In a world increasingly centered on training athletes from the youngest of ages, one constantly inundated with stories of early risers and after-practice stayers, it seems strange for a projected first-round draft pick to not have always been committed to the grind.
But for graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg, that training-obsessed life just wasn’t him at first.
“All my friends when I moved to New Jersey played basketball,” Lendeborg told The Michigan Daily. “So it was just a given to continue to play when I got into the system. It was all just fun. At first, I didn’t take anything serious. I played the same way that I did outside (when I was) playing stupid with my friends.”
In spite of her son’s half-heartedness, Lendeborg’s mom, Yissel Raposo, remembers a different outlook:
“I always bought NBA clothes for Yaxel,” Raposo told The Daily. “And when he was little I asked Yaxel, ‘What are you gonna do when you grow up?’ and he always said, ‘NBA.’ ”
Even with Lendeborg’s hesitance to give basketball his all, his mom never doubted him. She saw his innate potential and understood that he had the ability to make his childhood dream come true. All he needed was a little push.
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Lendeborg isn’t the first in his family to play basketball — not by a long shot.
Growing up playing basketball and volleyball, Raposo took her own talents in both sports to the American University of Puerto Rico. She eventually continued playing both sports for her home country, the Dominican Republic.
Lendeborg’s father was also a prominent player in the Dominican scene throughout the ‘90s and the early 2000s. He played for both the national team as well as professionally within the Dominican Republic’s National Basketball League.
All of this culminated into Lendeborg being instilled with a love of sports from birth. Between watching his mom play courtside and growing up in a house that mandated sports as an extracurricular, Lendeborg was all but born with a ball in his hand.
Trying everything from hockey to gymnastics, Lendeborg thought that baseball would’ve been the sport that stuck. As he grew up, though, persuasion from his mom and his friends pushed basketball into a prominent position in his life.
But again, even with his mom trying to convince him to follow in her footsteps, Lendeborg didn’t commit. It wasn’t for a lack of love for the game — playing with friends remained a weekly pastime — but he never integrated it fully into his life as much as his mom wanted.
“When he was younger, she always tried talking to him, telling him, ‘You need to take basketball more seriously,’ ” Raposo’s daughter translated into English. “And he wouldn’t take it seriously and he would just play basketball with his friends, not to actually succeed.”
In middle school, Lendeborg finally gave it a shot, trying out all three years. However, he never made a team — attributing it to the fact that he just wasn’t good enough. At 15-years-old, Lendeborg had still never played a competitive minute of basketball.
Lendeborg got his shot once again in high school, officially making the team his freshman year. However, a lack of effort sidelined him again, but this time it wasn’t on the court.
Ruled academically ineligible halfway through his freshman year, Lendeborg didn’t even suit up for a game after joining the roster. Being described as a good kid by his mom, it was solely the indifference in the classroom that held him back. Without substantial improvement his sophomore and junior years, Lendeborg continued to stay off the court. But still holding the belief that basketball was the future for her son, Raposo stepped in.
“The last year when he was at school, I talked to the counselor, because I wanted Yaxel to study, finish school and play basketball,” Raposo said. “… So (Lendeborg’s school) told me about a program, the same program at the school, but in a different place. It was in Camden and we lived in Pennsauken. … And I said to Yaxel, ‘Hey, we need to do something different. We need to sacrifice.’ ”
And the sacrifice of switching programs his senior year truly paid off, just like Raposo thought it would. With A’s and B’s across the board, Lendeborg made it onto the court for the final 11 games of the season, finishing with a record of 10-1. Still, Raposo knew that Lendeborg had higher mountains to climb.
Despite getting onto the court for the final half of his senior year season, Lendeborg didn’t get the attention of any scouts. Even with the raw physicality of a professional player and with two parents who had walked the walk, Lendeborg’s basketball journey ended as quickly as it began.
Soon after graduation, Lendeborg picked up another job, working in a warehouse alongside his mom.
“At my job, they give opportunities to teenagers, and I said, ‘Hey, can he work with me?’ And they said, ‘Yes,’ ” Raposo said. “But you know Yaxel was 17 and I said to Yaxel, ‘This is not your life. You’re very tall. You have talent, so you need to play basketball.’ ”
So Raposo took matters into her own hands once again. With her years spent playing in the Dominican system, she had enough connections to get Lendeborg invited to a basketball camp in New York that focused on evaluating the next generation of Dominican talent.
While Lendborg might not have had the most impressive high school career, he showed out at the camp. Due to a somewhat quasi-rivalry with his cousin, Lendeborg was pushed to be his best, resulting in him becoming one of the camp’s top performers. This drew a couple of eyes, but only one coach kept his gaze on him — Kyle Isaacs, then-assistant coach for the junior college Arizona Western.
After a couple weeks of speaking with Raposo, the Matadors offered Lendenborg a scholarship and a spot on their basketball team. But they didn’t offer it directly to Lendeborg.
“Oh my god, I was scared, because I never let Yaxel go alone anywhere,” Raposo said. “And then my other friend said, ‘I have a school for Yaxel, a junior college.’ I’m scared, but I was into the college and I said, ‘OK, I want this for Yaxel.’ ”
However, Lendeborg wasn’t as keen on the idea. Still not sold on the basketball lifestyle, departing to Western Arizona wasn’t his preferred turn of events.
“At the end of (the camp), my mom got in contact with a junior college coach,” Lendeborg said. “There’s only one coach that interested me and they were talking for a couple weeks. Later on, with a week left, my mom says I have to go to Arizona, so I pretty much got forced on a plane.”
Even with all the hesitations in the world, less than a season of high school basketball under his belt and a trip that meant moving to the other side of the country, Lendeborg boarded that plane, trusting his mother.
It wasn’t easy. While missing home and still a work-in-progress on the court, Lendeborg’s freshman year with the Matadors wasn’t anything close to a seamless transition.
“My first year there was awful,” Lendeborg said. “I don’t think I averaged more than 4.3 rebounds. I sucked. Ultimately, the lifestyle was horrible as well. My first time away from my mom, so it was brutal. I couldn’t really manage it. There were many times I wanted to quit. I kept calling my mom (but) she kept saying no.”
As time wore on, things improved drastically. Supported by two of his new teammates — and soon friends — freshman guards Marquis Hargrove and Evan Butts, Lendeborg was forced out of his shell both socially and on the court. With more confidence as the season wore on, Lendeborg became more outspoken and started to commit to the game in ways his mother wished he’d always had. It wasn’t his choice to get on that first flight, but eventually it became his choice to stay, to improve and to trust the process.
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Derailed a bit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lendeborg still finished his junior year with a slate of stellar statistics and accolades to make him an attractive offer at the Division I level. Bolstered by conversations he had with his coaches and with the support of his teammates, Lendeborg decided to enter the transfer portal, ultimately committing to UAB alongside Hargrove.
In his two seasons with the Dragons, he doubled-down on his performance at Arizona Western. He notched All-American Conference First Team twice, American Conference Defensive Player of the Year twice all while averaging a double-double. Lendeborg wasn’t just in a position to transfer to a big-name school — he was in a position to get drafted.
And again after conversations with his coaches, he decided to participate in the NBA Combine and enter the transfer portal. Ultimately forgoing the league and opting to develop one last season before pushing all his chips in, Lendeborg selected the Wolverines as his final collegiate destination.
Now in his last season, Lendeborg is a step away from completing his mom’s final wishes.
“She is ecstatic, she definitely rubs it in my face about her pretty much, telling me I could be here, and here I am now,” Lendeborg said when asked how his mom feels about his current position. “… And she always had dreams for her son, I guess I exceeded that in her eyes. And it’s always something that makes me tear up a little bit, makes me emotional.”
The faith of Raposo to push him onwards again and again, the trust that Lendeborg would respond and live up to his potential, the sacrifice needed to commit to the grind and the love that upheld it, all stemmed from his mother’s actions. Behind Lendeborg’s rise to the top of collegiate basketball — and beyond — will always and forever be the undying work of his mother.
