Michigan Star Yaxel Lendeborg: Kentucky Offered me ‘$7-9 Million’ to Transfer

Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg just won Big Ten Player of the Year honors, but, in an alternative world, could he have been the SEC Player of the Year? Indeed, the Wolverines’ star was almost the Kentucky Wildcats’ star. “They [Kentucky] started the number with $7 [million] to $9 [million],” Lendeborg said about the Wildcats trying to attain him in the transfer portal in an interview with The Associated Press. “They were pretty much going off on the route, like ‘we’ll pay him anything to get here.’ … I was raised without it [money], and I went my whole life without it. “Anything was going to make me super, super happy at the time. I was thinking long term. What if I mess up my career because I chased the money instead of a future? Another big reason why I went with [Michigan head coach] Dusty [May] was he didn’t talk about money at all. It was all about making me better and helping me achieve my goals.” Lendeborg, who’s in his sixth season on the college scene, played the first three seasons of his collegiate career at Arizona Western (2020-21 season to 2022-23 season) before spending two seasons with the UAB Blazers, with whom he earned All-American Conference honors and led the conference in rebounds in both seasons. He then transferred to Michigan for the 2025-26 season, with Lendeborg reportedly making between $2-3 million in NIL salary. In 33 games played this season, Lendeborg has averaged a team-high 14.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals per game, while shooting 50.6/34.3/82.0. As for Lendeborg’s Wolverines, Michigan is a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines will play the winner of UMBC-Howard in the first round of the tournament on Thursday night. On Tuesday’s edition of “The Herd,” Jason McIntyre expressed how Lendeborg turning down more money to go to Michigan — after originally putting his name in the 2025 NBA Draft pool — is a touching story for college basketball. “I love this [NIL] for college basketball … the market speaks, and the big winners are the players and I think the NBA … I love this Lendeborg story. I think this is, low-key, one of the better stories of the week in sports,” McIntyre said about Lendeborg’s Kentucky story.” Lendeborg and the Wolverines went 31-3 overall and 19-1 in Big Ten play this season, good for first in the conference. Moreover, Michigan is first in the Big Ten in points (86.8 per game), field goal percentage (50.5%) and opponent field goal percentage (38.4%). With that said, Michigan lost to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament Championship on Sunday. As for Lendeborg’s SEC alternative, Kentucky (21-13 overall, 10-8 in SEC play), which is in its second season under head coach Mark Pope, is a No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region.