- 7 minutes ago
Willard and Dibs discuss Yaxel Lendeborg's start to his career and explain why they'd trade him for almost no one else across the entire NBA. Is that crazy?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hey, Michael, circle back to Yaxo.
00:03With all your experience, both as a player and a broadcaster,
00:07does he remind you of anybody?
00:09Yeah, he's a combination of Scottie Pippen and Xavier McDaniel,
00:14those type of forwards, you know, just very versatile to play.
00:19Doesn't really have a set position, just a basketball player.
00:22That's what he is.
00:23He's forward, guard, center.
00:25He's like another version of Draymond.
00:27You can just, with a little bit more offensive skills,
00:30with more offensive skills, you can put him anywhere.
00:33Yaxo is, Lindenborg is just a basketball player.
00:36You know, just put him anywhere on the floor.
00:38He'll be guarding Luka tonight.
00:39He'll be guarding other guys on the front line,
00:42sometimes Walker Kessler.
00:44So it doesn't matter where he is.
00:45Just put him out there.
00:45He's just a basketball player.
00:47A lot like LeBron is.
00:49Dev Nation, it's Yaxo Lindenborg.
00:50You're listening to Willard and Dibbs,
00:52coming to you live from the Laughing Monk Studios
00:55on 95.7 The Game.
00:57Are we still getting ahead of ourselves?
01:00Well, yeah.
01:00I mean, he still has to go out and do it.
01:02Understood.
01:03But, I mean, that's true for anything.
01:04That's a very nice double comp right there.
01:07Scotty Pippen is amazing.
01:09And Xavier McDaniel, for those of you not old enough to recall,
01:12he was a monster.
01:14He was basically a double-double waiting to happen, the X-Man.
01:18So, yeah, if you're getting those comps
01:20and other people are saying,
01:22Paolo Bencaro and this and that,
01:24and, yeah, these are all great players.
01:26I guess my point in hearing that,
01:29and if you're just joining us, that was Michael Thompson.
01:32That was Klay's dad.
01:33That was the former number one overall pick in the draft.
01:36That's a guy who played with Magic Johnson, okay?
01:42And Kareem.
01:43James Worthy.
01:44Right.
01:44Byron Scott.
01:45So, if he says it, does it make it better?
01:49By the way, I think it does.
01:51It gives it more weight.
01:52I think it does.
01:53You know what I mean?
01:53Like, there's a reason we're all kind of getting out of the gate so fast here.
01:59Have you heard anybody?
02:01Like, there's some people who, you know, we had that text to us.
02:04Like, can we just evaluate this guy until the All-Star break?
02:06Well, sure.
02:07He's going to get evaluated every time he plays.
02:10All year long.
02:11And, by the way, you get evaluated year two,
02:13and then you get evaluated year three,
02:15and we've seen players have big starts and then fizzle.
02:19And, sure, I guess that could happen.
02:22But I also then, that's why I lean back to what I said yesterday.
02:26Nobody's ever started like this and then not ended up in the Hall of Fame.
02:30That's also true.
02:32That doesn't mean Yaxo will, but I find that to have weight.
02:36And when the former number one overall pick and from the Showtime Lakers,
02:41Michael Thompson comes on and is like, yeah, we're done here.
02:43This dude's going to be an All-Star.
02:46It's like, ah, that's a pretty credible point,
02:50I feel like.
02:52Well, it's a credible point from a credible source.
02:54Yeah, it's a credible source.
02:55A guy who played in the NBA,
02:56and he's been covering the NBA as a broadcaster for the past, what, 30 years?
03:00Father of Clay Thompson, father of multiple pro athletes,
03:03and a guy who watches all of this,
03:05and he's able to see within the first however long with Yaxo Lendeborg,
03:10I can't remember what he said, like the first half or whatever,
03:12he's like, yeah, this guy is the real deal.
03:14Which is why I feel like, I'm going to use the word almost
03:18because I'm not, like, nuts,
03:19but there's almost no trade that I would do for Yaxo.
03:25And that doesn't mean I'm saying he's the best
03:27or the second best player in the NBA.
03:29Not even close.
03:30He hasn't registered on a list like that as of yet.
03:33He's played five games.
03:34But I want to go on the homegrown journey with this guy,
03:37so it's not worth it to me.
03:39And somewhere in there, there's a compliment to the organization
03:42and to Mike Dunleavy too.
03:44Careful.
03:44Well, because...
03:45We're not doing that here.
03:46Well, he's not a pick anymore.
03:47Now he's a name.
03:50Remember...
03:50But he was a pick, and the pick was made by Mike Dunleavy.
03:53But a lot of people wanted to...
03:54When it's a pick, it's F them picks.
03:57And when it's a pick, it's you always screw him up,
03:59so let's trade the pick.
04:00Exactly.
04:01Actually, Mike Dunleavy's never screwed up a pick.
04:03It's a fact.
04:04Go ahead and look it up and call in if you have the pick he screwed up.
04:08But he's never screwed up a pick.
04:11Bob Myers has, but Mike never has.
04:14And here we are, and now he's a name.
04:18Now he's a name with 22.9 points per game and nine rebounds per game.
04:25And now do you still want to trade him for Steph?
04:30Because a lot of people six months ago did.
04:33But now he's a person.
04:34And that changes things.
04:37For me, Michael in the city.
04:39Michael, thank you for calling and holding.
04:40What's up?
04:44Well, I just want to answer your question about who would I trade Yaxel for.
04:47I mean, some of this is about the realism of it.
04:50Like, I mean, you wouldn't trade Yaxel for Wemby?
04:53Of course you would.
04:53I would.
04:54But he's not available for Yaxel.
04:55Right.
04:56So is it realistic?
04:57No.
04:58No, we're not talking availability.
05:00We're talking more about the relationship that has been established
05:03between you, the fan, and Yaxel.
05:06And that's why I've used the word almost.
05:08We did this exercise before the show.
05:11Wemby was the only name, quite frankly, that interested me.
05:14Honestly.
05:15He's the only one.
05:16How about S?
05:17How about S?
05:18How about SGA?
05:20Not even close.
05:21I wouldn't.
05:22No thank you.
05:23No way.
05:23No way.
05:25No way.
05:26First of all, I can't stand the way he plays basketball.
05:30Second of all, Yaxel's got seven inches on the guy.
05:35Like, I mean, and again, SGA would be on his third team.
05:40That's a different experience to me as a fan.
05:43I'm not telling you Yaxel's better than SGA.
05:46I'm telling you I want to go on this journey with him as a homegrown warrior.
05:50That's what I'm telling you, Michael.
05:51Totally get it.
05:52And I'm with you on the journey part.
05:54I agree.
05:55It's so great when you have a homegrown guy and they stay.
05:59And that's actually part of the thing with Steph.
06:00Like, people are saying, oh, you know, we could have traded Steph
06:04and reset the team and gotten better.
06:06You don't do that.
06:07You never do that.
06:08Like, Steph gets to stay as long as he wants.
06:10And if he wants to sign up and play three more years,
06:13probably not winning a championship, then that's just fine.
06:17Michael, thanks.
06:18Yeah, I think we're on the same page.
06:21Honestly, like, yeah, Wemby.
06:25Okay, Wemby.
06:26The Cooper flag is an interesting one because he still is in that rookie contract window
06:31and he's an unbelievably dynamic player in year two.
06:34He's a very good player.
06:36He's a very good player.
06:37But Yaxel's been unbelievably dynamic in five games.
06:41Cooper's done it in about, what, 70 games.
06:43Yeah, something like that.
06:45Whatever it is.
06:45Like, I'm scrolling the league right now.
06:47I'm scrolling the teams and I'm trying to think of, like,
06:50would anybody else be so ridiculously dominant?
06:55And Wemby is the obvious answer.
06:57Yes, Wemby.
06:59Anthony Edwards, that would give me pause.
07:03Because Cade Cunningham, I love and think he, you know,
07:09could end up being a really, really big deal in this league.
07:12I think part of the conversation has to involve the contract as well
07:15because those guys are both either starting their max deals
07:19or about to start the max money.
07:21And that changes the calculus of, like, the value of Yaxel right now,
07:26five games in, is you get four years of this.
07:29It's really three years and then you'll give him the rookie extension max,
07:33hopefully.
07:33But that money, like with pods, it doesn't kick in right away.
07:36So you get a full four years of, you know, relatively cheap labor.
07:41There's no doubt that that, I mean, if you were,
07:43if we're going to do the exercise, yes,
07:45that is absolutely part of the conversation.
07:47However, the emotional part of it, which is what I'm really leaning into,
07:52doesn't really go to money.
07:55That doesn't, that's like not a factor in what I'm talking about.
07:58I guess that what we're really talking about,
08:00it's not even about contract or would you trade Yaxel,
08:03it's would you trade the experience?
08:05Would you trade the experience of going on a homegrown,
08:09drafted, potentially most of career long journey with a player?
08:15Would you trade that experience for another player in the NBA?
08:21And to me, Victor Wembenyama makes you an immediate long-term yearly contender.
08:28And so that, that to me, that's a yes, I would.
08:33Outside of that, I would be very, very hesitant
08:37because anybody else you bring in, no matter how good they are,
08:42you've lost that, you've lost that experience.
08:44That love and feeling?
08:45Well, I think it's been proven by fans,
08:47even though fans will say all you want to do is win,
08:50but I don't really believe that.
08:52Even the fans that get mad at me about the Super Bowl or try again,
08:56like, I don't really buy it.
08:58I don't believe you.
08:59You don't just want to win.
09:01Well, think about the Warriors four titles.
09:03Like, how would you rank them?
09:04And you would rank the two Kevin Durant titles below the other two.
09:08No question.
09:08Because Kevin Durant was not from here.
09:10He's not one of us.
09:11And it was almost like the cheat code championships.
09:14We're not giving them back.
09:15And those parades were awesome.
09:16But you favor the other two more because they were mostly homegrown players.
09:21No doubt.
09:21And if I, if I look at, you know,
09:24you're looking with the San Francisco Giants achieved 15 years ago.
09:28And, and who are the players you remember from those teams?
09:32I mean, I know,
09:33I know who had the big swing of the bat that made all of us cry.
09:37All of us.
09:38We all like how many years in San Francisco,
09:42they had never won a title.
09:43And the big swing of the bat came from Edgar Renteria.
09:48You don't even hear his name anymore.
09:50You couldn't even name all the teams he played for.
09:52And Cody Ross had, Cody Ross had some great moments too.
09:56Moments.
09:56He was a guy who was acquired and even in 2012,
09:59I think it was the Travis Ishikawa home run.
10:02He, or was that 14 when he, he hit the walk off?
10:06No, I don't think that was 14.
10:07That was not 14.
10:08It was 12 then for sure.
10:09And he had gone somewhere else.
10:12Ishikawa to win the pennant was 2014.
10:13It was 14.
10:14There you go.
10:14Okay.
10:14But he was homegrown, but he had gone other places and come back.
10:18So it didn't have that same homegrown feel.
10:21I just mean, but the players you remember, who do you remember?
10:24Buster.
10:25Timmy.
10:25Timmy.
10:26Matt.
10:26Bob Lough.
10:27Yeah.
10:28Bob Lough.
10:29Yeah.
10:29Like, and then there are people who get adopted into it.
10:32You know, Boach feels like, okay, he's one of us.
10:35Hunter Pence.
10:36He's one of us.
10:37Javi Lopez.
10:38He's one of us.
10:40So like you get adopted into it, but I just, to me,
10:43this is something that gets undersold in sports.
10:46And the best example of it is how most warrior fans, most, not all.
10:50I know we get calls every day for three years now.
10:53Here's a trade Steph Curry.
10:55But I believe that out in the real world and on the streets of San Francisco, this is an overwhelming
11:03majority of warrior fans are completely negatively triggered by the idea of Steph Curry ever putting on another jersey.
11:10And there's a reason for that.
11:12It's no longer because you want to win another ring.
11:15It's because you are emotionally attached to that man in a warrior uniform.
11:21And that matters to me.
11:22I think it, if the 49ers won the Super Bowl tomorrow, who's, and you were out on the field, who's
11:28the first guy you'd run to?
11:30Who would you run to?
11:32It ain't going to be Trent.
11:34It just isn't.
11:35Or Christian, you're saying.
11:36Or Christian.
11:37Right.
11:38Like you'd, sure, you'd love to go high five those guys.
11:42But, like, for me, that, it's George.
11:47Or Fred.
11:48But, like, George is the one that had, you know, he's got that look, we're staring off into space, and
11:52I will be back here, and I will be back here.
11:54And then he got back there, and then it happened again.
11:56And, like, there's, you feel it at a different level with those guys.
12:02You definitely do.
12:03I'm not sure if every other fan feels the same way.
12:06Well, not everybody.
12:07Right.
12:07I think a lot of people, though.
12:08Well, I think with Yaxel, especially now, where he is in his journey, he's five games into a four-year
12:13deal.
12:14And so, yeah, you don't want to now make that trade.
12:17But beyond that, you've got Stefan Draymond and Pods, who have been here for their whole career and whatnot.
12:23And so, it feels differently with different players to that extent.
12:27I was just looking at the Alpi Shengun piece of this, because I think that right now he's a better
12:33player than Yaxel Lendeborg,
12:34and he's making $35 million this year.
12:37He's on his second contract, and he's been a Rocket his whole career.
12:41So, if you're a Rocket fan and you love Shengun, you're probably thinking, yeah, he's one of us,
12:46and he's one of those homegrown players that you have, as opposed to, you know, Kevin Durant, who's on his
12:51fifth or sixth team.
12:52Right.
12:53Now, Shengun is obviously a well-established, very high-level star in this league.
12:58I will tell you, I already think Yaxel has a higher ceiling than Shengun.
13:02I don't know if he'll reach it.
13:04I don't know if he'll reach it.
13:05Shengun's the better player right now, but the type of athlete that Yaxel is, were he to continue an ascension
13:14and max his powers, if you will, then I do think his ceiling is higher.
13:20He can do more things, in theory, on a basketball court than Shengun can.
13:24I mean, you could say that.
13:26I would say we don't have to get into a Shengun versus Yaxel debate.
13:30No, he wins that right now.
13:31He's an established star.
13:33They're basically the same age, and Shengun's just been in the league for six years, as opposed to five games.
13:38So, I would push back on the fact that he can't get any better because he's gotten better each and
13:43every year.
13:43No, I didn't say he couldn't get better.
13:45You're saying his ceiling is not as high.
13:46But, yeah, Yaxel is, I think he's bigger.
13:49I think he's more athletic.
13:51He can shoot a three.
13:54He has a different all-around skill set than Shengun has.
13:59It needs to be refined.
14:01He needs to actually become an NBA star.
14:03These things are all question marks.
14:04But should he do that if he accelerates through the next two to three years the way he has through
14:11the first week and a half and the way he looks right now?
14:14I mean, that's a pretty dramatic curve that he's been on.
14:17But you understand what I'm getting at.
14:18I do, yeah.
14:19Like, if somebody is taller and runs faster and jumps higher and shoots better, like—
14:23He's not taller, but he's definitely a little bit more muscular.
14:27And right now, he shoots better, I guess?
14:29He's bigger.
14:31Shengun's a big dude.
14:32I understand he is, but Yaxel is like—
14:35There are certain guys where you're like, okay, maybe they're the same height, but that doesn't—
14:40Do you know what I mean?
14:40Like, Kevin Durant's seven feet, but he's not a seven-footer.
14:43Well, he's a seven-footer, but he's not seven feet 240.
14:46He's closer to 180.
14:48Right.
14:48Like, Yaxel's got the Aaron Gordon thing going on.
14:52Like, that is an absolute physical presence in the midst of people who are a physical presence.
15:01He stands out in the midst of them.
15:04It's like Trent Williams on the offensive line.
15:06Well, everybody's 300 pounds.
15:08Yeah, but Trent.
15:09Trent's kind of like twice their size, actually.
15:12Right, and he's more than 300 in just the way he carries it and the way he runs.
15:15Sure.
15:15And, you know, the nimble manner with which he uses his 315 or his 320, it's impressive.
15:21And Changun weighs about as much, but he's a little taller, and he's not quite as muscly.
15:27And, you know, when you look at Yaxel on the court, having been there to watch him in person, he
15:31does stand out.
15:32Oh, no doubt.
15:33You know, even if you're up in the media seats or if you're up in the 200 level, you look
15:36down, it's like, yep, that's Yaxel.
15:38I will—this is another one that will bother people, but you and I have talked about it a lot after
15:43the opportunity we had to take listeners down to the Sharks game last year.
15:48Macklin Celebrini is not bigger than the other players out there, but when he skates, it just pops.
15:55You can see him out of the corner of your eye and like, oh, oh, he moves differently.
16:00There's an aura around him.
16:02There is a—just the raw skill, the vision, all the things, as he moves through, it stands out.
16:11You might need to look for number 71, but not as much as you think.
16:16Because he just—there's a thing when he comes out onto the ice, you're like, oh, that's Macklin.
16:23Yaxel is the same thing.
16:24Yaxel is the same thing.
16:26When you go to—especially if you go to the game.
16:28You go to the game and like, you just—it pops.
16:31I think it actually works even on the TV screen.
16:34Like, you see the five Warriors come out.
16:36You can sort of tell right away if Yaxel's one of them.
16:38It just—it stands out, even amongst others who are elite athletes.
16:44Well, nobody else in the Warriors is really built that way.
16:46Like, Draymond Green is about four inches shorter, and he's got these great broad shoulders and his long arms.
16:52But Yaxel's straight up big and muscly and athletic on the wing.
16:56And, you know, you look at a lot of the other Warriors, and none of them really resemble that same
17:01body type.
17:01So I'm willing to say that maybe this matters to me more than some others, which I think you just
17:05pointed out.
17:06And that's fine.
17:06I don't worry about that label at all.
17:09But it really does.
17:10And so I will continue to use the word almost, but I would trade Yaxel Lundeborg for almost no one.
17:19Not no one, but almost no one.
17:21The list is definitely fewer than the number of fingers I have on one hand.
17:26Well, it's different, and it's lesser than it would have been probably two weeks ago before you actually saw him
17:31in his debut in the opener.
17:33And for me, it does come down to some of the nuance of the age of the player and the
17:37contract of the player, et cetera, et cetera.
17:39Like, Wemby is an automatic.
17:41Nikola Jokic is an interesting one because it feels like people are stocked down on Jokic.
17:46And if you just went player for player, forget the contracts, I'd rather have Jokic than Yaxel, even though Yaxel
17:53still has many more years of upside ahead of him.
17:57Nikola Jokic is 25, 12, and 9 as he rolls out of bed, stumbling and bumbling.
18:03No, I won't give – I'm not going to push – if anybody would rather have this, that, or the
18:08other, then great.
18:09I get it.
18:11I totally get it.
18:12We're talking about someone who's played five games, and then we're matching it up with the biggest stars the NBA
18:18has to offer.
18:19So I totally get it.
18:20If you're like, I would trade him for any of these guys.
18:23I just wouldn't.
18:26This – like, to me, this is a really stupid comparison, but you know how many fantasy leagues I have.
18:34I have a lot.
18:34Five, I believe.
18:35Five of them.
18:36And I have had five for a number of years now.
18:40And most seasons, I will get to the end of the year having made no trades.
18:46There's just also a characteristic I have.
18:48Like, I stick with people, man.
18:52Like, once there's kind of like – and that's a stupid comparison because it's a fantasy league.
18:57Like, I don't really care.
18:58It's just a name I click on on a laptop or a phone.
19:01But my point is, is that's the way I sport.
19:05Like, when you're – like, okay, Yaxo, you're on our team now.
19:09This is the team I root for.
19:11You're here.
19:11You've been drafted here.
19:13Like, I am very, very emotionally attached to where this goes next now.
19:19His future.
19:21And even if somebody else would come in and be very, very successful as a warrior in the standings,
19:27it would bother me to watch this guy go become an all-star in a different uniform.
19:32He's a warrior now.
19:33He's been drafted here.
19:35And I am mentally and emotionally invested in this experience now.
19:41Right, for now.
19:42And things can change.
19:44And I think about Jonathan Kaminga, all roads lead to Kaminga.
19:47And he was drafted here, and we were invested in him being here.
19:51And then things went the way they went.
19:53And he went to Atlanta, and now he's in Minnesota.
19:55And it's easy to say, yeah, we're still rooting for him.
19:58And same thing with Jordan Poole, where he was drafted here, and he played here.
20:01He won here.
20:02And yet, he ended up going somewhere else.
20:04So, for Yaxo, right now, five games in, you are – you're not even at the honeymoon period.
20:09You're still at the wedding, for crying out loud.
20:11Yeah, no doubt.
20:12We're not even at the honeymoon, and this is the best wedding we've ever been to.
20:14That's right.
20:15That's right.
20:16Like, have we gotten to the toast yet?
20:19No.
20:19I mean –
20:20Not even the toast?
20:20We just got to the part where we're throwing rice at him, and he's getting in the limo to meet
20:26us at the reception.
20:27Okay.
20:27We're not even – we haven't even cut the cake yet.
20:29Well, that does come at the end.
20:32And I'm not a smash frosting all over the face.
20:35No.
20:36No, just a little bit.
20:37A little bit.
20:38But we don't need to – you know what I mean?
20:39I mean, like, there's pictures here.
20:41Let's calm down.
20:43She doesn't want frosting all over her forehead.
20:46I always –
20:47She just – she doesn't.
20:48She's got to play along.
20:50Well, yeah, some personalities are different.
20:52Normally, the wife leads the way, so –
20:54Well, she gets to do whatever she wants.
20:56Well, you're going to frost me.
20:57Frost me, I'm going to frost you back.
20:59See, you and I might marriage differently.
21:03Well, we'd have to compare notes on our five collective marriages, okay?
21:08She gets to – she – this is not an eye for an eye relationship.
21:15That's not men and women in my experience.
21:18Well –
21:18We are built to provide.
21:20We are not built to, hey, you kick me in the shin, I'm going to kick you in the shin.
21:26Like, no.
21:27I believe David Fisdale had it right.
21:29You're not going to rook me with the cake.
21:32My first wedding, we had a backroom closed-door agreement.
21:37There would be no cake smashing.
21:39Brother, your outfit was $100, and her outfit was 10 Gs.
21:45It ain't equal.
21:47And she smashes frosting, that does not mean you get to do it back.