A clip from the Warriors’ war room during the 2026 NBA Draft went viral Tuesday night that showed owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy having a spirited discussion while Golden State was on the clock.

In his post-draft press conference, Dunleavy downplayed the conversation around the No. 11 overall selection, which turned out to be Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg.

Initially, Dunleavy joked that he and Lacob simply disagreed over which was the best golf course in San Francisco.

“As far as the discussion with Joe and I, I think at that point there was probably some talks about trades and things like that, but ultimately we were in all in agreement to land on taking Yaxel,” Dunleavy told reporters.

“From our standpoint, we knew we were going to pick Yaxel at 11, he was the guy. But you just want to flush him out, make sure you’re not missing anything that falls in your lap or makes a ton of sense. So that’s what we were doing. And I think Joe was like, ‘Come on, just let’s go ahead and pick the guy.’ I said, ‘Joe, we have time. They give you five minutes.’ He was just getting a little anxious about us taking Yaxel.

“The good thing was, because we were on the clock, nobody could swoop in and take him ahead of us. So I was willing to be patient with it.”

Mike Dunleavy explained his viral interaction with Joe Lacob in the Warriors’ draft room tonight 😅 pic.twitter.com/DzYawbAvzg

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) June 24, 2026

Mike Dunleavy reacts to Joe Lacob’s reaction here: “He was just getting a little anxious about us taking Yaxel.” https://t.co/2Bvh7cNG2B

— Dalton Johnson (@DaltonJ_Johnson) June 24, 2026

Now that it is all said and done, there don’t seem to be any internal doubts about the Warriors selecting Lendenborg, who they viewed as the best player available.

However, for a team that has made and attempted several blockbuster trades in recent years, perhaps Golden State was considering another big-time move rather than the simple, logical pick in Lendeborg.

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