Yaxel Lendeborg

Last updated
Yaxel Lendeborg
No. 23–Michigan Wolverines
Position Small forward / power forward
League Big Ten Conference
Personal information
Born (2002-09-30) September 30, 2002 (age 23)
Puerto Rico
NationalityAmerican / Dominican
Listed height6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
High school Pennsauken
(Pennsauken Township, New Jersey)
College
Career highlights
  • 2× First-team All-AAC (2024, 2025)
  • 2× AAC Defensive Player of the Year (2024, 2025)
  • AAC tournament MVP (2024)

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.

Contents

Early life

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]

College career

Arizona Western

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]

UAB

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]

Michigan

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] Lendeborg was named a preseason first-team All-American by the Associated Press, Blue Ribbon Yearbook, ESPN, and SB Nation; as well as a second-team selection by CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated , Sporting News and USA Today . [21] [22] [23] He was Joe Lunardi and SB Nation’s preseason National Player of the Year. [24] [23] He was also named to the preseason Naismith College Player of the Year, NABC Player of the Year, and Karl Malone Award watchlists. [21]

On November 3 against Oakland, Lendeborg was limited in his debut with a right hand injury. He came off the bench and recorded twelve points (100% shooting: 4 FG, 2 FT), four rebounds, and three assists. [25]

Dominican Republic national team career

In August 2022, Lendeborg represented the Dominican Republic national select team in an exhibition against the Kentucky Wildcats in the Bahamas. [26]

Career statistics

Legend
  GPGames 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

College

NJCAA

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
2020–21Arizona Western14419.2.714.000.5527.10.60.50.66.1
2021–22Arizona Western313030.4.607.357.72211.02.61.21.512.0
2022–23Arizona Western332630.0.727.438.64713.02.61.51.417.2
Career 786028.2.679.387.66711.22.21.21.313.2

NCAA

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
2023–24 UAB 353130.1.513.333.80010.62.10.72.113.8
2024–25 UAB 373733.6.522.357.75711.44.21.71.817.7
Career 726831.9.518.349.77811.03.21.21.915.8

References

  1. ↑ "Yaxel Lendeborg". RealGM.
  2. 1 2 Lopez, Luis (May 17, 2023). "From the House to D1, the story of Arizona Western's Yaxel Lendeborg". KYMA-DT.
  3. ↑ Sulbaran, Maykell (August 10, 2022). "Yaxel Lendeborg: La nueva promesa del baloncesto dominicano" [Yaxel Lendeborg: The new promise of Dominican basketball]. record.acento.com.do (in Spanish).
  4. 1 2 3 4 Munz, Jason (August 4, 2022). "Meet Yaxel Lendeborg, the Memphis basketball recruit who played just 11 varsity games". The Commercial Appeal . Archived from the original on 2025-02-01 – via archive.ph.
  5. 1 2 3 "Yaxel Lendeborg". Arizona Western Matadors.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Cole; Gross, Scott (November 16, 2022). "Lendeborg to hit the bright lights of New York, signs with St. John's". KYMA-DT.
  7. ↑ "Two-Time JUCO All-American Yaxel Lendeborg Signs with UAB MBB". UAB Blazers. May 1, 2023.
  8. ↑ Dudley, Evan (January 19, 2024). "'Right shots, right time': Yaxel Lendeborg's expanded abilities yielding high return for UAB basketball". AL.com .
  9. ↑ London, DuShawn (April 29, 2023). "Former St. John's commit Yaxel Lendeborg signs with UAB". 247Sports.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Yaxel Lendeborg Career Game Log". Sports Reference . Retrieved May 31, 2025.
  11. ↑ "Yaxel Lendeborg". UAB Blazers.
  12. ↑ Dudley, Evan (March 27, 2024). "UAB basketball's Yaxel Lendeborg annouces [sic] return to Blazers for 2024-2025 season". AL.com .
  13. ↑ "American Athletic Conference Announces 2024-25 Men's Basketball Awards". 2 April 2025.
  14. ↑ "2024-25 UAB Men's Basketball Overall Statistics" (PDF). March 26, 2025.
  15. 1 2 Givony, Jonathan (April 5, 2025). "UAB star big man Yaxel Lendeborg commits to Michigan". ESPN.com . Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Men's Basketball NCAA Division I Double Doubles (2024-25)". NCAA . April 1, 2025. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  17. ↑ "UAB Falls in OT at UC Irvine". UAB Athletics. March 26, 2025.
  18. ↑ "Yaxel Lendeborg - Men's Basketball". UAB Athletics. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
  19. ↑ Trotter, Isaac (April 2, 2025). "Ranking the top 50 players in the college basketball transfer portal". 247Sports . Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  20. ↑ Hawkins, James (May 27, 2025). "UAB transfer Yaxel Lendeborg to withdraw from NBA Draft, play for Michigan next season". The Detroit News . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  21. 1 2 Wywrot, Tom (November 10, 2025). "Awards and Honors: Lendeborg Named to Sporting News Preseason All-America Second Team". University of Michigan Athletics. Retrieved November 11, 2025.
  22. ↑ Sweeney, Kevin (October 29, 2025). "Sports Illustrated's 2025–26 College Basketball Preseason All-Americans". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  23. 1 2 Rutherford, Mike (October 28, 2025). "Meet our college basketball preseason All-America teams for men's 2025-26 season". SB Nation . Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  24. ↑ Singer, Jacob (October 30, 2025). "Joe Lunardi predicts Michigan Basketball to win National Championship". SB Nation . Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  25. ↑ Kahn, Andrew (November 4, 2025). "Michigan basketball injuries: 2 miss opener, Yaxel Lendeborg limited". MLive.com . Retrieved November 11, 2025.
  26. ↑ Thompson, Tyler (August 10, 2022). "Need to Know: Dominican Republic National Select Team". On3.com . Retrieved April 5, 2025.
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