Though the Michigan men’s basketball team is aiming high for the 2025-26 season regardless of Yaxel Lendeborg’s NBA Draft decision, there is no question that the UAB transfer is the kind of player who could push the Wolverines into the national championship conversation.
Lendeborg, the No. 1 player in 247Sports’ 2025 transfer portal rankings, averaged 17.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.8 blocks per game for UAB last season, and was the only Division-I player to match those statistical totals for the 2024-25 season. Earlier this week, the 6-foot-9 forward measured in with a 7-foot-4 wingspan, and was projected as a late first-round draft pick by ESPN (No. 29), The Ringer (No. 27), Yahoo Sports (No. 22) and Sports Illustrated (No. 27) while participating at the 2025 NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.
He also spoke to reporters in Chicago, offering his own firsthand take on one of the biggest stay-or-go decisions in this year’s draft class.
“I know I just said 60-40 with Michigan, man, but this whole process is really opening my eyes,” Lendeborg said, referencing a Monday interview with the Big Ten Network. “I feel like now I’m definitely equal. I’m super stuck, quicksand, whatever you want to call it. I’m stuck in between, for sure.”
Though a number of factors will weigh into Lendeborg’s decision, one factor he said is a major consideration is the possibility of a guaranteed contract. While all first-round draft picks get a multi-year guaranteed contract, so too did picks No. 31-35, No. 37, No. 39, No. 40, No. 45 and No. 46.
“I just want to be in a position where I’m safe, where I know I can get the opportunity to play, opportunity to prove myself,” Lendeborg said, adding that being a top-20 pick would be the “ultimate goal.” “Hopefully, a guaranteed contract would be cool.”
… A team saying that they’ll take me for sure, so I can know. We’ll have those conversations in the background and making sure we’re all set.”
According to Lendeborg, Michigan’s pitch to him was less about matching the salary through NIL compensation, and more about developing Lendeborg in a similar way to Danny Wolf, who transferred from Yale last offseason, then rocketed up NBA Draft boards with a similar statistical profile to Lendeborg. Wolf is now commonly viewed as a top-20 draft prospect.
“Yeah, they threw out their number and it wasn’t really much of a competition,” Lendeborg said. “(But) the competition was for them was more like just the trust in them. It wasn’t about the money, we made it a point that the money wasn’t gonna move me anyway. So just the coaches’ honesty and faith and belief in me was what was competing with the NBA.”
