| No. 23–Michigan Wolverines | |
|---|---|
| Position | Small forward / power forward |
| League | Big Ten Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Born | September 30, 2002 Puerto Rico |
| Nationality | American / Dominican |
| Listed height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) |
| Listed weight | 240 lb (109 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Pennsauken (Pennsauken Township, New Jersey) |
| College |
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| Career highlights | |
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Yaxel Okari Lendeborg (born September 30, 2002) is an American-Dominican college basketball player for the Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten Conference. He previously played for the Arizona Western Matadors and the UAB Blazers
Lendeborg was born on September 30, 2002. [1] He was born in Puerto Rico and his family moved to Ohio when he was age two. [2] He is of Dominican descent, with both his parents having been top basketball players in the country. [3] He later moved with his family to Pennsauken Township, New Jersey, when he was age eight. [4] He attended Pennsauken High School and tried out for the basketball team; he made the squad as a freshman, but was cut from the team mid-season due to poor academic performance. [4]
Lendeborg later missed the next two seasons due to poor grades as well. [4] As a senior, he entered a dual-enrollment program with Camden County College and his grades improved enough that he was able to join the Pennsauken varsity basketball team with 11 games left in the season. [4] In 11 games played, he helped Pennsauken compile a record of 10–1. [5] He signed to play college basketball for the Arizona Western Matadors. [5]
As a freshman at Arizona Western in 2020–21, Lendeborg played in 14 games and averaged 6.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. [5] The following season, he appeared in 31 games and averaged 12.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, leading his conference in rebounds and was named a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-American and the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) Player of the Year. [6] In the 2022–23 season with the Matadors, he was named a second-team All-American, the ACCAC Player of the Year for a consecutive season and first-team all-region after averaging 17.2 points and an NJCAA-leading 13.0 rebounds per game. [7] He finished his tenure at Arizona Western as the NJCAA's all-time leading rebounder with 429 total. [2]
On April 29, 2023, Lendeborg transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to play for the Blazers following his career at Arizona Western. [8] [9] On November 25, 2023, in the sixth game of the season he recorded his first career NCAA double-double against Furman; scoring 19 points, ten rebounds and adding five blocked shots. [10] On January 2, 2024, Lendeborg had 23 points, 15 rebounds and a career-high seven blocked shots against UTSA. [10] On February 8, he scored 17 points and had a career-high 21 rebounds against Florida Atlantic and his future head coach Dusty May. [10] In total during the 2023–24 season, he played in 35 games and averaged 13.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.1 blocks per game, earning the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Defensive Player of the Year, the 2024 AAC tournament MVP and first-team All-AAC honors. [11]
Lendeborg returned to UAB for a second season in 2024-25. [12] On March 14, 2025, he scored 30 points, 20 rebounds, eight assists, five steals and four blocked shots against East Carolina in the 2025 AAC tournament. The points, assists and steals were each career-highs. [10] In 2024-25, Lendeborg repeated as an All-AAC first-team selection, and the AAC Defensive Player of the Year. He became the fifth player in UAB Blazers history to score 1,000 points in a span of two seasons. [13] Lendeborg started all 37 games for the Blazers, averaging 17.7 points, 11.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.7 steals per game. [14] He became one of only two players in NCAA division one history to record over 600 points, 400 rebounds and 150 assists in a single season, joining legend Larry Bird. [15] In addition, Lendeborg led the NCAA with 26 double-doubles and recorded a program single-season record of 420 total rebounds. [16] [17] Lendeborg also holds the program record with 45 career double-doubles, was the 25th member of the 1,000-point club (1,136), fifth in rebounds (790) and fourth in blocked shots (138). [18] Following the season, he entered the NCAA transfer portal and was the No. 1 ranked player. [19]
On April 5, 2025, Lendeborg transferred to the University of Michigan to play for Dusty May and the Wolverines. He also entered the 2025 NBA draft process in addition to transferring. [15] On May 27, he withdrew from the NBA draft and chose to play his final season of college basketball in Ann Arbor. [20]
In August 2022, Lendeborg represented the Dominican Republic national select team in an exhibition against the Kentucky Wildcats in the Bahamas. [21]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | Arizona Western | 14 | 4 | 19.2 | .714 | .000 | .552 | 7.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 6.1 |
| 2021–22 | Arizona Western | 31 | 30 | 30.4 | .607 | .357 | .722 | 11.0 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 12.0 |
| 2022–23 | Arizona Western | 33 | 26 | 30.0 | .727 | .438 | .647 | 13.0 | 2.6 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 17.2 |
| Career | 78 | 60 | 28.2 | .679 | .387 | .667 | 11.2 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 13.2 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023–24 | UAB | 35 | 31 | 30.1 | .513 | .333 | .800 | 10.6 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 13.8 |
| 2024–25 | UAB | 37 | 37 | 33.6 | .522 | .357 | .757 | 11.4 | 4.2 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 17.7 |
| Career | 72 | 68 | 31.9 | .518 | .349 | .778 | 11.0 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 15.8 | |