Yesterday, the Michigan Wolverines received some fantastic news — Yaxel Lendeborg was opting out of the 2025 NBA Draft and staying in college for one more year. The news got plenty of people excited for the upcoming season, as Dusty May and company officially secured the No. 1 overall player in the transfer portal this offseason.
Lendeborg — who was projected as a late first-round pick in the draft before withdrawing his name — is an incredibly versatile player who can win with moves in the post and with his outside shot (he made 35.7 percent of his threes last season at UAB). An all-around talent, Lendeborg raises the ceiling of the Wolverines in 2025-26, as evidenced by the betting odds that went way up for Michigan to win the NCAA Tournament.
But Lendeborg also possesses something else incredibly unique — he shares an insanely awesome stat with Hall of Famer Larry Bird. They are the only two players in Division I college basketball history to have 600+ points, 400+ rebounds and 150+ assists in a single season, per ESPN.
Here’s where things get even crazier — when Bird accomplished that feat at Indiana State in 1978-79, he scored 973 (!) points on top of collecting 505 rebounds and dishing out 187 assists. Lendeborg had an impressive year in his own right with 654 points, 420 rebounds and 157 assists, but Bird’s final year in college was just absurd.
Again, Lendeborg had a phenomenal season for UAB in 2024-25. He averaged 17.7 points, 11.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game while shooting 52.2 percent from the field, 35.7 percent from three and 75.7 percent from the free throw line. He was also a high quality defender with 66 blocks and 64 steals — it’s no wonder he won AAC Defensive Player of the Year twice.
Any time you share a stat with a guy like Bird, you know you are doing something right. However, Hopefully Lendeborg can replicate that success in Ann Arbor.
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