Bruce Pearl on Yaxel Lendeborg recruitment: 'We thought a million dollars would be enough, didn't even warm him up'

Bruce Pearl retiring just before the 2024-2025 season means he is still familiar with active players. He helped Auburn build its roster before handing the keys to his son, Steven. Between high school recruiting and the NCAA transfer portal, Pearl has stories about a ton of guys.

One of those is now-Michigan big man Yaxel Lendeborg. During Tuesday’s game between Auburn and Michigan, Pearl revealed the Tigers started to go after Lendeborg to replace a couple of star players. And while they thought a competitive NIL offer was presented, turns out, Auburn was not even close.

“We lost Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell last year at Auburn, we went after Lendeborg,” Pearl said. “He’s a Dominican kid, played with Chad Baker-Mazara, had a great relationship. We thought a million dollars would be good enough to get him.  Didn’t even warm him up.”

Lendeborg spent the past two years at UAB, not too far from Auburn. Usually, in-state programs get a nice look from players in the portal, even if Lendeborg played high school basketball in New Jersey. As Pearl mentioned, there was a connection there with Baker-Mazara (who now plays out West with the USC Trojans) since both are Dominican.

A few other SEC programs were thought to be in the race for Lendeborg. Kentucky was the main one but Alabama, Auburn, and Ole Miss also made a run. Lendeborg also seriously considered leaving college for the NBA Draft. Folks in Ann Arbor certainly are happy he chose against that.

“Bruce Pearl mentions Auburn offered Yaxel Lendeborg $1M in NIL money last offseason,” Justin Hokanson of On3 | Rivals’ Auburn Sports said via X. “It wasn’t close to enough. It would have taken over $3M. The NIL market for CBB exploded once the portal opened.”

In five games played, Lendeborg is averaging 15.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. San Diego State was Michigan’s first opponent at the Players Era Festival, cruising to a nice victory. Lendeborg is a huge reason why, putting up 15 points on five of seven shooting, while adding six rebounds and four assists.

Pearl may have missed out on Lendeborg but still put together a nice roster for Auburn. They started their week in Las Vegas with a win too, taking down Oregon. Now, they are hoping to have a chance to make the championship game by limiting Lendeborg and taking down Michigan.