Warriors' Yaxel Lendeborg surprises mom with new home to fulfill 'lifelong goal'
In February, Golden State Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg wrote a story forThe Players' Tribunetitled: "How My Mom Saved My Life." It detailed a conversation Lendeborg had with his mother, Yissel Raposo, during his senior year of high school in 2019 when she proceeded to tell him, "There's no more time to mess around."
Lendeborg needed to take 10 courses at a community college in one year to graduate high school. At first, he was "not having it." But, once he looked at his mother's face, Lendeborg wrote that everything changed for him. His mother "pretty much" saved his life, he said.
Seven years later, Lendeborg thanked his mother by surprising her with a home in California.
He posted a YouTube video on Friday titled: "This one's for Mama Yax." He detailed that the house would help his mom complete the move from New Jersey, where he grew up, to California.
Lendeborg's friends and family gathered in front of house before he handed a box to his mom and said, "Welcome home." His mother appeared teary-eyed as she took the key out of the box, opened the door and the two of them entered the house together. Lendeborg revealed that it took "two to three" months to secure the home and added on X: "Lifelong goal has finally been accomplished. Blessed!"
"There is no gesture big enough to properly say thank you for all the love, sacrifice, and support my mom has poured into me but this moment was pretty special and one I'll never forget," Lendeborg wrote in the video caption. "She deserves it all. For me, it's bigger than basketball. It's about making sure the people who believed in me get to enjoy the blessings too."
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Lendeborg has enjoyed early success with the Warriors through nine games. He's averaging 21 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists, including a 37-point performance on Nov. 1. But, his journey hasn't always been smooth.
The 24-year-old played three seasons at Arizona Western, a community college in Yuma, before transferring for two more campaigns at UAB. He transferred for the final time as a graduate student in 2025 to Michigan. Lendeborg would average 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds a game to help lead the Wolverines to the national title.
It made draft night emotional as Lendeborg and his mother shared a moment when the Warriors selected him at No. 11.
"She was saying we did it. All the sacrifice that we made, we finally accomplished it," he said. "You did it. She's proud of me and she's so excited."
Half a year later, she would have a new home.br/]
