2026
According to Warriors Muse, Lendeborg is just the second player in NBA history to have 100 points, 40 rebounds, and 20 assists in the first five games of his career. Larry Bird is the other. That's the entire list.
It's incredible. Lendeborg did have seven turnovers on Wednesday. He was 1-for-9 from 3-point range in the game prior to that, but bounced back to go 2-for-5 on Wednesday. The Michigan basketball alum is shooting 47 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from 3-point range.
Lendeborg's averaging 22.6 points per game, 9.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. He's shooting 74 percent at the stripe and pulling down four offensive rebounds per game.
That doesn't even really touch on the fact that he's a quality defender. Lendeborg is averaging a combined 1.6 steals/blocks per game, but his ability to switch ball screens, defend the post, and almost defend 1-5, outside of centers like Aday Mara, makes him incredibly valuable. Even if he was scoring 10 points per game, he would be a starting-caliber player.
Instead, Lendeborg is living up to the nickname "Dominican LeBron", something his Michigan basketball teammates started calling him that last season.
After five NBA games, you can see why. Lendeborg has the No. 8 defensive rating on the Warriors now in terms of points per possession when he's on the floor. There is some work to do, but he is a rookie. Playing defense in the NBA is different than college.
Still. the Warriors have to be on cloud nine and the rest of the NBA has to be feeling a sense of regret after Lendeborg has put together one of the best starts to a career by a rookie in NBA history.
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