Yaxel Lendeborg’s fixation on Cameron Boozer keeps getting weirder.
It started after Boozer’s Grizzlies beat the Warriors in a Summer League matchup last week, when Lendeborg made it clear he was circling every meeting with Boozer. Then came Sunday night, when Lendeborg and the Warriors beat Boozer and the Grizzlies to win the Summer League Championship, and Lendeborg couldn’t resist taking another shot.
"I think about [revenge] every time I play him. Every game we play, them refs be saving him," Lendeborg said, via ESPN's Ben Golliver ... "It is a competitive nature [with] everybody that gets drafted ahead of me."
That’s the latest chapter in a one-sided thing Lendeborg seems determined to turn into a rivalry. Boozer, for his part, has far bigger priorities.
The whole dynamic traces back to Duke’s regular-season win over Michigan last season in Washington, D.C., a loss Lendeborg still appears to be carrying around. That’s especially notable because Michigan went on to win the National Championship, but the result still seems to be living rent-free in his head.
The reality is that these two aren’t operating on the same level. Boozer was dominant all season as an 18-year-old freshman and won National Player of the Year. Lendeborg, meanwhile, entered college the same year Boozer was entering the seventh grade.
That gap showed up in the draft, too: Boozer went 3rd, while Lendeborg went 11th.
Lendeborg is a solid player and should carve out a place in the NBA, likely sticking around for years. But Boozer is on a different kind of path. At the age Boozer is now, Lendeborg was playing junior college basketball, while Boozer is preparing for his rookie season in the NBA.
And if you want to look ahead, the separation only gets more absurd. By the time Boozer is 23, he’ll be getting ready for his fifth NBA season. Lendeborg might be filing for Social Security.
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