Yaxel Lendeborg played two preseason games, grabbed nine rebounds in each, and told reporters NBA players are "more lazy" on the glass than the ones he beat in college. That's a league-wide verdict drawn from a sample that wouldn't survive a freshman stats class. The claim just isn't meaningful.
Here's what he actually said after Golden State's win over the Lakers: "I feel like it's a lot easier to grab rebounds here. In college, the paint was always packed and there's always somebody like extra just coming out of nowhere to rebound. These guys, I feel like they're more lazy to get the rebound. So I mean, I'm having like clear-shot rebounds by myself and it's crazy, you know."
Now look at the nights that produced it. In the opener, the Clippers beat the Warriors 104-101, and Lendeborg shot 1-for-6 for four points. His rebounding held up: nine boards. Two nights later Golden State blew out the Lakers 124-98, and he led the team with 17 points, nine rebounds, two assists and a block in 21 minutes. Nine and nine, in two games. That's the entire evidentiary basis for "NBA rebounders are lazy."
Look at who he was rebounding over, too. The Clippers were missing Kawhi Leonard. The Lakers were worse off, down seven rotation players including Luka Doncic, running out two-way hopefuls and roster-bubble guys at the positions where Lendeborg was feasting. Nobody fought him for a box-out, because half the people responsible for boxing him out were in street clothes or auditioning for a job. Grabbing clear-shot rebounds against that kind of lineup is just what preseason looks like.
The physical read underneath his comment is real, though. College paints are tighter, spacing is worse, and more bodies crowd the glass, so it makes sense that rebounding feels easier in a spread-out NBA half-court. If he'd stopped there, fine. The problem is the leap from "the floor is more open here" to "these guys are lazy," a character judgment about professionals he'll meet again in November, once they have Rudy Gobert or a healthy frontcourt and a reason to care.
Lendeborg can actually rebound. He was Big Ten Player of the Year, made the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, led Michigan to the Big Ten and NCAA Tournament titles, and averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds at UAB. He turned down the 2025 draft, went back for another year, and still went 11th overall in 2026. Nobody doubts his instincts. The issue is a 24-year-old handed a microphone after two glorified scrimmages, treating a vibe as a finding.
He's not really the one responsible for this becoming a story. He's a rookie fresh off a championship, flattered by the attention, who answered honestly instead of reciting the cliches veterans learn to repeat. That candor is the best part of the quote. The damage came from the aggregation: outlet after outlet recycling the same sentence under headlines built to make it sound like he'd insulted the whole league. He gave a half-thought, and the headlines turned it into a feud.
Ask him again in December, after someone has actually body-checked him off the glass in a game that counts. Until then, the only lazy thing here is the pile of headlines pretending two preseason games mean anything.
