Lendeborg leads the Warriors in minutes, and Sunday starts a back-to-back
Golden State plays six straight at Chase Center, with the Clippers and Phoenix on consecutive nights in the middle. The last time, four veterans sat the second night and the rookie played 37 and 36. He has 168 minutes in five games and carried a foot listing into Wednesday.
Golden State has played five games, and four were on the road. The next six are at Chase Center, across 11 days starting Friday. In the middle of them is the season's second back-to-back: the Clippers on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Pacific and Phoenix on Monday at 7.
On the second night of the first back-to-back, at Phoenix on October 24, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Al Horford and Brandin Podziemski did not play. Green was listed with low back soreness and Podziemski with lower back injury management, by ESPN's box score. Yaxel Lendeborg played 37 minutes the first night and 36 the second.
The rookie was the minutes that covered the rest. Five games in, he is also the player carrying the most of them.
Five games of minutes#
| Player | LAL | MEM | PHX | DEN | MIN | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yaxel Lendeborg | 29 | 37 | 36 | 31 | 35 | 168 |
| Draymond Green | 21 | 31 | DNP | 27 | 32 | 111 |
| Stephen Curry | 21 | 30 | DNP | 27 | 32 | 110 |
| De'Anthony Melton | 21 | 20 | 27 | 19 | 20 | 107 |
| Brandin Podziemski | DNP | 33 | DNP | 33 | 32 | 98 |
| Georges Niang | 20 | 13 | 23 | 18 | 23 | 97 |
| Gui Santos | 25 | 20 | 23 | 28 | DNP | 96 |
ESPN's box scores, rounded to the minute. Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody and Kristaps Porzingis have not played.
Lendeborg is the only Warrior with 29 or more minutes in all five games. He has played 30 or more in four of them. Podziemski is the only other Warrior with three such games, and he has played only three. Lendeborg's 168 minutes are 57 more than Green's 111, the next-highest total.
He has 113 points in five games, 22.6 a night, including 31 at Denver and 26 at Minnesota.
The foot#
Lendeborg carried a foot listing into Wednesday's game at Minnesota. Rotowire's note on ESPN that afternoon said he was available, had gone through shootaround and his pregame routine without trouble, and that nobody had discussed a minutes limit. He played 35. ESPN's Warriors injury report on Thursday does not list him.
It does list Gui Santos, day-to-day after missing Wednesday with left knee tendinitis. Santos had started three of the first four games. Without him on Wednesday, Niang started and Will Richard played 23 minutes, after 3 at Denver.
Sunday and Monday#
The two nights are not the same assignment. The Clippers play at Minnesota on Friday and come to San Francisco on one day's rest. Phoenix hosts Denver on Friday and then nothing until Monday, by ESPN's schedules, so the Suns arrive with two days off to play a team on its second night.
That is the same opponent on the same second night as October 24, at home this time. Phoenix scored 131 that night with Golden State's four veterans out.
Last season Green played both nights of eight of Golden State's 16 back-to-backs, and Horford played both nights of none. Neither number says anything about the rookie, whose first NBA back-to-back was October 23 and 24. He played 37 minutes with the veterans on the first night and 36 without them on the second. Monday is the first second night on which the club has to decide whether Lendeborg is part of the rest or the replacement for it.
Six home games#
The Lakers come to Chase Center on Friday at 7 p.m. Pacific in an NBA Cup group stage game. They are 4-1, by the Associated Press preview on ESPN, and beat Golden State 127-105 on opening night, when Lendeborg played 29 minutes and led the team.
The read: Lendeborg plays more total minutes than any other Warrior across the six home games, October 30 through November 9. Podziemski is the case against. In the three games both have played he has out-minuted the rookie once, 33 to 31 at Denver, and the two are separated by five minutes across those three nights, 103 to 98. A rest night on Monday for Podziemski, as on October 24, would settle most of it. A rest night for Lendeborg would settle it the other way.
Sources: ESPN box scores for events 401909092 (October 21 at the Lakers), 401909850 (October 23 against Memphis), 401909860 (October 24 at Phoenix), 401909876 (October 26 at Denver) and 401909888 (October 28 at Minnesota) for minutes, points, starters and the reasons listed for players who did not play; the totals are sums of those five boxes. ESPN's 2026-27 schedules for Golden State, the Clippers and Phoenix for dates, sites and tip-off times. ESPN's Warriors injury report for Santos's status and Lendeborg's absence from it, October 29, 2026. Rotowire's player note on ESPN, October 28, 2026, for the foot listing, Lendeborg's availability and the minutes limit. ESPN's 2025-26 Warriors box scores for Green's and Horford's back-to-back counts.
