LAS VEGAS — Yaxel Lendeborg added another championship moment to a rapidly growing résumé Sunday, powering the Golden State Warriors to a 94-90 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA Summer League title game at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.
Just months after helping the University of Michigan capture the NCAA championship, Lendeborg delivered again on a big stage, posting 21 points and 10 rebounds in a compelling matchup against Cameron Boozer between two projected 2026 lottery talents. With the win, Lendeborg became only the second player to claim both a Division I national title and the Las Vegas Summer League championship in the same year, joining Davion Mitchell.
“Coming into this program, I just wanted to prove that I’m a winner,” said Lendeborg, the 11th pick in last month’s draft. “Doing stuff like this — not caring about the stats and just caring about the outcome. I’m going to continue to push that into next season with the bigger Warriors. … At Michigan, we played team ball. Here, we play team ball. That’s what wins games and championships.”
Golden State finished its Las Vegas run at 5-1 and secured the franchise’s second NBA Summer League championship. The Warriors now stand alongside the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers as the only teams to win the event more than once since it began in 2013. Their latest title came after a tense, momentum-swinging final that was deadlocked at halftime.
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Boozer, the No. 3 overall pick from Duke, paced Memphis with 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists. His 3-pointer to close the third quarter pushed the Grizzlies to their first double-digit advantage of the night, but Lendeborg took control when it mattered most, scoring three quick baskets to ignite Golden State’s fourth-quarter rally.
The Warriors also received a major boost from guard Deivon Smith, who poured in 21 points off the bench. He joined Lendeborg and guard LJ Cryer as part of a balanced Golden State attack that saw five players reach double figures.
Memphis still had opportunities to steal the game in the closing seconds, but Boozer’s potential go-ahead 3-pointer missed the mark, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper later lost a critical inbounds pass as the Grizzlies’ comeback hopes slipped away.
“Their butts got tight,” Lendeborg said. “They puckered up. Some of us are built for the moment and some aren’t. … Our spirit, our will, our desire to not lose is pretty much what helped us out.”
Despite the title game loss, Boozer led the Grizzlies to a 4-2 record during an impressive summer league run. The 19-year-old forward is in position to be the face of a Grizzlies’ youth movement after the franchise traded All-Stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. in separate deals.
“I’ve got to find a way to assert myself more,” Boozer said. “At the end, I got two great looks, but they didn’t fall. … We lost, but this is why I love the game. It was high-intensity and back-and-forth.”
Golden State’s victory provided a dose of revenge for Lendeborg, whose Wolverines lost a high-profile matchup against Boozer’s Blue Devils in February.
“I think about [revenge] every time I play [Boozer],” Lendeborg said. “Every game we play, them refs be saving him. … It is a competitive nature [with] everybody that gets drafted ahead of me.”
While the Warriors utilized the 6-foot-9 Lendeborg as a do-everything forward and go-to scorer in summer league, he is expected to serve as a complementary player for veteran stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler III.
Warriors summer league coach Khalid Robinson said Lendeborg’s versatility and motor make him ideally suited to that role.
“[He fits because of] his skill set, his physical profile, his size for his position and his competitive spirit,” Robinson said. “You saw it tonight: We were in a hole, and that competitive spirit kicked in. Yaxel said, ‘Let’s get to it.'”
