Michigan staff's rationale behind willingness to wait for Yaxel Lendeborg decision: 'Could we add someone who could take us to another level?'

Michigan Wolverines basketball has its roster almost completely set. From a scholarship standpoint, it’s made up of four returning players, three transfers and three freshmen.

A fourth transfer is committed — UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg — but is going through the NBA Draft process. Lendeborg, a 6-foot-9, 240-pound do-it-all player is at the combine in Chicago this week.

Michigan dedicated resources into pursuing and ultimately landing Lendeborg’s commitment — perhaps at the expense of other recruiting endeavors. There’s certainly a ripple effect of every move in roster building. But the Wolverines believed it was worth it to wait on Lendeborg, who visited Michigan late last month, to make his final call.

Lendeborg’s decision is huge for Michigan basketball in 2025-26, but that doesn’t mean head coach Dusty May and the staff don’t feel great about their roster as currently composed.

“Here’s what we said as a staff: We want to be able to meet the expectation that we’ve set so far after one year and be able to continue to compete for Big Ten championships and make runs in the NCAA Tournament,” assistant coach Mike Boynton Jr. said on the Defend The Block podcast with host Brian Boesch. “So, we wanted to set our roster where our base was that.”

Michigan feels like it achieved that goal.

“And then beyond that, could we add someone who could take us to another level, and who could potentially take us from a team who you’re talking about as a contender to possibly being a favorite to win the Big Ten, or somebody expected to at least make the Sweet 16 and maybe, possibly be playing beyond that and be playing for a national championship?” Boynton continued. “And we identified probably five or six guys, and we talked to several of them, but there was one particular that we thought that could really move the needle. So, it’s in a wait and see.”

That’s Lendeborg, even though Boynton isn’t allowed to talk about him by name since he’s not officially signed with the Michigan program. The Wolverines understand there’s a chance he doesn’t ever return to college basketball and they’ll have to play out the 2025-26 season without Lendeborg, but he’s worth the wait.

“It’s a little bit of a calculated risk on one hand, but the key was the first part — setting a team and a roster, even without, that we thought still could compete at a really, really high level and give us a chance to replicate some of the things that we did this year, continue to build our fans’ interest in Michigan basketball, to continue to fill Crisler as often as possible,” Boynton explained. “And then obviously, build on for the next class, for the next group of guys to see what Michigan can do. Now, we go back into the recruiting cycle and do it all over again next year.”

Mike Boynton Jr. breaks down Michigan’s three transfer signees

The three transfers Michigan signed are North Carolina point guard Elliot Cadeau, Illinois forward Morez Johnson Jr. and UCLA center Aday Mara. Those additions addressed some of the primary weaknesses Michigan had last season — playmaking and rebounding. Plus, the Maize and Blue lost Danny Wolf (early entry to the NBA) and Vladislav Goldin (out of eligiblity) at the two front court spots, and wanted to replace them with players who had experience in the conference. Check and check, plus Lendeborg could be on the way.

“Obviously, it’s never perfect. And there are always moving parts that you can’t anticipate; you have to be able to adapt on the fly,” Boynton said. ‘But we were very intentional, knowing that we were gonna lose Vlad, for sure, and very likely Danny. We had to then figure out how we were going to address the lack of production in the front court. [Redshirt senior forward] Will Tschetter is gonna be a tremendous piece for us still moving forward; we’re gonna rely on him for unbelievable leadership and understanding what Michigan basketball is about under Dusty May.

“So, being able to add Morez and Aday gave us a chance to feel like we’re not throwing two 18-year-olds out here in this league and feeling like we can still compete for a championship right away, as smoothly as we were able to last year.”

Cadeau was a two-year starting point guard at North Carolina and one of the best passers in the nation last season, averaging 6.2 assists per outing.

“Obviously, one of our issues was decision-making and ball-handling, and not from any particular person but for a collective group, and we feel like Elliot gives us a chance to, with one of the best assist-looking point guards in the entire country, help us mitigate some of those issues and be able to have us play a little bit more free-flowing offensively, the way we want to,” Boynton said. “It also takes pressure off guys who aren’t naturally point guards from feeling like they have to become more playmaking than they necessarily are capable of, and allow them to play more to their strengths.”