Warriors Select Yaxel Lendeborg With Pick 11 in NBA Draft
There wasn’t a lot of certainty about what would be done with the 11th pick in the NBA Draft this year.
A number of pundits had the idea that, despite the Warriors brass saying they believed a lot of strong players would be available at their pick, it could be used as a trade chip to get a ready-made contributor from another team looking to leap into the lottery - and they weren’t necessarily wrong that it’d have been a good move. The draft day suitor looked like the New Orleans Pelicans, who could send over rising star Trey Murphy III to give Golden State a guy that not only would help to win now, but could take over the keys in the interim after the Steph Curry era’s end.
Instead of trading for Murphy, however, the pick was used to find a player that was widely considered the most ready-made, day-one contributor available at that spot: The reigning NCAA champion Michigan Wolverines forward, Yaxel Lendeborg.
Standing at a hair below 6’10 in shoes with a 7’3 wingspan and weighing in at 241 pounds, Lendeborg is the kind of force-driven athlete the Warriors have lacked for a long time. A look at his college tape will have you ask how he’s able to move the way he does at his size, combining the strength and finesse you see from top-level NBA forwards to make plays on both ends of the floor in electric fashion. There’s a strong sense of feel to his game, as he sports a handle and passing acumen that doesn’t come easily for someone who spent most of his college career in the paint as a more traditional big man, as well as a steadily-improving shot that has the mechanics and proof of concept (79% from the free throw line through his D1 college career) to it that open the doors for a great upward trend.
Born to Dominican parents in Puerto Rico before moving between Ohio and New Jersey growign up, Lendeborg had a bit of an unorthodox path through college basketball, with stops at JuCo program Arizona Western (where he became the NJCAA all-time leading rebounder after three seasons, including a covid-shortened freshman year) and UAB (where he was both a two-time AAC First Team member and two-time AAC Defensive Player of the Year in his two seasons there) before making his way to Michigan. Lendeborg went from a superstar in the AAC to, well, a superstar in the Big Ten, amassing another litany of awards such as First Team All-Big Ten, membership to the Big Ten All-Defensive team, and of course the Big Ten Player of the Year. He was a major contributor the Wolverines’ run for an NCAA championship before entering the draft this season.
Despite the accomplishments that he’s had to his name by way of his own talent, Yaxel attributes a great deal of that success to the endless support from his mother Yissel Raposo. In his Players’ Tribune article from February, Lendeborg got real about the trajectory of his future and how it changed based on what she did for him, from having him take extra courses to retain basketball eligibility late in high school to talking up her son to any junior college coaches that would listen as she took him to showcase his skills at camps, supporting him all the way to a national championship and a lottery selection in the NBA draft. A powerful read, the article outlines just what Yaxel Lendeborg is about in his own words, and how all the effort his mother’s given him is the driving factor of what he plays for and why he wants to be great.
From a fit standpoint, he projects to be an early contributor the a Warriors team currently searching for answers. Lendeborg should see plenty of minutes to prove himself both as Jimmy Butler III and Moses Moody are working back from injury, and after they return given his positional versatility. He fits like a glove for a roster that sorely needs play-connecting on the wings, as well as size and defensive playmaking which he can provide in droves based on last season’s numbers (1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks while only committing 1.7 fouls per game) on top of a healthy amount of floor-spacing capability (37% on 4.5 3PA). In short, Lendeborg has the tools to pick up a lot of what Jonathan Kuminga had done for the Dubs without necessitating as high a usage rate.
Yaxel doesn’t just fit the mold of an elite role player, however: He has the capabilities of a true star. One game in particular stands out from the 2025 AAC Tournament, where he put up an absolute absurd statline with 30 points, 20 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 blocks, and 4 steals, all while playing a full 40 minutes and not turning the ball over a single time. In the past 20 years, he’s the only player to record those numbers over the course of his entire career… same game or not. And he did it all in one night. It can be difficult to evaluate a mid-major stat like that, but after proving it wasn’t a fluke by his last season at Michigan, there should be plenty of belief he’s more than capable of those kinds of superstar performances.
In an offseason where not much has happened and the Golden State Warriors have a lot of questions to answer, Yaxel Lendeborg has the potential to provide answers to a lot of them. There will be work to be done to fill out the rest of the roster, but with a player like him able to contribute at the start of the season while also boasting such a high ceiling with room for improvement, the Dubs are off to a pretty good start as they look to get Curry and company another ring before the run’s over.
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