Yaxel Lendeborg has been a Golden State Warrior for less than a month, and he’s already added some hardware to his trophy case.
The rookie forward was named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA’s Las Vegas summer league on Tuesday, two days after the Warriors won the title in the desert.
Lendeborg, the No. 11 overall pick in last month’s draft out of Michigan, averaged 14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists over the Warriors’ six games at the NBA’s prospect showcase. He capped his summer experience with 21 points and 10 rebounds in the championship game as the Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies 94-90, being named the MVP of that game as well.
He played the whole fourth quarter and took over the game late, scoring seven of the Warriors’ last 10 points to turn a deficit into a win.
As a five-year college player at age 23, Lendeborg certainly had a leg up over some of the less polished — and less physically developed — players in Las Vegas. But the fact that he leveraged that advantage must be encouraging to the Warriors, who need him to contribute immediately to their veteran-heavy team.
Lendeborg has also made some waves off the court. He has gone back and forth with Warriors veteran and former four-year Michigan State standout Draymond Green in the media over their alma maters, and — like Green and star teammate Steph Curry — made a public pitch to LeBron James to join Golden State in free agency.