{"id":706339,"date":"2026-04-09T04:03:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/706339\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T04:03:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:03:20","slug":"michigan-star-yaxel-lendeborg-declares-for-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/706339\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg declares for 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan Wolverines star and Big Ten Player of the Year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/yaxel-lendeborg-1.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=ballexclusives.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-04-08_cbb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener sponsored\" target=\"_blank\">Yaxel Lendeborg<\/a> has declared for the 2026 NBA Draft, he announced on a TikTok livestream on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>While he was already projected to be drafted when the season started, he\u2019s risen to the first round thanks to an impressive season that was capped off by a national championship victory.<\/p>\n<p>At 6\u20199\u2033 and 240 pounds, Lendeborg is a physically imposing forward with a well-rounded offensive game and versatile defense. He averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game this season while shooting 51.5% from the field and 37.2% from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n<p>On the offensive end, he combines elite size and strength with good hands, crafty finishing and a smooth jumpshot.<\/p>\n<p>He also put up 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks per night, establishing himself as a legitimate threat on the defensive end. His ability to stretch the floor makes him one of the most NBA-ready prospects in this class.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s known for his motor and impact on both ends, traits that should translate well into the pros.<\/p>\n<p>Concerns remain about the consistency of his outside shooting off the dribble, but he displayed great development in that area during the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of where he\u2019ll be selected, the Memphis Grizzlies will have multiple picks in the late lottery and could certainly use Lendeborg\u2019s three-level scoring ability. He\u2019ll likely be drafted somewhere between the 7th and 15th pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michigan Wolverines star and Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg has declared for the 2026 NBA&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-706339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116372767211730733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}