Without Steph Curry, Warriors rookie is going to be put to ultimate test

Yaxel Lendeborg has never lacked confidence. When the Warriors were in the running to acquire LeBron James, the rookie expressed excitement about potentially playing alongside one of the greatest players of all time but also told the California Post, “Hopefully he doesn’t take away my minutes.”And after Lendeborg and Luka Doncic exchanged trash talk when the Lakers played the Warriors in their season opener, Lendeborg said he “lost all respect” for one of the NBA’s biggest superstars, calling out his “whining” and “complaining.”Well, Yaxel, here comes your real test. After Steph Curry suffered an oblique abdominal tear in the Warriors’ 115-108 loss to the Rockets on Wednesday, Lendeborg is now the team’s star. Curry will be reevaluated in two weeks and is expected to be sidelined close to a month, according to ESPN, meaning it’s now up to the 24-year-old to carry the franchise. Lendeborg talks the talk. And so far he has walked the walk, averaging 21.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists while surging to the top of the Rookie of the Year race. But carrying the Warriors?That’s a different challenge altogether.We’re really about to see what Lendeborg is capable of, especially considering Curry had opened the season playing out of his mind. The 38-year-old Curry was having an MVP-caliber campaign, entering Wednesday’s game averaging 30.6 points, 4.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds for the Warriors, who had stunned the league by winning eight straight games. Overnight, Lendeborg has gone from being a sidekick to the main character. It’s an adjustment he must quickly make. Draymond Green said he already saw glimmers of that happening Wednesday. “It’s funny because the thing that he’s going to have to learn and understand is, all right, Steph wasn’t out there, KD (Kevin Durant) was off the court, you look around, you’re probably the best player on the floor,” Green told reporters.

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