The Vegas Summer League trophy is heading to Golden State, and it didn’t come easy. On Sunday night, the Warriors knocked off the Memphis Grizzlies 94-90 to win the 2026 championship, pushing their tournament record to 5-1 and denying a Grizzlies squad that had looked like the team to beat all week.
The hero of the game was Yaxel Lendeborg, the 11th overall pick in this year’s draft. The 23-year-old forward put up 21 points and 10 rebounds, added two steals, and shot an efficient 9-for-18 from the floor. He wasn’t just the best player on the court. He was the guy who made the biggest plays when the game tightened up in the fourth quarter.
Lendeborg got the championship game MVP award, which felt inevitable after watching him work. He outplayed Memphis’s two most dangerous Summer League weapons, Cameron Boozer and Cedric Coward, neither of whom could find a rhythm against the Warriors’ switching defense down the stretch.
What makes Lendeborg interesting for the Warriors beyond this summer is what he already did before he got to Vegas. He won a national title at Michigan last season. He’s a guy who has been winning at every level, and Golden State clearly sees him as a piece that can contribute right now while they try to maximize whatever is left of Stephen Curry’s prime.
But Lendeborg didn’t do it alone. Deivon Smith, an undrafted guard out of St. John’s, came off the bench and dropped 21 points. That was a surprise even for people who watched him in college. Smith averaged just 8.3 points as a senior and shot 38 percent from the field. In Vegas he looked like a different player entirely. He attacked the rim, knocked down pull-up jumpers, and played with a confidence that never showed up in his collegiate box scores.
For the Grizzlies, this one stings. They had the deeper roster. They had Boozer and Coward, who are a tier above most players in this summer league setting. They also had NBA experience on the bench with Javon Small, Taylor Hendricks, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper. But none of that mattered when the game came down to the last five minutes. The Warriors executed better. They got the stops they needed. They walked out of Vegas with the trophy.
Memphis will shake this off. Summer league is summer league. But if you’re a Warriors fan, it’s hard not to feel good about what Lendeborg and Smith just showed.
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