Dallas has reportedly been in contact with Yaxel Lendeborg and Labaron Philon Jr., two very different prospects who could shape the Mavericks’ draft-night thinking.
ESPN’s Jeremy Woo updated his big board this week and buried inside the individual prospect notes were two details Mavericks fans should pay close attention to.
Dallas has been in contact with both Yaxel Lendeborg and Labaron Philon Jr. ahead of the June 23 NBA Draft. The two prospects could not be more different, which is exactly what makes both conversations worth having.
Lendeborg is one of the more unusual stories in this draft class. He played only 11 games of high school basketball before taking the junior college route at Arizona Western, became a two-time AAC Defensive Player of the Year at UAB and then transferred to Michigan for his final season. There, he won Big Ten Player of the Year and helped lead the Wolverines to the national championship game.
He will be 24 years old before playing an NBA game, which naturally creates some questions about long-term upside. But the physical profile and production are difficult to ignore. Lendeborg measured 6-foot-8.75 with a 7-foot-3.25 wingspan and a 9-foot-0.5 standing reach. He averaged 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks per game while posting a 64.6% true shooting mark for Michigan this season.
His athletic testing also helped his case. Lendeborg lowered his lane agility time from 11.68 seconds at last year’s combine to 10.82 despite carrying seven more pounds. NBC Sports noted after combine workouts that its projection of him going 12th overall may be too low.
The age concern is real and legitimate, but the profile is also rare. A player with center-sized dimensions who can guard all five positions, shoot from the perimeter and function as a floor spacer alongside a dominant wing like Cooper Flagg does not come around often in the back half of the lottery. NBADraft.net has drawn comparisons to Paolo Banchero, Tari Eason and Justise Winslow. The ceiling questions that come with his age are valid, but the fit questions are not difficult to understand.
Philon is the more conventional prospect and likely the higher-upside guard option. The Alabama sophomore averaged 21.5 points on 50.7% shooting and 4.8 assists per game while improving his 3-point percentage from 31.5% as a freshman to 39.9% as a sophomore. He was named a third-team All-American by every voting organization and earned first-team All-SEC honors.
His floater has been described by multiple analysts as one of the most disruptive weapons in college basketball and Alabama ran a significant amount of offense through him. Philon handled approximately 17 pick-and-roll possessions per game this season, giving scouts a large sample of his decision-making, pace and ability to manipulate defenders.
His combine measurements came in below average athletically for a ball handler at 6-foot-2.75 with a 6-foot-6 wingspan, but his 58.1% shooting on 2-point attempts shows how effectively he uses craft and pace to compensate for any lack of vertical explosiveness.
Woo noted that Philon is drawing lottery interest from Dallas and Milwaukee at the high end but acknowledged he could slide into the teens because of the depth of the guard class. USA Today projects him 11th to Golden State, which would take him off the board before Dallas picks at No. 9. If Philon is still available when the Mavericks are on the clock, most of the market already values him in that range, meaning Dallas would not be reaching far beyond consensus.
Two different conversations. Two different needs. One draft pick on June 23.
The Mavericks are clearly doing their homework and the contrast between Lendeborg and Philon shows how many directions Dallas could still go.
