Yaxel Lendeborg has been in the NBA for about three weeks, and he is already making pitches to LeBron James. This is the Golden State way now.
The 11th overall pick in the 2026 draft appeared on Bleacher Report before the Warriors’ Summer League game against Oklahoma City and was asked to sell LeBron on coming to the Bay Area. Lendeborg did his best.
“I know you don’t like rookies that much, but I’m not the average rookie,” Lendeborg said. “And I would love to learn under you. So if you’re looking to play with the greatest shooter of all time and a close friend of yours, Draymond Green, it would be great to come to the Warriors, and we’ll be glad to have.”
Rookie of the year pitch it is not. But there is something charming about the fact that a 24-year-old from Puerto Rico who spent a year at Michigan is out here making public recruiting videos for the four-time MVP. The Warriors are running an all-hands-on-deck operation to bring LeBron to Golden State, and everyone from Steph Curry to Draymond Green to a summer league rookie is being pulled in.
The Warriors pitch, when you strip it down, is real. Play with Steph Curry, the greatest shooter ever. Play with Draymond Green, still one of the best defenders in the league. Chase one more ring in a market you already love. Chris Paul is available on a minimum if you want him. The infrastructure is there.
The problem is that the Warriors, as currently constructed, are not close enough to a title to make LeBron the missing piece. Golden State finished the 2025-26 regular season under .500 and got bounced in the play-in. Steph is 38. Draymond turns 37. Adding a 41-year-old LeBron to that group might be legendary. It might also be three future Hall of Famers slowly grinding through 82 games trying to make the playoffs.
Which is where Lendeborg becomes relevant. His pitch about learning under LeBron matters more than the recruitment itself. The Warriors need young talent to grow up quickly if they are going to compete. Lendeborg is a 24-year-old rookie who profiles as a rotation player right away. He is not a franchise savior, but he does not have to be.
Draymond has already made his pitch. Curry has already made his pitch, casually acknowledging the “allure” of teaming up with LeBron at the American Century Championship golf tournament. Even Bronny James, if you count summer league conversations, is technically Warriors-adjacent through his LeBron connection.
Rich Paul has been clear that the LeBron decision is not coming in the next few days. The Cavaliers, Heat, Warriors, Sixers, Timberwolves and Nuggets are all in the mix. Paul has also mentioned the Knicks and Celtics as candidates that would have been in play under different circumstances.
The Warriors need to differentiate themselves. The Sixers have Tyrese Maxey. The Heat have Bam Adebayo. The Cavaliers have Donovan Mitchell. Golden State has Curry, Draymond, and the promise of a legacy tour that ends with confetti in the Bay.
Yaxel Lendeborg is not going to be the reason LeBron picks the Warriors. But he is exactly the kind of eager, likable young piece that makes the Warriors’ pitch feel authentic. When your rookie is out here shooting his shot, it tells LeBron the whole locker room wants him.
Whether that is enough remains to be seen. The Warriors are longshots to land LeBron. But nobody said they were going to go down without recruiting hard.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
