Yaxel Lendeborg scores 31 as Warriors beat Nuggets 134-114

Key takeaways

• The Golden State Warriors won 134-114 at Denver on Monday, Oct. 26, ending a 0-3 start to the 2026-27 NBA season.
• Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg posted a career-high 31 points and 12 rebounds, going 12 of 13 at the free-throw line.
• Stephen Curry scored 24 points without missing a shot, 8 of 8 from the field and 5 of 5 from the line.
• Nikola Jokic had 19 points and 11 assists for Denver, which fell to 1-2.

Yaxel Lendeborg scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets 134-114 on Monday night at Ball Arena, ending a 0-3 start, according to the Associated Press recap published by ESPN.

The No. 11 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft was playing only his fourth NBA game, On SI noted. In the hours after the final buzzer, Google Trends showed searches for his name climbing in several countries outside the United States, including the UK, Germany, France and Singapore.

What happened in Warriors vs Nuggets

Denver led 32-28 after the first quarter, but Golden State took a 60-56 lead into halftime and then outscored the Nuggets 74-58 after the break, according to the quarter-by-quarter line on ESPN. A 40-28 third quarter decided the game.

The AP reported that the Warriors shot 54.1% from the field, made 22 of 44 three-pointers and outrebounded Denver 50-36. The win spared Golden State an 0-4 start, which would have been its first since the 2007-08 season, according to the AP.

Curry, Draymond Green and Brandin Podziemski all returned after missing Golden State's previous game in Phoenix. Podziemski added 18 points. On the Denver side, DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points. Jokic was taken out with 3:33 left and the Nuggets down 21. Aaron Gordon, who scored 7 points, left the court in the fourth quarter after being assessed a double technical foul, the AP said.

Key box score numbers

Data as of 05:00 UTC, Oct. 27, 2026.

How Lendeborg scored 31 points

Lendeborg did most of his damage close to the basket and at the line. He made 8 of 11 two-point attempts, all in the paint, according to On SI, while going just 1 of 8 from three. He added six assists, and On SI's Joey Akeley wrote that the rookie ran much of the offense when Curry was off the floor.

ClutchPoints described the 31 points as a career high. The AP said he entered the game averaging 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds.

Curry's perfect shooting night

Curry scored 21 of his 24 points in the second half, the AP reported. According to ClutchPoints, it was only the second game in his career in which he did not miss a field goal. The first came in 2011, in a 14-point outing against the then-New Orleans Hornets.

What we know and what we don't know yet

• Known: the final score, the main stat lines above, and both teams' records. Golden State is 1-3 and Denver is 1-2, according to ESPN.
• Known: Denver played without Alpha Diallo (wrist), Cameron Johnson (ankle), Spencer Jones (hamstring) and Julian Strawther (knee), the AP reported.
• Not yet known: whether the league will take further action over Gordon's double technical. As of 05:00 UTC, no statement had been published.
• Not yet known: Lendeborg's official minutes total, which did not appear in the recaps we reviewed.

Background: who is Yaxel Lendeborg?

Lendeborg is a 6-foot-9 forward born in Puerto Rico in 2002. He played junior college basketball at Arizona Western, then at UAB, and finished his college career at Michigan. He won the 2026 NCAA title with the Wolverines, who beat UConn 69-63 in the final on April 6, and he was named Big Ten Player of the Year, according to his Wikipedia biography. He led Michigan in that title run as a consensus first-team All-American.

Golden State drafted him 11th overall on June 23, 2026. He was then named MVP of the 2026 NBA Summer League after leading the Warriors to the title, according to the same Wikipedia biography. ClutchPoints also identifies him as the No. 11 pick of the 2026 draft.

For more on the early weeks of the season, see our coverage of Luka Doncic's 52-point night against the Jazz and the Timberwolves' 116-94 home-opening win over the Raptors. Minnesota is Golden State's next opponent. Our NBA coverage collects the rest.

What it means

For Golden State, the win steadies a start that was heading toward a franchise low not seen in almost two decades, and it shows that the rookie can carry part of the scoring load with Curry on the floor. Shooting 1 of 8 from three also shows the part of his game opponents are likely to test. The Warriors play at Minnesota on Wednesday, while Denver goes to New Orleans the same night, according to the AP. For the Nuggets, giving up 74 second-half points at home will keep the attention on their defense and depth while four players are out injured.