Yaxel Lendeborg Breaks Silence After Achieving “Lifelong Goal” With First Warriors Paycheck

On draft night in June, Yaxel Lendeborg broke down in tears after the Warriors took him 11th overall. He told reporters he did not feel he deserved to be there. Less than five months later, the Warriors rookie is back in front of the cameras for a very different reason.

In his first YouTube video, he surprised his mom with a house, then posted a short message about it on X.

"Lifelong goal has finally been accomplished. Blessed!" Lendeborg wrote.

The video shows him standing in front of the home with a gift box in hand as his family gathers around. "I'm nervous now," he says. "On behalf of everybody that came to show up, welcome home." He then invites his mother, Yissel Raposo, to step inside and "test it out."

Reports say the house is in California, closer to where he plays, and that the purchase followed his first NBA paycheck.

The gift lands in the middle of a hot start. Lendeborg is averaging about 21 points per game, and the Warriors have won six straight to improve to 6-3 after a 0-3 start.

It is also the kind of moment he has talked about since draft night. Lendeborg said then that his mother "pushed a dream and forced me to step into the world" and helped turn him into a man.

Raposo, a former Dominican Republic national team player, guided him through junior college, a national title at Michigan and the 2026 draft.

Lendeborg was even more direct about the cost of that path. "My mom had to have two, three jobs just to provide for the family," he said after being drafted.

Lendeborg did not arrive in the NBA the way most lottery picks do. Five years ago, the league was not on his radar, and he landed at Arizona Western, a junior college he never wanted to attend. That choice was his mother's, and he cried when she told him, according to NBC Sports Bay Area.

That decision changed his career. From junior college, he moved up to Michigan, where he became Big Ten Player of the Year, a first-team All-American and a national champion.

The Warriors then drafted him as the oldest first-round prospect in the class. A move front-office analysis called "profoundly logical" because it addressed two of the team's biggest needs: a two-way wing and an immediate contributor.

For Lendeborg, that experience made him protective of the credit. On draft night he said his mother "pretty much put me on this path," and that he often wanted to quit but would think about how she would feel.

It also fits the way he has handled early success. In July, Lendeborg helped the Warriors win the Summer League championship, and teammates such as Steph Curry and Al Horford have discussed how he can make an early impact.

The Warriors are hoping their rookie keeps producing and the winning streak continues. For Raposo, after years of working multiple jobs, she has a house to call home, and her son is the reason why.