LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Former Arizona Western men's basketball star Yaxel Lendeborg was named MVP of the NBA's Summer League. Lendeborg becomes the second player in NBA history to win a Division I NCAA championship and a Vegas summer league title in the same year, joining Davion Mitchell of the Miami Heat. 

The Warriors defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 94-90 to captured their second summer league championship, joining the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers as the only teams to win the event multiple times since its inception in 2013. Lendeborg finished the championship game with 21 points and 10 rebounds. In six summer league games, Lendeborg averaged 14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 35.7% from three-point range.

Lendeborg's former junior college head coach Kyle Isaacs made the trip to Las Vegas to watch Lendeborg during the early position of the summer league.

"We saw the opening game versus Dallas," Isaacs said. "That was pretty unique because his ex-head coach from the University of Michigan is now the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas also chose one of Yaxel's Michigan teammates just before Yaxel was selected in the draft by the Warriors spot, it was a good game. Both played really good. Yaxel played exceptionally well, it was a really, really fun time."

Isaacs says it's still a bit hard to fathom how far Lendeborg has come in his basketball growth. When he arrived in Yuma, he had little team basketball experience. Now, his name is everywhere.  

"It's been a great run for him," Isaacs said. "You see all the things on social media, Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Conference Champions, National Champions at University of Michigan, and then now NBA Summer League champions, and NBA Summer League MVP. It's looking really bright for him heading into the fall. He could end up playing with LeBron James depending on where he decides to play, Golden State is in the mix right now. Even if that doesn't happen, he's still going to take the court with Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler once he gets healthy, they got Kristaps Porziņģis and Draymond Green. It's quite a spot to land. It's a pretty crazy little deal."

Isaacs adds that watching Lendeborg play brought back a little nostalgia from the days when he played at Arizona Western College. 

"It was a cool experience," Isaacs said. "Nice to see his journey from starting here. Nobody had ever heard of him and now he's the MVP of the NBA Summer League. He had a really good dunk at some point during the game and the caption that the NBA official social media account put out, Yax with the axe. So that was pretty cool."

Lendeborg will now prepare for his first NBA season with the preseason set to begin in early October. Golden State's first preseason game is scheduled for October 6th, 2026 versus the Los Angeles Lakers.