Yaxel Lendeborg – 2026 NBA Draft Guide
His parents are Yissel and Okary. Okary was a professional basketball player in the Dominican Republic. Yissel played college basketball and volleyball in Puerto Rico.
That Lendeborg is even within sight of the NBA is wild. He was born in Puerto Rico but moved to Ohio when he was 2 years old. The family moved to New Jersey when he was 8. Yaxel played baseball growing up but moved to basketball before his freshman season. He got cut from his team that year because of poor grades, however, and couldn’t play his sophomore or junior seasons because of academics. He participated in a dual-enrollment program at Camden County College to improve his grades and played only the final 11 games of his senior season. He was recruited to play at Arizona Western junior college, where he was not wildly productive in his first season.
But the next season, he became a third-team NJCAA All-American and won his conference’s player of the year award. He then transferred to UAB, where his story as a potential NBA player began. He won the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year award on his way to first-team All-AAC honors. He was named most outstanding player at the AAC tournament while leading UAB to the NCAA Tournament. The Blazers lost in the first round to San Diego State as a No. 12 seed.
Lendeborg came back for his senior year and again won first-team All-AAC honors along with the Defensive Player of the Year award. He then entered the transfer portal for his final season of collegiate eligibility while also entering the 2025 NBA Draft and committed to Michigan to play for Dusty May, who coached against him while Lendeborg was at UAB and May was at Florida Atlantic.
Lendeborg would have likely gone in the range of pick No. 20 to 35 in the 2025 draft but instead led Michigan to the 2026 national title. He won the Big Ten Player of the Year award, made the Big Ten All-Defensive team and was a consensus first-team All-American while carrying one of the most dominant teams in recent college basketball history. Lendeborg will turn 24 before the start of the NBA season and is automatically eligible for the 2026 NBA Draft.
