Warriors Rookie Just Earned A Summer League Honor That Turns Heads

Emerging star Yaxel Lendeborg headlines the NBA Summer League as he takes home MVP honors and leads the newly announced All-Summer League teams.

Yaxel Lendeborg’s first month in the NBA just picked up another piece of hardware.

The Warriors rookie forward has been named the Most Valuable Player of the Las Vegas Summer League, according to the league, adding that honor to the MVP award he already took home from Sunday’s Summer League championship game. Lendeborg also landed on the All-Summer League first team after a vote of all 30 teams determined the 2026 awards.

He’s joined on the first team by Cameron Boozer of the Grizzlies, Brayden Burries of the Bucks, Meleek Thomas of the Cavaliers, and Caleb Wilson of the Bulls.

The second team features Cedric Coward of the Grizzlies, Egor Demin of the Nets, Khaman Maluach of the Suns, Liam McNeeley of the Hornets, and Zyon Pullin of the Timberwolves.

The first team was packed almost entirely with 2026 lottery picks. Boozer, the No. 3 overall pick, Wilson at No. 4, Burries at No. 10, and Lendeborg at No. 11 filled four of the five spots, with Thomas - the No. 34 pick - rounding out the group.

Thomas led all scorers in Vegas, averaging 27.3 points in 29.0 minutes per game over four appearances. He added 3.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game while shooting .500/.438/1.000.

Burries and Wilson were nearly even in the scoring column, each putting up 23.5 points per game across four games on 50.0% shooting. Wilson also averaged 7.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks, though his 5.3 turnovers per game were the highest in Summer League play.

Lendeborg didn’t pile up points the way Thomas did, but he was all over the stat sheet with 14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. Boozer was right there too, posting 18.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. Their all-around production helped push their teams into Sunday’s championship game, where the Warriors came out on top of the Grizzlies.

The second team has a different makeup. Four of the five players came from the 2025 draft class, including three lottery picks.

Pullin is the exception. He went undrafted in 2024, has played in eight NBA regular season games, and is currently on a two-way contract with Minnesota.

In five Summer League games, he averaged 21.0 points and 7.8 assists.

Maluach led Vegas in rebounding at 12.8 per game while also scoring 19.5 points per contest. Coward averaged 19.0 points and shot 41.7% from three.

Demin posted 21.0 points, 4.3 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per game. McNeeley knocked down 10-of-19 shots from beyond the arc, a 52.6% clip, while scoring 21.7 points per game.

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