Yaxel Lendeborg has managed to grab all the attention on his NBA debut, though not exactly for his basketball. The Warriors rookie was at the centre of one of the first spats of the season, and he could not have picked a worse opponent for it. Because annoying Luka Doncic is never a good idea, something the Slovenian reminded him of instantly.
Things kept heating up throughout the first half, with constant trash talk between the two, even when one of them was on the bench. At a certain point, the officials had no choice but to hand Lendeborg a technical foul for talking non-stop to Luka while the Warriors launched one of their final attacks of the first half. The forward received the decision with frustration, and it only fuelled the Lakers star, who began to plot his revenge.
It arrived a few seconds later, when Doncic brought the first half to a close with a buzzer-beating three from the centre circle. After the shot, he went to point at Yaxel and exchanged words with him. The tension between the two was obvious and, once the game had ended, both were able to give their version of what happened.
Luka Doncic has been talking trash to Yaxel Lendeborg all night. The rookie already has a tech. Luka just drained a half court and pointed right at him, talking even more trash to his face. Welcome to the NBA. https://t.co/FcvnwlXxUh
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 22, 2026
“He was talking like crazy, and I didn’t want to answer him because this season I don’t want to pick up any fines. In fact, it’s the first time the referees have whistled a technical on the opponent rather than a double technical, because this time I was quiet,” he said, before admitting he went for the shot from halfway to keep frustrating his rival: “I knew it was going in before I even had the ball in my hands. It’s a shot I work on quite a lot”.
Tired of the complaints
Lendeborg, for his part, stressed Doncic’s constant protests to the referees, which, in his view, were what got him out of the game. He even went as far as to say that the Slovenian’s way of complaining had made him lose his respect for him, and he spoke of Luka with a certain disdain for having been unable to score over his defence.
“He was flopping the whole time, looking for fouls, arguing with the referees… I had a lot of respect for him, but after experiencing all his complaints first-hand I’ve lost all my respect for him,” the rookie stated categorically. “It’s been horrible. My frustration isn’t about the fouls being called, it’s about watching him complain the whole game. And if on top of that you get the foul called and come and talk to me as if you’d done something incredible, to me what you’re showing is weakness”.
“I was telling him he’s a bit of a bluffer, that he can’t score on me. That’s what I’ve been telling him the whole game. I wanted him to know, because he was talking and laughing the whole time about the fouls, but the only basket he’s scored on me is the one from halfway. Sure, this is a team sport and he’s put 28 points on us, but I take the matchup personally. I even considered defending him with my hands behind my back, but I think they’d still have called fouls on me”.