The storms took down trees and wires, flooded roads, spoiled a World Cup party, and set off a deluge of smartphone panic alerts. But they evidently didn’t come close to erasing the rain deficits throughout the Philly region.
Even with the additional light rains on Tuesday, bringing the two-day total to about 1.45 inches, officially Philadelphia’s rainfall for June still is slightly below normal, and this is after an extraordinary streak of 10 consecutive months of below-normal precipitation.
And Monday’s storms exhibited a classic summer caprice. Areas of New Jersey and Chester County, both under state-declared drought emergencies, were all but stiffed, according to an analysis by the National Weather Service’s Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center. Northwestern Philadelphia and southeastern Montgomery County got as much as 2 inches.
The weather service’s Mount Holly office reported that totals within counties varied radically. In Bucks County, for example, 1.8 inches was measured in Bristol and just over a half inch in Doylestown. Across the river, 2.4 inches fell upon Sewell, and about 0.75 in Monroe Township.
“Some areas got it, some didn’t,” said Ben Casella, executive director of the New Jersey Farm Bureau. It can “rain here, but it may not rain on the other side of town,” he said.
Not all of that Monday rain was beneficial, said Andrew Frankenfield, educator with the Penn State Agriculture extension in Montgomery County. Some of the water in those downpours on Monday rushed to the gutters and didn’t stop to soak into the soil.
And those cloudbursts certainly weren’t beneficial to people routed from the World Cup fan fest in Fairmount Park, or to some motorists. Numerous water rescues were reported in the Wyncote section of Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, And the weather service noted several reports of flooded streets and rushing water up to a foot deep floating cars in Germantown.
Tuesday’s gentle rains, Frankenfield said, were more beneficial to the plant life, which is only going to get thirstier as the summer progresses.
Is more rain coming to the Philly region?
Showers are possible Thursday, said Alex Staarmann, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, with a better shot Friday night and Saturday.
However, these may again be lottery-ball situations, something with which farmers are well acquainted.
Generally throughout the region through Monday, precipitation was running about 75% of normal, on average about 5 inches below normal, according to the river center, which bases its surveys on several measuring stations in each county.
The latest interagency U.S. Drought Monitor map had most of the region in “moderate drought,” but Cape May County and areas of New Jersey near Delaware Bay are in “extreme drought.” Those regions were all but shut out from the Monday downpours.
They evidently fared a bit better on Tuesday, with the Millville airport reporting about a third of an inch, and a half inch measured in Sea Isle City.
While the rains were welcome, the drought anxieties persist, Casella said.
“As we turn the calendar into July, the crops are going to need more moisture,” Frankenfield said.
“We certainly need more” rain, he said. “We can’t make it up in a week, we can’t make it up in a month. We’re concerned, but not alarmed.”
This Fourth of July will be unlike any in recent memory. As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, Philadelphia and the surrounding region are packed with celebrations — and fireworks displays. From the city and suburbs to South Jersey and the Shore, there are dozens of opportunities to catch a show.
Whether you’re staying in Philadelphia, heading to the suburbs, or spending the holiday down the Shore, here’s where to find Fourth of July fireworks across the region.
Wawa Welcome America: 🕙 July 4, 5 p.m. 📍Christina Aguilera and Philadelphia native Jill Scott headline a concert followed by fireworks, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pa., 19130, 🌐 july4thphilly.com
Conshohocken Fireworks Display: 🕙 July 3, 9:15 p.m., 📍The fireworks will take place at Sutcliffe Park, but the borough is closing the park and surrounding areas to the public due to the size of the display. (They advise you to watch the show from another vantage point in town.), 🌐 conshohockenpa.gov
The body of a swimmer who went missing last month in the water along Ocean City has been recovered near Sea Isle City, police said Tuesday.
The man, described as a 20-year-old from Exton who was a student at Hofstra University, according to 6ABC, disappeared late in the afternoon on May 18 near the 10th Street Beach.
On Friday, a body was recovered about 10 miles away and later identified as the missing swimmer, police said.
The man was not publicly identified and the Ocean City Police Department said the family has asked for privacy.
More than a year after the small restaurant Jersey Kebab made national headlines and inspired widespread criticism of ICE when agents arrested the owners, their son is now fighting a similar battle.
The federal government informed Muhammed Emanet, who left Turkey when he was 12, of its intention to deny his request for a green card, with a 30-day window to present new or additional information to try to persuade the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services to allow him to stay.
No one knows for sure what happens when the deadline comes up next week.
If he is deported, he’ll be separated from his wife and two young sons. Hundreds of letters have been signed and gathered on his behalf, attesting to his good character.
The recently launched Women’s Brain Health Initiative at the Rutgers Brain Health Institute seeks to better understand what researchers say has been historically under-studied — how hormonal changes affect the brain.
The focus is on hormonal shifts that occur throughout life such as puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause.
The research and the public education will center information on women’s mental health, disease vulnerability, and brain function and development.
Officials from the Haddonfield Police Department charged a man from Maple Shade on Tuesday for allegedly damaging and stealing LGBTQ flags along Kings Highway in the business district, according to authorities.
New Jersey’s Office of Corrections Ombudsperson released a report on Tuesday detailing conditions at Bayside State Prison in South Jersey including overcrowding and unclean conditions, according to New Jersey Monitor.
New Jersey’s rent for office space is slightly more than the national average. Between January and May, $387 million in office sales were recorded in the state and 630,000 square feet of offices were under construction.
Camden County will conduct mosquito spraying this morning in Bellmawr, Camden,Clementon, Haddon Heights, Gloucester Township, Lawnside, Lindenwold, and Stratford, according to the county.
It’s not too early to think about October, apparently. According to 42 Freeway, Spirit Halloween seems to be coming to Deptford, Cherry Hill, and Mount Laurel.
Meet Yaxel Lendeborg, a Pennsauken High graduate who has had one of the most unconventional yet fastest basketball career trajectories from community college to becoming a national champion.
🧠Trivia time
Which former Eagle does a celebrity bartending fundraiser every year in South Jersey?
Earlier this month, The Inquirer dropped our list of the 76 most iconic dishes in the region, a handful of which can be found right here in the township.
Ranking at No. 61 is Santucci’s upside-down pizza, a pie so distinctive reporter Michael Klein said it helps give the region its own pizza identity. You can snag your own square pie with the sauce on the top at the outpost on Springdale Road.
Head a few miles down Springdale and you can order a panzarotti at Tarantini Panzarotti. The calzone-adjacent food ranks No. 29 on our list.
Also making the cut at No. 51 is gelati, the decidedly Philly spin on water ice (on its own, it ranks No. 2) and custard. Reporter Beatrice Forman reups the tastiness of a Dubai chocolate dupe at Cherry’s Ice Cream & Water Ice.
Leon Rose (front row, far left) played for Cherry Hill East’s junior varsity as a freshman.
Meeting Leon Rose today means knowing him as president of the New York Knicks, the team that has catapulted to the top of the headlines after clinching its first NBA title since 1973. But when many longtime South Jersey residents think of Rose, memories of a force-to-be-reckoned-with “gym rat” playing and coaching at Cherry Hill East are what come to mind.
Rose played under head coach John Valore from 1975 to 1979 before joining Valore’s staff in the early ‘80s while studying at Temple University’s law school. Even after attracting clients as famous as 76ers legend Allen Iverson and LeBron James, Rose could be found volunteer coaching at Katz JCC, where his 88-year-old father is still a regular.
The zoning board is holding a special meeting tomorrow night, which will include discussion about BAPS Cherry Hill’s application to expand its building. The Hindu temple at 1 Carnegie Plaza is looking to add a 15,350-square-foot second story for a gym and classrooms, in addition to a 2,930-square-foot lobby. It’s also looking to add 23 new parking spaces and make some changes to its existing interior and exterior. BAPS’ space now spans over 65,000 square feet.
Camden County military members, veterans, and their spouses can access free legal services at the township’s One-Stop Career Center starting this month. The first Veterans Will Clinic, offering last will and testament, power of attorney, and an advance directive, is today. The second will be on July 29, The Inquirer’s Sarah Nicell reports.
The community is mourning Robin Cogan, a West alum who became a Camden City School District school nurse and national health and safety advocate. She died of cancer at Cooper University Hospital earlier this month.
Camden County residents have reported a spate of roving peacocks in recent weeks. Reporter Sarah Nicell reminds that in March, Cherry Hill had its own rogue peacock sighting.
Heads up for drivers: Work continues on Kresson Road, which will have a partial closure westbound between Springdale Road and Ravenswood Way from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. through Friday.
Ready for spooky season? Summer just began, but Spirit Halloween is already preparing its return to the Plaza at Cherry Hill. (42 Freeway)
🏫 Schools Briefing
More than 500 East students graduated in a ceremony at Temple University’s Liacouras Center last week. South Jersey Media has photos from the event.
East has a relatively high summative rating, according to data from the state Department of Education’s annual School Performance Reports, which gave it an 83.98. The score factors in graduation rates, standardized test scores, student academic growth, and chronic absenteeism, among other things. West’s rating falls considerably lower at 32. (NJ.com)
🍽️ On our Plate
Soft-shell crab season is officially here. Looking for a spot to snag the sweet, briny dish? The Inquirer’s Michael Klein suggests trying the dish at Caffe Aldo Lamberti, where the presentation regularly changes.
The “lucky six” soup dumplings at Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao are the best dumplings in the state, according to a ranking from NJ.com. The outlet noted that they come in a rainbow of colors and are filled with ingredient combinations like truffle and pork, scallops and pork, and shrimp and pork.
🎳 Things to Do
🛼 Summer Kickoff Skate Party: Celebrate the end of the school year and the state of summer with face painting, a glam station, relay races, and hidden beach balls. ⏰ Thursday, June 25, noon-8 p.m. 💵 $5 admission 📍 Hot Wheelz
🗓️ In My Bag: Summer Social: This women’s-only event includes line dancing, singalongs, and networking. ⏰ Saturday, June 27, 2-5 p.m. 💵 $24.71 📍 Vera
🦖 Jurassic Park: Teenagers can catch a screening of the popular 1993 film. Registration is required. ⏰ Tuesday, June 30, 6-8:30 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Cherry Hill Public Library
The front of the home features landscaping and hardscaping.
Located in the Barclay section of Cherry Hill, this four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home has undergone a number of updates recently, including a full renovation to the kitchen. The space features stainless steel appliances and a subway tile backsplash. Also on the first floor is a living room, dining room, a den with a fireplace, and a bonus room. Upstairs there’s an office as well as all four bedrooms, including the primary suite with a walk-in closet. Out back, there’s a stone water feature and landscaping.
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This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
The son of the Jersey Kebab restaurant owners whose ICE arrests sparked wide condemnation last year now confronts his own battle to stay in the United States.
Muhammed Emanet, 26, said he is trying to be upbeat as he faces the prospect of being separated from his wife and two sons, ages 4 and 1, all American citizens.
“I try not to dwell on what I can’t control,” said Emanet, who with his parents operates the popular South Jersey eatery in Collingswood. “I still have a restaurant to run, employees that depend on me, customers, family. I have no other choice but to be positive.”
Still, his situation feels disorienting, as what seemed to be settled is now newly unsettled.
In spring the Department of Homeland Security ended its effort to deport Emanet, which seemed to clear the path for him to stay in the U.S. But this month, a different federal immigration agency told him it plans to deny his request for legal permanent residency, what is known as a green card.
That intended denial carries a 30-day window for Emanet, who came here from Turkey as a boy, to present new or additional evidence to try to change the minds of officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The government also told him that under a new Trump administration policy, he and other immigrants who are pursuing green cards while living in the U.S. must leave the country and apply from their home nations. Emanet hasn’t been in Turkey since he was 12.
It’s unclear what will happen when the 30-day deadline expires around July 2.
Muhammed Emanet greets Elijah Brown, a friend from high school, and his family, at Jersey Kebab in Collingswood on Sunday.
A little more than a year ago, on Feb. 25, 2025, the small Mediterranean restaurant on Haddon Avenue generated national headlines. Immigration advocates and local leaders railed against what they saw as government injustice, after ICE agents arrested owners Celal Emanet and his wife, Emine.
Their arrests angered a South Jersey community that has long known the couple as caring people who offer free food to the hungry. A GoFundMe campaign to pay family costs and expenses raised $327,000, drawing donations from across the country and beyond, including from Ireland, Germany, and England.
Now, a community effort to help Muhammed Emanet is driving a new letter-writing campaign, with person after person attesting to his good character and his importance to his neighbors. Hundreds of letters have been signed and gathered to be presented on his behalf, said Lori Leonard, who organized the GoFundMe campaign last year.
“People are rallying behind Muhammed,” she said.
State Assemblyman Bill Moen, a Democrat who represents parts of Camden and Gloucester Counties, signed a letter of support. He said on social media that Emanet “has touched the lives of many people throughout South Jersey” as a husband, father, neighbor, friend, and businessperson.
“While I don’t make immigration decisions,” Moen said, “I do believe decision-makers should understand the character of the people whose lives are affected by those decisions.”
U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, a South Jersey Democrat, met with the family soon after Emine Emanet was released from ICE detention, and as her son’s situation emerged this month he stressed in a statement that the family had been long “rooted in our community.”
In response to questions on Muhammed Emanet’s situation, USCIS said it does not comment on individual immigration cases.
Being removed to Turkey would likely separate Emanet from his wife and children for years. It also could subject him to reprisals from the Turkish regime, where repressive human-rights conditions under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has driven an exodus.
Marriage to a U.S. citizen by someone who legally entered the country ― as Emanet did ― has long been a reliable route to an adjustment of status and acquisition of a green card.
But the Trump policy change announced in May said adjustment should be an “extraordinary” relief, one that depends on government discretion, not merely on having a valid marriage and submitting the proper forms. Failing to depart the U.S. under the policy can by itself be treated as a negative factor in the government’s decision-making.
Emanet’s immigration lawyer, Joseph Best, said that change in administration policy does not alter the law around eligibility for green cards.
“If USCIS follows the law,” Best said, “he will attain his lawful permanent resident status just as Congress intended. It is not some fluke or exceptional ‘ask’ here.”
Discretionary factors, he said, all favor Emanet, who was brought legally to the U.S. as a child, was admitted under a valid visa, and has no criminal history. He is loved in his community, and a key person in a successful family business that is known for helping others, Best said.
The Jersey Kebab restaurant in Collingswood where Muhammed Emanet works is seen on Sunday, June 21. It offers the same “Free Meal” policy as at the prior location in Haddon Township.
Celal and Emine Emanet came legally to the United States with two young children in 2008, entering under a religious visa that allowed the father to work at a New Jersey Islamic center.
They said that they sought green cards before that visa expired in 2013, but that the application has been in government limbo for years.
In 2021, they founded Jersey Kebab in Haddon Township, and the restaurant recently moved west on Haddon Avenue to a new location in Collingswood.
The couple’s immigration cases continue. Celal Emanet’s next hearing is scheduled for December, while his wife is to appear in April 2027.
The family stands among roughly 386,000 Turkish immigrants and people of Turkish ancestry who live in the United States, according to Inquirer computations of U.S. Census figures. That includes about 15,000 in Philadelphia and surrounding suburban Pennsylvania and New Jersey counties.
Turkey is a longtime U.S. ally, a rectangular land bridge between Europe and Asia that is surrounded by sea on three sides. It is a Muslim nation, a country of tea drinkers, the place where Julius Caesar is said to have immortally proclaimed “Veni, vidi, vici” ― “I came, I saw, I conquered” ― after a decisive battle victory near what is now the modern town of Zile.
Today, people are leaving the country amid economic instability and political purges, with many trying to get to the United States.
U.S. government apprehensions of Turkish nationals at the Mexican and Canadian borders surged from 67 in 2020 to more than 15,000 in 2022 and another 15,000-plus in 2023, dropping to 10,500 in 2024. Figures for 2025 were not immediately available.
President Donald Trump is expected to be in Turkey next month to attend the NATO summit in Ankara.
Muhammed Emanet works at his family’s restaurant, Jersey Kebab, in Collingswood on Sunday, June 21.
During Trump’s second term, USCIS has repeatedly paused the processing of applications for all types of immigration benefits, including those for legal permanent residency.
Last month, the administration announced it would require foreigners who are living in the U.S. and want to obtain green cards to leave the country to do so. The administration said they must now apply in their homelands, a departure from longstanding policy that has sowed confusion and concern.
For decades, foreign nationals who meet requirements have been able to complete the green-card process in the United States, including those married to U.S. citizens, holders of work and student visas, and refugees and asylum seekers.
USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement that entering the U.S. on a visa should not be a first step toward obtaining a green card, that tourists and temporary workers are permitted to come here for limited times.
“Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over,” he said.
Making people leave the country to apply for green cards “reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally,” he said.
The administration instructed immigration officers to consider violations of immigration laws, including overstaying a visa, as negative factors in their decision-making.
Since the uproar, though, USCIS has seemed to walk back the policy, saying it would be implemented on a case-by-case basis. That could mean that some immigrants will be able to stay in the U.S. while they seek green cards.
Emanet said his immigration case started in 2020, when two plainclothes ICE officers arrived at the family home and said he was in the country illegally.
In spring, his attorney persuaded an immigration court in Newark to terminate Emanet’s court case ― with no opposition from the DHS Office of the Principal Legal Adviser, the ICE prosecutors. That termination seemed to clear the way for Emanet to adjust his status.
Instead, on June 3 he received a Notice of Intent to Deny from federal immigration officials, indicating they plan to reject his application to adjust his status. He is not sure what will happen when the 30-day deadline for new information expires.
“I have children here who need my support ― American citizens who depend on me,” Emanet said. “I thought I was that one, that I did everything exactly how I was supposed to, that I should receive my green card. … It feels like a punch in the gut.”
Yaxel Lendeborg went from playing one varsity season at Pennsauken High School to an NBA lottery pick.
The 23-year-old forward, who was the Big Ten Player of the Year this season at national champion Michiganwas picked No. 11 by Golden State in the first round on Tuesday night.
Expressing emotion when hearing his name called at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Lendeborg embraced his mother, Yissel, in tears.
He said on the ESPN telecast that “I don’t deserve to be here right now. I didn’t have the traditional path. … I can’t believe it.”
Lendeborg thought his basketball career was over in high school. He played in just 11 games his senior year after being academically ineligible to play for his sophomore and junior seasons.
That was until an opportunity arose — thanks to his mother — at the junior college level with Arizona Western College.
“That kid got here because of her,” Lendeborg said on the telecast. “She pushed a dream, forced me to go out there and become a man.”
He spent three seasons at Arizona Western, including a COVID-19 season, where he emerged in his third year, averaging 17.2 points and 13 rebounds. In 2023, he transferred to Alabama-Birmingham and played two seasons with the Blazers.
Yaxel Lendeborg celebrates with his family after being selected by the Golden State Warriors.
In his final season at UAB, he averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds. He also was named the American Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and an all-conference selection twice.
Lendeborg, who is 6-foot-9, graduated from UAB in 2025 and entered the transfer portal for his final year of eligibility, which brought him to Michigan. Lendeborg averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in 40 games for the Wolverines.
Tuesday was the second time in Michigan program history that three players were drafted in the first round.
Center Aday Mara was picked by the Oklahoma City Thunder at No. 12 after forward Morez Johnson Jr. went ninth overall to the Mavericks, reuniting with his college coach, Dusty May, who on Tuesday was named Dallas’ head coach.
After he was selected, Lendeborg said his mother told him, “We did it. All the sacrifice we made, we finally accomplished it — you did it.”
He’ll join a Golden State team that finished 10th in the Western Conference, with a 37-45 record this season.
While state and federal lawmakers have blasted the Trump administration for deplorable conditions at Newark migrant jail Delaney Hall, New Jersey’s prisons watchdog has issued a new report detailing overcrowding, intolerable heat, and other deficiencies at Bayside State Prison in Cumberland County.
Bayside, one of the state’s largest lockups, now houses almost 1,300 people, more than twice its capacity, according to the report released Tuesday by the state corrections ombudsperson’s office. The mixed-security prison, which opened in 1971 in Leesburg, was built to hold 504 people.
“Turning single-occupancy rooms into double-occupancy rooms … leaves each incarcerated person with significantly less storage and personal space,” the report says.
The crowding is compounded by the closure of Bayside’s dining hall, which is now used for storage, the report says. That closure forces prisoners to eat all three meals while perched on their beds or foot lockers in their cramped cells, which at 70 square feet are about the size of a parking space.
Inspectors from the ombudsperson’s office also found old, thin mattresses; birds in the kitchen and housing units; and dirty showers, among other problems.
The prison lacks air conditioning, so inspectors also encountered stifling heat during summer inspections, with temperatures reaching 94 degrees in cells and shared spaces and 116 degrees in the kitchen, according to the report.
State health inspectors, who last inspected Bayside in November 2023, also dinged the prison for a “repeat deficiency” for the presence of insects or rodents, the report says.
The ombudsperson’s office recommended that Department of Corrections officials allow people to eat meals outside their cells in a courtyard area or day rooms if they cannot reopen the dining hall, and to improve cleaning of kitchen equipment and showers, among other things.
Officials have tried to improve some problems, such as replacing mattresses and exhaust fans and vents in shower areas, as well as putting up barriers to keep out birds, the report says.
Reopening the dining hall, which has been closed since 1997, is “not logistically feasible” because of cost, staffing, and security concerns, the department said in a response to the report. They said they won’t move meals to common areas, also citing security reasons.
In the post-pandemic hybrid-work environment, Philadelphia office space remains cheaper than most other major metro areas, according to a new report from the online real estate platform Commercial Cafe.
Asking rents for Philly offices were $31.26 per square foot on average as of May, the report found. That makes Philadelphia the only major market in the Northeast below the national average of $33.61 per square foot.
Relative to other major U.S. markets, only Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix recorded lower average asking rents.
Elsewhere in the Northeast, Manhattan averaged the most expensive asking rents at more than $69 per square foot, according to the report. Boston’s asking rents were around $44 and New Jersey’s were more than $35.
Philadelphia’s 18.4% office vacancy rate, meanwhile, was slightly higher than the other Northeast markets, as well as the national average of 17.6%, according to the report.
The analysis, released last week, reflected the broader challenges that all office markets are up against. In Philadelphia and elsewhere, the office landscape has shrunk since the pandemic, with many employers downsizing their space amid the rise of hybrid work.
Some Center City office buildings have plummeted in value and are now becoming apartment complexes. Among them: The iconic Wanamaker Building and Centre Square, better known as the “Clothespin building” for the sculpture outside it.
Between January and May, $220 million in office sales were recorded in Philadelphia, according to the Commercial Cafe report, and $387 million in New Jersey. In the Garden State, 630,000 square feet of offices were under construction, found the report, which did not have under-construction data for Philadelphia.
Peter Kolaczynski, the director of Yardi Research, helped compile the report, and noted the trend toward office reuse.
“The destruction of value that we have discussed for years is showing through in the sales data,” Kolaczynski said in a statement. “With this decrease cost in acquisition comes opportunity — whether that is conversions to apartments, repositioning to best-in-class office and coworking, or full-on redevelopment and revitalization projects.”
On Tuesday night, Yaxel Lendeborg will likely be a first-round pick in the NBA draft.
But the Pennsauken High graduate’s basketball career nearly ended after playing just 11 varsity games. If not for his mom, Yissel, Lendeborg might not ever have played Division I basketball, much less become a lottery pick.
“Seeing him, and seeing his mother, and how much she has [meant] to him, and how much work she’s done to be able to help guide him mentally, and obviously on the court, it’s been the honor of my coaching career,” Pennsauken coach Harrison Carsillo said.
Lendeborg wasn’t academically eligible to play basketball for a large portion of high school. He played on Pennsauken’s freshman team, but was held out for his sophomore and junior seasons, and most of senior year. He trained in the summer with coaches and friends from Pennsauken, but watched from the sidelines during the school year.
In a Players’ Tribune article, Lendeborg said that the turning point for him was during his senior year. One night, after staying out late with his friends playing video games, his mom confronted him and told him that he needed to focus to even graduate from Pennsauken, much less play basketball.
“This is no joke right now,” Lendeborg said in the article. “Nobody is smiling here. You have your mom up in this minivan crying her eyes out because you don’t know how to be a good son. Your own mom! Who does everything for you. Works two jobs. Shows you love no matter what. And this is how you’re being?!?!?!”
Yaxel Lendeborg averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in 40 games for Michigan last season.
During that final year, Lendeborg improved his grades enough to play the final 11 games of the high school season, even competing in the NJSIAA playoffs. But he thought his basketball career was over, until his mom set him up to attend junior college at Arizona Western College. Lendeborg wrote that she planned the going-away party without even telling him he was going, because she knew he needed that push.
From there, Lendeborg had one of the most improbable rises to the draft, transferring to Alabama-Birmingham in 2023 and then Michigan before last season, where he won Big Ten Player of the Year and an NCAA title. Lendeborg, a 6-foot-9 forward, averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in 40 games for the Wolverines.
Lendeborg was always talented, Carsillo said. His biggest problem was not believing in himself. Carsillo and Lendeborg’s mom forced him to pick up the phone after Division I schools started calling him about transferring, because he wasn’t sure if that was the right fit for him.
“He didn’t answer the phone, and I said to him, ‘If you don’t answer that phone call, I’m going to take your phone, and I’m going to smash it, or rip your sneakers.’ I [was] going to be so upset, because he didn’t believe in himself that he could actually do what we knew he could do, if he put his mind to it,” Carsillo said.
“It was a really funny moment. I obviously wasn’t going to rip his sneakers or smash his phone, but I was very upset, because it was almost just a mental thing going into it, because he had so much potential that he didn’t even see himself.”
After two years at UAB, Lendeborg was a fringe first-round prospect. He could have ended his college career there, but instead spent another year in college to develop further, and prove to himself and to NBA draft scouts that he could succeed at that highest level. Carsillo said that Lendeborg’s year at Michigan has him more confident and aware of his sky-high potential.
But what’s stood out the most to Carsillo over the years is Lendeborg’s selflessness, on and off the court. In the Final Four, Lendeborg suffered an MCL and ankle sprain. Some advised him not to play to protect his draft stock, but Lendeborg insisted on helping his teammates see it through and vowed, “I’m playing no matter what.”
At halftime of the national championship game on April 6, he said he felt “awful,” but still gritted out a 13-point, 36-minute performance in the 69-63 win over UConn.
Yaxel Lendeborg spent two seasons at UAB after attending Arizona Western College.
“That’s him,” Carsillo said. “He could have easily just said, ‘No, I’m good.’ He knows he’s going to get drafted. He knows he’s changed his family’s life. It’s amazing. That’s exactly who he is, 100%, and he was like that at Pennsauken, just much lower stakes.”
Lendeborg even has a chance to reunite with his college coach, Dusty May, who reportedly accepted the Dallas Mavericks’ head coaching job on Monday. The Mavericks hold the No. 9 pick in the draft, slightly above where Lendeborg has been projected, but Lendeborg joked Monday that he’s “going to tell him he better pick me up. If he doesn’t, I’m going to be mad. I might block him.”
The forward has grown up a lot since high school. He’s one of the oldest prospects in the draft, but he’s played only about six seasons of organized basketball. He grew up playing baseball, and told ESPN that he first learned how to play basketball through the NBA 2K video game.
“He still has so much room to grow, and he’s still learning how to become a better basketball player; it’s remarkable,” Carsillo said. “He has a little bit of self doubt, but not much anymore. This whole process with the NBA and Michigan turned his eye and turned his mindset around to be able to prove to himself, like, ‘I can do what my mother has always told me I could do.’”
Lendeborg’s mom can’t attend as many games as she used to. She’s currently nearing the end of her treatment cycle for appendix cancer, which she initially kept hidden from Lendeborg to keep him focused on his season at Michigan. But planned to be in Brooklyn on Tuesday to watch her son’s NBA journey begin — a journey he’d never have come close to if not for her pushing him every step of the way.
