For someone who played just 11 high school games to emerge as an 11th overall pick in the NBA, it’s one hell of a journey. Golden State Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg’s journey to the NBA was anything but straightforward. Before becoming a national champion at Michigan and a first-round pick, he had walked away from sports entirely, struggling to find direction after losing the person who introduced him to athletics.
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In a recent conversation, the 24-year-old opened up about how his grandfather’s death pushed him toward a warehouse job before his mother helped him find basketball again.
“For me, growing up, I was always, like, a baseball guy. My grandfather introduced me to that,” Lendeborg shared his journey, appearing on NBA Take Two Media, sitting down with former NBA player Drew Gooden and Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon.
Yaxel Lendeborg recalled how his life took a drastic turn after his grandfather passed.
“So when he passed away, I kind of, like, lost the interest because he was my father figure pretty much my whole life. Stopped playing sports. I was just going down a real bad path; I get in high school, I was just goofing off. I don’t really care about anything. I’m not playing no sports. I’m just had nothing. Went back to working at a warehouse job.”
It took another intervention from his mother, Yissel Raposo, to get him back on track. This time, it was basketball.
“I got forced again by my mom again to play at a camp in New York. Dominican camp. And I got recognized there, got an offer from a JUCO in Arizona Western, and that kind of started my basketball journey,” Lendeborg concluded.
That opportunity at Arizona Western College became the first step in a long climb.
Yaxel Lendeborg was not a highly recruited high school prospect waiting for his chance. He had barely played varsity basketball at Pennsauken High School, making his eventual rise to the NBA even more remarkable.
Lendeborg’s basketball career developed through the junior college system before he moved to UAB. He spent two seasons with the Blazers and became a two-time AAC Defensive Player of the Year, establishing himself as a versatile forward capable of impacting games on both ends.
His defensive instincts and rebounding eventually made him a sought-after transfer prospect.
He then joined Michigan under head coach Dusty May. Rather than entering the 2025 NBA Draft, Lendeborg chose to return to college and continue developing his game.
Yaxel Lendeborg: From a Warehouse Job to the NBA
Dusty May believed another season could help prepare him for the professional level, and the decision paid off. Lendeborg averaged 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds across his Division I career, earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors and helped Michigan win the 2026 national championship.
The Warriors selected him 11th overall in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Although he entered the league at 24, Yaxel Lendeborg has refused to treat his status as an older rookie as a disadvantage. More importantly, he has made it clear that he intends to enjoy the experience, and his performance so far speaks for itself.
He went on to produce historic numbers, becoming one of the few rookies since Victor Wembanyama to score 31 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists in a game.
There is another part of his story that makes the achievement particularly personal. His mother, Raposo, was a former international athlete for the Dominican Republic. She recognized the potential in her son when he had seemingly lost interest in everything.
And her decision to send him to that camp changed the direction of his life.
The warehouse job was not the end of his sporting ambitions. It became part of the road that eventually brought him to the NBA. For Lendeborg, now wearing a Warriors uniform, he has reached a destination that once seemed out of reach.