Michigan Wolverines head coach Dusty May. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Uncertainty continues to swirl around commitment of Wolverines' top-rated portal star

Originally posted on Michigan Wolverines on SI
By Jerred Johnson | Last updated May 4, 2025 1:10 PM ET

Michigan Wolverines head coach Dusty May has been an absolute genius in his utilization and domination of the transfer portal. In his first season with the Wolverines, May secured seven players from the portal and completely revamped a lineup that struggled to achieve eight wins the year before. Heading into his second year he has shown that his strategy and prowess in the portal was no fluke.

May has secured the number one rated portal class in all of college basketball. Garnering commitments from four players who all have the talent and experience to either start or make a significant impact on next year's squad. Three of those four players are a lock to come to Ann Arbor, one is not. The top-rated player in the portal, Yaxel Lendeborg, is still weighing his options for the NBA and that has to worry coach May. Yaxel has made some subtle and interesting decisions lately that may indicate which direction he is leaning.

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In the social media age players can tip their hands easily as to where their minds are at. Yaxel has done a few things in the past weeks that appear to favor the Wolverines. After a visit to Ann Arbor, he changed his social media profile picture to that of Marvel character "The Wolverine". More recently he shared on his social media channels that he has signed with a notable NIL agency, Octagon Basketball. Octagon has some representation of professional basketball players, but the bulk of their business is done in the NIL lane.

Yaxel has also recently fallen out of the first round in multiple NBA Mock Drafts. While it is early in the NBA Draft process and he has yet to do any pre-draft workouts, this also plays into Michigan's favor. All that coach May and his staff can do at this point is continuing to impress upon Yaxel how wanted he is in Ann arbor, how absolutely stacked the team will be next year, and work with his NIL agency to get him deals that help him push the NBA away from one more season. Let the chips fall where they may if you will.