Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg Played 11 Games of High School Basketball. Now He’s a Contender for National Player of the Year.

“I feel like I’m doing it for the people who don’t believe in themselves,” he says. “I want to be a role model for those people. Like, don’t doubt yourself. At least give it a second effort before you give up.” 

The 23-year-old Lendeborg was on a basketball court before he was even born. Yissel Raposo was a college student at the American University of Puerto Rico (AUPR) when she gave birth to Yaxel on Sept. 30, 2002. She and Yaxel’s father, Okary Lendeborg, were both star athletes — they had previously played for the Dominican Republic national basketball program. Raposo was on the basketball and volleyball teams at AUPR. “I played basketball with Yaxel in my belly,” she tells Hoops HQ. “When I was three months pregnant, I was quiet about it because I was scared. Somebody told me that if they (find out) I’m pregnant, they’re going to (send) me back to my country.” 

After Raposo graduated and learned of a job in Ohio, the family relocated to the Midwest. They moved again just before Yaxel’s ninth birthday due to Okary’s job, settling in Pennsauken, N.J., a township just outside Philadelphia.

Yaxel tried several sports throughout his childhood. He would play pick-up basketball outside with his friends, but he was never particularly drawn to it. When he was cut from the middle school team the first time he tried out, Lendeborg shrugged it off. Whatever. More time to play video games. He made the team a year later only to be parked on the bench.

At Pennsauken High School, Lendeborg was dropped from the freshman team for failing to meet academic requirements. His poor grades prevented him from playing as a sophomore and junior as well, but Lendeborg hardly cared. He was, at this stage, simply going through the motions. He went to school because his mom made him. In class, he often dozed off or played Fun Run on his phone. At home, he would play video games (mostly NBA 2K) until he went to sleep. “I didn’t have a care in the world,” he says. “I felt like everything was supposed to be handed to me.”

Teachers told Raposo that Yaxel was a good kid, just goofy. Admittedly, he didn’t think much about his future. He didn’t have specific aspirations beyond maybe becoming a streamer. “I’ll figure it out sooner or later,” he would say, when others asked what he planned to do with his life. But lacking direction or ambition, it was hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Ahead of Yaxel’s senior year, Raposo learned that her son wasn’t on track to graduate. She sat him down and implored him to start applying himself in the classroom. The emotional heart-to-heart was a wake-up call for Yaxel, who soon enrolled at Camden County College, a nearby school that offered the same curriculum but none of the distractions. It was a sacrifice for Raposo too — she had to drive him from Pennsauken to Camden every morning before work — but it paid off. Yaxel’s grades improved dramatically, enough for him to join the Pennsauken varsity basketball team for the final 11 games of his senior season. It was his first taste of organized hoops and he thrived, helping guide the team to a 10-1 record.

When the season ended, Lendeborg wasn’t particularly shaken, as many of his teammates were. Oh well, he thought. It was fun while it lasted. He assumed his basketball career was over. Upon graduating high school in 2020, he began working alongside his mom at a warehouse for VoiceComm, a company that makes cell phone accessories. “It kind of hurt being in that space with my mom, seeing how much she’s been doing for us, because she’s worked at this job for a very long time,” Lendeborg says. “Just seeing how much labor she’s been putting in and how she does it with a smile on her face made me want to do more, but it was already too late for me. So it was like, damn, I really messed my life up. And I’m not helping my mom out.”

Seven Burning Questions for Women's Hoops in 2026

With storylines emerging, we ask the tough questions of the nation’s top teams and players, including TCU, UCLA, Sarah Strong, Audi Crooks and many more

While Yaxel was oblivious to his basketball potential, Raposo could see it. “I always tried to motivate him and get him to do things because I saw a future for him,” Raposo says. Through family connections, she secured a spot for him at a showcase in New York and forced him to go. Okary drove him early in the morning after Yaxel stayed up all night playing video games. And somehow, Yaxel shined in the camp, opening doors that were previously closed. 

Arizona Western, a junior college in Yuma, learned of Lendeborg from Marc Hsu, who was then an assistant coach at DePaul. The pandemic had affected the recruiting process and the Matadors were still in need of a big man. There was extremely limited film of Lendeborg to analyze, but head coach Charles Harral trusted Hsu. The staff talked with Raposo. Raposo talked with Yaxel. And though Yaxel was not especially keen on going, he was on his way to Arizona. 

“Yaxel was probably the greatest player I’ve ever coached, and he was the easiest recruit of all time,” Arizona Western assistant coach Carter Roe says with a laugh. “The recruitment of Yaxel was unlike anything I think you’ll ever see for a talented guy.”

Lendeborg had never been on a plane by himself. He had never been away from his mom for an extended period. He had a girlfriend in New Jersey. He knew nothing about Yuma. He didn’t believe that he was good enough to play at the JUCO level. Once again, Raposo had to force him to seize the opportunity. Yaxel cried for much of the flight there.

Roe was at the airport to meet him when he landed. On the inside, Lendeborg was heartbroken and terrified. On the outside, he was — as always — gregarious and “extremely friendly,” Roe says. (Ironically, two of Lendeborg’s Michigan teammates, Nimari Burnett and Roddy Gayle Jr., suggested Yaxel could be a very successful streamer because of his outgoing personality.)

Lendeborg quickly bonded with other members of the Matadors, especially fellow freshmen Marquise Hargrove and Evan Butts. Arizona Western had a good team, but Lendeborg wasn’t convinced basketball would lead him anywhere beyond Yuma. “I don’t think Yaxel had any clue what his ceiling was,” says Roe.

He appeared in 14 games and made four starts during the Covid season (2020-21), averaging 6.1 points and 7.1 rebounds. In the offseason, he worked out with Roe, Hargrove and Butts. Lendeborg eventually got tired of doing big man drills, so Roe threw him in the mix with the guards and was blown away. “I was like, holy smokes… this guy handles the ball better than any of our guards,” recalls Roe. Lendeborg was moved to a point-forward role and excelled, blossoming into one of the best JUCO players in the nation. “His greatest strength is his IQ,” adds Roe. “You can play him wherever you want to play him. Give Yaxel a role, and he’ll make the best of that role.”

Following his sophomore season, Lendeborg starred at the JA48 camp, an elite showcase for JUCO All-Americans. Suddenly, he was on the radar of several top Division-I programs. His phone began blowing up with calls from prominent mid-major and high-major coaches, which was hard for Lendeborg to wrap his head around. When some of those coaches suggested that he could be an NBA player, Lendeborg couldn’t contain his laughter. No way, he remembers thinking. They just want me to commit. I’m not falling for that. 

As a junior, he took another major leap, averaging 17.2 points and a JUCO-best 13.0 rebounds. He eventually committed to UAB, in part because the AAC school also offered a scholarship to his friend Hargrove. Once there, Lendeborg’s relationship to basketball briefly took a dive, as he struggled mightily through the first month of the 2023-24 campaign. The same questions that flooded his mind when he first arrived at Arizona Western returned: Am I good enough? Have I pushed this too far? Has my luck run out?

With encouragement from past and present coaches, Lendeborg turned things around. Over the next two seasons, he averaged 15.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.2 steals, winning back-to-back AAC Defensive Player of the Year awards and establishing himself as a legitimate NBA prospect. This past offseason, he simultaneously entered the portal — Hoops HQ ranked him as the No. 1 transfer — and declared for the 2025 draft. There was buzz that he might land in the first round, but Lendeborg ultimately decided to stay in college and join the Wolverines, inking a seven-figure NIL deal. 

What drew Michigan to Lendeborg? “It was more of just who he is as a person and his upside as much as anything,” coach Dusty May tells Hoops HQ. “He’s a really gentle, kind soul. I’ve never seen anyone in my 25 years in college basketball give fans as much time as he does, signing autographs, taking pictures.” 

While he was the head coach at Florida Atlantic, May’s team played against Lendeborg. First and foremost, May was struck by Lendeborg’s ability to track down rebounds and loose balls. Typically, the Owls got every 50-50 ball. Not against Lendeborg. The under-the-radar UAB forward also put tremendous pressure on the rim and showed promising flashes of developing into a perimeter shooter. 

Since his rise with the Blazers, Lendeborg’s love of basketball has only grown, as has his commitment to the game. He hasn’t always possessed the best work habits, which was a concern among NBA teams when he first tested the draft waters. May challenged him early on to change his approach, and Lendeborg responded. “A full 180,” May says. “He still has a ways to go, but from where he was to where he is now… He has a consistent routine. In our film sessions, I don’t know if he’s gotten a question wrong this year. He has embraced the demands that have been put on his time.” 

“I feel like my love for basketball now is at an all-time high,” Lendeborg says. “It’s something that has been turning into a hunger, just wanting to be the best, wanting to go out there and play, and wanting to show who I am.”

Lendeborg has made the transition from mid-major to high major look seamless. He won MVP of the Players Era Festival in late November and has been steadily climbing draft boards, with many mocks now placing him in the lottery. “He’s helped himself a lot,” one anonymous NBA scout told Hoops HQ. “I think last year if he would have stayed in, he would have been a fringe first-round pick.” The uniqueness of Lendeborg’s journey could boost his stock even further. “I think it factors in a little bit in terms of, he still has some room left on his improvement arc,” the scout continued. “He’s not your typical 23-year-old who plays really high-level high school basketball and high-level college for four years and kind of is who he is. I still think there’s some (room for) improvement.”

May agrees, adding that Lendeborg “continues to improve in all facets” and “relies more on his skill and thinking” than his athleticism, which bodes well for a lengthy NBA career.

Not too long ago, Lendeborg didn’t have a true passion or purpose. It took time — and some nudging from Raposo, to whom Yaxel gifted a car this Christmas — but he has found both in basketball. “I am so proud of the man he has become,” Raposo says. “When I talk to Yaxel, I know that he’s growing. He started to believe in himself.” 
If he had the chance to counsel his younger self, Lendeborg knows exactly what he would tell that once-aimless kid who would play NBA 2K all day: “‘Listen to mom a bit earlier,’” he says. “‘And take yourself seriously, because you’re worth way more than you think.’”