Warriors a beginner Yaksel Landeborg played a game-high 29 minutes in Wednesday’s regular-season game, but had a modest NBA debut in a loss to the Lakersscoring 12 points and three rebounds. Still, it was hardly a restful night for the freshman with whom he traded trash Luka Doncic during the game, then made waves in his postgame media session, explaining to reporters why he had “lost all respect” for the Lakers star on Wednesday.
“I had a lot of respect for him (because) I didn’t really watch much of the NBA,” Lendeborg said, trans ESPN’s Anthony Slater. “I just watched the highlights and saw him kill people. But seeing it firsthand and seeing all the whining and complaining made me lose all respect.
“Nice call for you. Congratulations bro” Lendeborg continued, referring to the play in the second quarter (Link to video on Twitter). “Then you’re talking to me like you’ve done something big. Come on, dog. That’s weak. It kind of confuses me because I respect him so much. Gone, man. Gone.”
As Slater points out, while Doncic scored 28 points and was a +31 in 30 minutes of action, Lendeborg kept him relatively under control, making just 1 of 6 field goal attempts with the rookie as his primary defender. When asked after the game what he said to Doncic when he picked up a technical foul in the second quarter, the rookie gave an unfiltered answer.
“I told him he sucks” said Landeborg. “He can’t score on me. You say, but you can’t score on me. I’ve been saying that the whole game. Obviously, I said a couple of swear words. That’s why I got the technical. But I let him know.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- While Warriors fans didn’t have much to cheer about on Wednesday, Stephen Currydebut in the season after he pinched his ankle there was a bright spot at the weekend, he writes Nick Friedel of The Athletic. Curry scored 23 points in just 21 minutes, with 16 of them coming in the first quarter.
- Asked about Kristaps Porzingis“Out indefinitely due to health issues, Curry admitted it’s a difficult situation for both Porzingis and the Warriors. “His personally, first of all”, Curry said, according to Friedel. “But we as a team, knowing that you have an idea of who you’re going to have going into the season. We’ve always said that availability was a big factor for our team with the guys that we already had. So it’s no secret that (center) was important to us, especially with his skill set. It’s hard to say without being human, but it’s hard to figure out now and in the future. You’ve seen what we’re like.” We’ve got to be a team, obviously, but we’d love to have him here.
- There is no guarantee that Porzingis will play at all this season for the Warriors and the team according to reports in wanting to trade him, the team may be paying a price for its bet on the big man’s strengths, he says Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “Warriors have egg on their faces” one Western Conference executive told Poole.
- In a one-on-one interview with Mark J. Spears from AndscapeCurry talked about why he never felt the urge to leave Golden State, what he felt Steve Kerrdecision to stay on as head coach and his recruiting efforts LeBron James to Warriors, among other topics.
