The Bucks took Brayden Burries with the 10th overall pick in this year's draft and he's finally getting some opportunity as a starter now. Just one pick later, the Warriors selected the current frontrunner for Rookie of the Year in Yaxel Lendeborg, who's off to an explosive start in his young NBA career.
There were plenty of reasons for the Bucks to be cautious about drafting Yaxel, but he's largely proven them wrong so far. Not only has he fit into the NBA right away (on a playoff-contending team no less), but he's also continued to develop since his last season of college basketball. Lendeborg could have a higher ceiling than the Bucks realized, and that's enough to send shivers down some spines in Miwaukee.
Yaxel has looked phenomenal so far
Through 8 games, Lendeborg is averaging 21.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. He's shooting 50% from the field and 40% from three as well. That's one of the best starts to an NBA career in recent history, even surpassing some future All-Stars and MVPs.
The Warriors were not expected to be very good this season considering their core's age and Stephen Curry's chronic injuries. No one was surprised when they started the season 0-3, with Lendeborg's most notable contributions early on being his trash talk to Luka Doncic. But Golden State has now won 5 in a row behind Lendeborg's star play, including a breakout 37-point performance against the Clippers on Nov 1.
Lendeborg has shown he can do all the little things well, such as defending, knocking down open threes and rebounding from the small forward spot. Those were known strengths going into the draft. But his evolution as a creator and scorer have raised his ceiling beyond what some scouts realized. He's looked confident driving and finishing over solid NBA defenders, or even nailing some stepback threes.
Lendeborg's age concerns might have been overblown
The biggest knock against Lendeborg going into the draft was his age; he's already 24 years old, about 3 years older than Burries. That made some teams hesitant to select Lendeborg as a future piece, since his age peers are already dominating the NBA now. The Bucks themselves were rightfully more concerned about their long-term rebuild than drafting an NBA-ready player now.
But Yaxel is shifting the narrative with his vast improvements from even last year. The whole point of drafting a young player over an older one is having more room to grow and the potential for rapid development. Even at age 24, Lendeborg is showing as much rapid development as anyone else in the rookie class.
In hindsight, this development shouldn't have been so surprising. Lendeborg showed a lot of growth in college even as an older player. He got a later start to his basketball journey than most other prospects, which has helped him surprise a lot of doubters this season.
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