HONOLULU – Fewer than three months removed from leading the Warriors to a Las Vegas Summer League championship and taking home MVP, Yaxel Lendeborg found himself in new world during Sunday’s last-second preseason loss to the LA Clippers. Vegas and Hawaii are different enough. Going from sharing the court with a group of other young players who either have little NBA experience or who are grinding through the G League, compared to being in a starting lineup with multiple players destined for the Hall of Fame, can make a player’s head spin. Lendeborg isn’t lost; he’s learning.
The lesson the Warriors want him to take from his NBA preseason debut is to be more aggressive. Steve Kerr stressed it after the Warriors’ 104-101 loss at the Stan Sheriff Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, as did Steph Curry, in their own positive ways.
“Yaxel was good,” Kerr said. “We need him to be more aggressive.”
Lendeborg started as the Warriors’ small forward in a lineup that featured veterans Curry, Draymond Green, Al Horford and fourth-year guard Brandin Podziemski. Four days removed...