From 12 hours of video video games a day to Big Ten Player of the Year: Yaxel Lendeborg’s unlikely rise

Now, the Michigan Wolverines Forward is the Big Ten Player of the Year—known as “The Dominican LeBron”—and is about to tackle the Alabama Crimson Tide within the Sweet 16 on Friday.

His journey from the sofa to the court docket is the type of story coaches inform recruits for example the success that may come from a single resolution. Ahead of his senior 12 months of highschool, Lendeborg’s mom, Yissel Raposo, realized her son wasn’t on monitor to graduate, so she had a heart-to-heart dialog with him that served as a “wake-up call,” she informed Hoops HQ in a December 2025 profile of the participant. 

It was a call that largely paid off: Lendeborg’s grades dramatically improved when he enrolled in Camden County College, a lot in order that he was capable of be a part of the varsity basketball crew for the ultimate 11 video games of his senior season. These have been the one 11 highschool basketball video games Lendeborg ever performed.

Right after highschool, Lendeborg began working along with his mom at a cell-phone accent warehouse, however felt responsible about not doing extra. 

“It kind of hurt being in that space with my mom, seeing how much she’s been doing for us,” the 6-foot, 9-inch, 240-pound participant informed Hoops HQ. “So it was like, damn, I really messed my life up. And I’m not helping my mom out.”

That’s when every part modified. 

Yaxel Lendeborg’s profession timeline

Through the grapevine, coaches at Arizona Western College realized of Lendeborg. Although he wasn’t thrilled to be going, in keeping with Hoops HQ, Lendeborg shipped himself off to Arizona, the place he performed 78 video games in three seasons from 2020 to 2023. There, he was a two-time NJCAA All-American and received the ACCAC Player of the Year award twice. 

In April 2023, Lendeborg transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the place he helped the college earn the 2024 American Conference Tournament Title. He additionally earned AAC Tournament MVP honors, was named AAC Defensive Player of the Year twice, and helped the college attain the NCAA Tournament, amongst a number of different accolades.

Then in April 2025, Lendeborg dedicated to the University of Michigan, becoming a member of what would grow to be the highest crew within the nation underneath head coach Dusty May. His debut was considerably injury-limited, however he rapidly turned Michigan’s star participant. He averages 14.7 factors, 6.9 rebounds, and three.2 assists per recreation, in keeping with ESPN, and led Michigan to a 19-1 Big 10 file (and 33-3 overall), this system’s first regular-season title since 2020-2021. 

This March, he was named Big Ten Player of the Year and helped Michigan earn the No. 1 seed within the Midwest Regional for this 12 months’s March Madness match. Now, he’s projected as a first-round NBA draft choose.

A late bloomer who caught fireplace

Lendeborg’s success story defies the everyday blue-chip narrative in basketball recruiting. Typically, recruiters are after a 4- or 5-star participant who has been closely scouted since center or early highschool, seems on nationwide rankings lists, and will get dozens of scholarship gives from high packages earlier than their senior 12 months. 

Instead, Lendeborg, now 23, developed a lot later than his friends. This meant he needed to outwork gamers with years of structured coaching—and now he’s competing in what’s extensively thought of probably the most bodily demanding convention in school basketball. But Michigan basketball coach Dusty May says Lendeborg deserves each ounce of recognition he’s getting.

“I think it’s pretty obvious why he’s player of the year,” May told CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson in early March. “He does everything on the basketball court, and he’s incredibly unselfish while doing it. And he’s just scratching the surface of how good he can be.”

The enterprise of breaking by means of

Lendeborg’s unlikely rise can function a compelling lesson for the enterprise world, too. Talent with out focus is simply potential. For years, Lendeborg had the innate expertise to carry out at a excessive degree, however lacked the motivation.

A 2007 examine by American educational and psychologist Angela L. Duckworth reveals that grit could be simply as necessary in figuring out success as expertise. 

“The achievement of difficult goals entails not only talent, but also the sustained and focused application of talent over time,” she and her co-authors wrote within the study.

So, it wasn’t till Lendeborg dedicated to “sustained and focused” coaching that he met his huge break, and it’s all paying off. 

Not solely has Lendeborg earned quite a few accolades lately, however his laborious work can be paying off. His title, picture, and likeness (NIL) valuation is estimated at $2 million, in keeping with On3, rating him among the many high 25 in school sports activities general and No. 7 in basketball. 

But Lendeborg additionally stated in a March interview with the Associated Press he had turned down an NIL deal from Kentucky price $7 million to $9 million {dollars} to stick with May and the Wolverines. That’s as a result of he was prioritizing his long-term objectives over cash.

“I was raised without it, and I went my whole life without it,” Lendeborg informed the AP. “Anything was going to make me super, super happy at the time.”

“I was thinking long term. What if I mess up my career because I chased the money instead of a future? Another big reason why I went with Dusty was he didn’t talk about money at all,” he continued. “It was all about making me better and helping me achieve my goals.”