Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg opens up about his basketball journey in Made for March docuseries on Paramount+

Lendeborg opened up on his basketball journey in the Made for March docuseries on Paramount+

By Cameron Salerno Apr 3, 2026 at 7:04 pm ET • 3 min read

Paramount +

Michigan star forward Yaxel Lendeborg has had quite the basketball journey. From playing only 11 games during his senior season at Pennsauken High School in New Jersey to becoming a first-team All-American by CBS Sports this season -- with stops at Arizona Western (junior college) and UAB in between -- his path to becoming one of the faces of the sport has been unique.

Lendeborg, a projected first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, transferred to Michigan from UAB for his final season of eligibility this past offseason. Lendeborg went through the pre-draft process last summer but elected to return to college and play for Michigan coach Dusty May.

Now, less than a calendar year after that decision, No. 1 seed Michigan is set to face No. 1 seed Arizona on Saturday in Indianapolis with a trip to the national championship on the line.

Before Michigan's dream season began, Lendeborg opened up about his basketball journey in the Made for March docuseries, which will stream over four weeks first on Paramount+ and then air on CBS. The four-episode series will feature Michigan and Kansas, with the first episode airing on Saturday.

"In high school, I was never fast, never athletic and I couldn't shoot," Lendeborg said. "It was a struggle for me, especially for my mental health because I've never been the most confident kid. After graduating, I wasn't trying to play any sports or nothing. I was working a job at a warehouse."

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After spending three seasons at Arizona Western, Lendeborg transferred to UAB, where he became a double-double machine. In his final season at UAB before transferring to Michigan, he averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.

It was also at this time that May saw Lendeborg play while he was the coach at Florida Atlantic. In a regular-season game on February 8, 2024 -- weeks before May took the job at Michigan -- Lendeborg finished with 17 points and 21 rebounds in an overtime win over May's FAU squad.

Due to Michigan's talent on the roster, Lendeborg's overall stats have decreased from last season, but his production and value have skyrocketed. Lendeborg was a projected late first-round pick or early second-round pick last year. Now he's the No. 15-ranked player in CBS Sports' NBA Draft Prospect Rankings, with a chance to climb even higher due to his play in March.

"It was super huge news," Lendeborg recalled after he declared for the draft last year. "It was crazy how much attention it got. It was like, is this what life is really going to turn into now? At the highest level now, this is crazy. That's when all the doubt started creeping in, like man, did I make the right decision? ... I wanted to obviously make it to the NBA, but I didn't feel like I was ready. There was a lot that I had to work on."

Above all else, Lendeborg might not even have become a Division I player if it weren't for his mom, Yissel Raposo, who pushed him to attend a workout coming out of high school during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"His mom signed him up for an open showcase during COVID," May said. "A coach in Arizona saw limited clips and they needed a backup big guy."

It's a good thing his junior college needed a backup because if they didn't, Michigan might not be two wins away from winning its first national title since 1989.