The NCAA Tournament can do a whole lot for your NBA Draft stock, provided you are a player who can rise up and carpe diem. Michgan forward Yaxel Lendeborg, the reigning Big Ten Playery of the Year, projected as a potential mid first round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, entering March Madness. However, some pundits and prognosticators project him into the late lottery, and the deeper Michigan advances, the greater odds Lendeborg has of working his way into a bona fide, sure fire lottery pick.
Lendeborg teams up with Morez Johnson and Uday Mara to form the best frontcourt in college basketball. Michigan is now the overall favorite to win the national championship.
Whenever opponents D up on Lendeborg, face-guarding him and forcing him out into areas where the only shots possible are ones that he doesn’t want to take, the Dominican dynamo can kick it out to his teammates. Lendeborg knows what he needs to do in situations like these.
“I do need to figure out ways where I can be more of an aggressor,” he said after having a very off game, during the 71-67 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal victory over Ohio State.
“And try to make more plays for my team. I’m going to look back on it today, and figure what I can do, to fix that, in case that coverage gets started again.”
After a very subpar outing, Yaxel went out and had a monster game in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, nailing the game-winning 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining to give Michigan a 68-65 win over Wisconsin.
“Man, it feels amazing,” Lendeborg said afterward. “I’m super jittery right now. I was early when I was walking. It’s my first time hitting the shot, but I prayed for moments like this, and I’m glad I finally got a chance to capitalize.”
Having that cold-blooded, completely clutch moment that lifted his spirits immensely.
“Gives me a big, big, big boost, man,” the Arizona Western and UAB transfer said.
“I’ve been feeling really down. Like I said earlier, I’m my worst critic.
“You know, I’m super hard on myself. I always want perfection out of myself. And being how bad I’ve been these past three halves, it’s amazing to finally be able to deliver for my team.”
There are always stellar players and top NBA Draft prospects in the Big Ten, some of them are even one-and-done, like Max Christie, who played for Michigan’s arch-rival Michigan State, before getting drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, and then later finding his way in the league with the Dallas Mavericks.
Yaxel Lendeborg has used that morale boost from the Big Ten Tournament, and channeled that into March Madness.
We’re super excited, man, we our goal we got together was to cut down four nets,” he said.
“We got one one, and hopefully we continue to move forward. We also want to be the best Michigan team ever, and we’re getting closer and closer to that goal.”
Michigan will meet the winner of the Alabama-Texas Tech game, later on tonight. Should the Wolverines win that one, they’ll surpass the 2018 Final Four team for the most single season wins in program history.
There has been a commentator or pundit or two that have referred to Yaxel Lendeborg as “the Bad Bunny of college basketball.”
Maybe that’s due to his Caribbean roots, as he’s Dominican-American, and he was born in Puerto Rico. It’s a compliment for sure, but Lendeborg listens to an entirely different genre of music.
“I don’t get into the Spanish music,” he said.
“My parents do all the time. I try to just let them have that, I’m sticking to R&B, man.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.