SAN FRANCISCO — It took less than a minute Friday evening for the chants to begin.
Lu-ka sucks! Lu-ka sucks! Lu-ka sucks!
Anytime Luka Doncic touched the ball, boos rained down from the rafters inside Chase Center, a response to the villain created on Opening Night with his spat with Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg.
Some 48 minutes later, however, it was Doncic’s newly minted archrival who felt like the boos should have been directed his approach after, as he put it, “the worst game of my life.”
Yaxel Lendeborg of the Golden State Warriors performs protection against the Los Angeles Lakers in San Francisco on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images
Hyperbole or not, the extremely anticipated rematch with Doncic and the Lakers was with out a doubt the worst sport of Lendeborg’s younger NBA profession — six video games into it.
A few days earlier, Lendeborg said he was “absolutely” wanting ahead to seeing Doncic again, after culminating their back-and-forth Oct. 21 by saying he “lost all respect” for him.
When it came time to back up these phrases, he got completely pulverized.
“He’s a really confident guy,” coach Steve Kerr said of Lendeborg. “Tonight just didn’t go his way. Everybody has nights like this. The key is to bounce back with aggression and confidence.”
While Doncic went off for a game-high 37, including more than a few when matched up against Lendeborg, the Warriors rookie was contained to single digits for the first time in his profession.
The Lakers’ Luka Doncic had a robust sport Friday against the Warriors. NBAE via Getty Images
In a 112-95 win, the Warriors were outscored by 20 in Lendeborg’s 24 minutes. He tried only three pictures, got to the foul line once and completed with six factors. He didn’t dish out a single help, turned the ball over 5 instances and ultimately fouled out with 2:45 left.
“We’re asking a lot of him,” said Steph Curry, who picked up the slack with 31 factors on eight 3-pointers. “He has a lot of responsibility. He’s playing a ton of minutes. He’s got the ball in his hands a lot. So there are going to be highs and lows to it. … It’s a tough demand, but I think he’s built for it, and I’m pretty sure he’ll respond extremely well the next game.”
Going into it, Lendeborg said his objective was to stay poised and maintain his cool.
Mission achieved, perhaps a little too much. Lendeborg let the crowd do the speaking, but he was passive and out of kinds when it came to the precise sport on the court docket.
“There were a lot of moments where I could have crashed out,” Lendeborg said. “But I stayed calm — a little too calm I really feel like in order to get myself into a groove.
“I was just in my head the whole time.”
Yaxel Lendeborg #1 of the Golden State Warriors seems on during an NBA Cup sport against the Los Angeles Lakers at Chase Center on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images
Every sport is a lesson for a rookie still getting his ft moist in the NBA.
Lendeborg’s greatest takeaway from his worst evening as a professional?
“Jesus,” Lendeborg said. “Man, honestly, I don’t even know. Try not to wet the bed as bad as I did. Or when you’re having moments like that, try to lean on your teammates a little more.”
While Lendeborg described himself as “pretty much the only Debbie Downer on the team,” Curry had a completely different perspective.
“What I love is he’s really established an even-keel kind of presence and mentality that it helps on nights like tonight [that] don’t go his way because he doesn’t kill the energy on the team,” Curry said. “We have his back through all of that.”
Golden State Warriors ahead Yaxel Lendeborg, left, defends against Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in San Francisco. AP Photo/Justine Willard
Kerr’s greatest recommendation for the rookie was to flush this sport as rapidly as doable. They have another one Sunday against the Clippers, another Monday against the Suns and 74 more after that. The unrelenting tempo of the NBA schedule is one of the greatest changes for a rookie.
“You can’t dwell on tough games,” Kerr said. “Young players tend to dwell on things a little bit. And then all of a sudden there’s another game and another game after that. You can’t let anything build up. You have to move forward.”
Informed of the phrases of knowledge Kerr had handed on at the podium a quick while earlier, Lendeborg couldn’t assist but flash that charismatic grin and let out a chuckle.
He had just admitted that he was “a big dweller on bad games.”
“I don’t know how long that’s gonna take to get out of that habit,” Lendeborg said. “But I’ll see what I can do.”