Yaxel Lendeborg closed his first month as a professional basketball player the same way he closed his college career: holding a trophy. The Golden State Warriors rookie was named MVP of the NBA Summer League championship game after posting 21 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, and two steals in a 94-90 win over the Memphis Grizzlies at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
It was the Warriors’ second Summer League title. For Lendeborg, it was his second championship in three months — he helped Michigan win the NCAA Tournament in April, making him just the second player to capture a Division I national title and a Summer League crown in the same calendar year.
Deivon Smith added 21 points off the bench for Golden State in the final.
The box score tells one story. The sideline told another. With Stephen Curry and Draymond Green in attendance, Lendeborg was asked afterward whether he felt he’d made a good impression on the franchise’s two cornerstone veterans.
“Yeah, I hope so, man,” Lendeborg said. “I don’t know if Draymond… I hope Draymond likes it, man, ’cause we’ve been over here going back and forth.”
The “back and forth” detail is the kind of thing that doesn’t show up in a stat line but matters in a Warriors ecosystem where Green has historically served as both gatekeeper and accelerant for young players. Green’s sideline presence at Summer League — and apparent willingness to engage a rookie in real-time dialogue — tracks with how the organization has integrated first-year talent under Steve Kerr. Lendeborg didn’t just perform; he performed under the gaze of the two players whose approval most directly shapes his early NBA trajectory.
The numbers back up the MVP selection. A 21-and-10 double-double in a championship game, with two steals layered in, is a complete floor game — scoring efficiency, rebounding from the frontcourt, and defensive event creation. That’s the profile of a player who can stay on the floor in regular-season minutes, not just a Summer League specialist padding stats against fellow rookies.
Lendeborg’s rapid rise — from NCAA champion to first-round pick to Summer League MVP in a span of roughly 90 days — is the kind of trajectory that invites both optimism and caution. Summer League success is a leading indicator, not a guarantee. The competition level, the spacing, the defensive schemes — none of it replicates October basketball against established NBA rotations. But the Warriors have historically used Las Vegas as a genuine evaluation environment, and they walked away with both a trophy and confirmation that their newest frontcourt piece competes, produces, and welcomes the heat.
Whether Draymond “likes it” will reveal itself soon enough. The more useful signal is that Lendeborg was already talking to him — and still playing well enough to win.
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Sources:
- Rookie Wire (USA Today) — Yaxel Lendeborg leads Warriors to NBA Summer League title as MVP
- ESPN — Lendeborg outduels Boozer as Dubs claim summer league title
- Golden State of Mind — MVP Yaxel Lendeborg lifts Warriors to Summer League crown
- NBA.com — Yaxel Lendeborg earns Summer League MVP
- Streamable — Lendeborg postgame interview clip