Yaxel Lendeborg didn’t leave his regular-season debut with warm feelings for Luka Doncic.
The Warriors rookie came away from Golden State’s 127-105 loss to the Lakers on Tuesday night openly calling out Doncic after the game, saying the way the Lakers star carried himself on the floor wiped away the respect he had going in.
“I had a lot of respect for him [Luka Doncic], but being in there firsthand, watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect for him,” Lendeborg said.
Lendeborg also had a live, on-court run-in with Doncic during the game, which only added heat to a night that was already chippy. And while the rookie made his feelings known, Draymond Green stepped in afterward and backed him up for refusing to back down.
“Everybody’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, man, he should not talk shit to Luka, and I disagree with that shit 1000%. You f*** gonna talk to somebody, you talk until you can’t f*** talk no more,’” Green said.
The tension didn’t stop Lendeborg from giving the Warriors something on the defensive end. Doncic piled up 23 points in the first half, but Lendeborg was the one Golden State player who seemed to bother him in any meaningful way. ESPN’s tracking data showed Doncic managed just two points on 0-of-4 shooting when Lendeborg was his primary defender in half-court situations in that opening half.
Still, the night ended with the Lakers on top and the Warriors stuck with the loss. Lendeborg finished with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting, plus three rebounds, two assists and one steal.
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