Michigan made history this season by winning a National Championship with a starting five made up entirely of transfer portal players. Three of those players then went on to make history again by being the first team since 2007 to have three players selected in the first round of the NBA Draft who weren't freshmen.
All three of those players, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara, went in the first 12 picks, showcasing how highly they were rated heading into the draft. Now, just a few weeks later, all three are playing in the NBA Summer League, living out their dreams.
While it is all business on the court, you can't help but notice the camaraderie between the three players whenever their teams are playing against each other. It started out with Johnson and Lendeborg, and Sunday night, it was Mara and Lendeborg giving Michigan fans all the fuzzy feelings of these guys just enjoying being in the league together.
“Yaxel, you told me at the half that you wanted to lock in and make sure you weren’t having too much fun with your former teammate (Aday Mara), do you feel like you made those adjustments?”
— Barstool Michigan (@BarstoolUofM) July 12, 2026
Yaxel: “I did not”
Must watch post game interview 😂 pic.twitter.com/rEOHICrnrm
In his postgame interview, Lendeborg was talking about the adjustments he didn't make in the second half when it came to having fun with his old teammate, Mara, the man himself showed up. Mara came up and put Lendeborg in a little headlock, but it was clearly all fun and games before heading to the locker room.
Michigan trio manifested NBA careers and are now living them out together
Later in the interview, Lendeborg spoke about the trio and how this is exactly what they hoped for all last season while on the journey to their National Championship win. These three knew they would one day have careers in the NBA, and now they are able to do it together and are even still making time for each other off the court.
"We talked about this so much. We manifested this all year. It’s like a dream of ours, you know, seeing each other play at the highest level," Lendeborg said. "I think we have our first team dinner today, so I’m very excited to see them and talk about what’s going on in our lives now."
Yaxel Lendeborg says he’ll have dinner with former Michigan teammates Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara after the game:
— aly ✶ (@jinthirty) July 13, 2026
“We talked about this so much. We manifested this all year. It’s like a dream of ours, you know, seeing each other play at the highest level. Aday is just… pic.twitter.com/yjjZ2VztsS
They are making time for each other, even scheduling team dinners in order to talk about not just basketball, but life outside of the game. While they may not be on the same team anymore, these guys built relationships that will last longer than their careers playing this game.
This is the culture that Dusty May built at Michigan, and there are hopes that new head coach Mike Boynton will be able to continue it. As the head assistant for May, it feels like Boynton will be able to easily carry on what his former head coach started. Boynton is already off to a good start with nearly the entire roster, minus one last player still deciding, returning to Ann Arbor for next season.
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