Dylan Cardwell in January 2025. (AP Photo/Kathryn Skeean)
THIS IS SPORTS SPECTRUM’S WHAT’S UP PODCAST
WITH ANNABELLE HASSELBECK
On today’s episode of Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast, we have Auburn men’s basketball player Dylan Cardwell.
We’re so excited to talk to Dylan about his “Chillin with Dylan” show, his life-changing trip to Honduras, how the Lord is moving within his team, and his desire to serve in ministry after basketball.
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg with the ball against TCU on Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Yaxel Lendeborg barely played basketball in high school because of academic eligibility issues. He started his post-preps career at a community college, Arizona Western College in Yuma. Yet, there he was celebrating a Players Era title with his Michigan teammates Friday night, holding the enormous ring he received for being named tournament MVP.
The 23-year-old forward had just posted a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double in an utterly dominant 101-61 victory over Gonzaga. It was the Wolverines’ second top-25 win in as many days. They took home $1 million in NIL money and beat their three opponents by an average of 36.7 points.
Lendeborg scored 17.3 points and pulled down 7.3 rebounds per game in the tournament, while shooting 63.0% from the field and 43.8% from 3-point range. He is the team’s leading scorer (16.0), second-leading rebounder (7.6) and second-leading assist man (3.3) through its first seven games.
“We know we’re capable of national championships,” he said after Friday’s victory. “As long as we continue to grow together, we’re going to be the best in the country and nobody will be able to stop us.”
Lendeborg has been guided along his unlikely journey by God. He has publicly shared about his faith at various times and declares that he is “blessed and highly favored” in his Instagram bio.
When he was in high school, Lendeborg spent countless hours playing video games. His grades — and basketball career — suffered as a result. Conversations with his mom, Yissel Raposo, helped Lendeborg change his mindset as he prepared to enter college.
After three years at Arizona Western, Lendeborg landed at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) for an opportunity to compete at the Division-I level. He was an All-American Conference first-team selection and named the league’s defensive player of the year in both of his seasons at UAB.
“This still doesn’t feel real to me, but I thank God every day for helping me and guiding me through this new chapter in my life,” he told UAB’s athletics website in 2023.
Coming off a season in which he averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds, Lendeborg became the top-ranked player in the transfer portal when he decided to enter his name. He also went through the NBA Draft evaluation process and may have been a lottery pick.
Ultimately, he decided to stay in school and play for coach Dusty May, who’s in his second year at Michigan but faced Lendeborg when he coached Florida Atlantic. Reflecting on his path to Ann Arbor in a recent interview with MLive.com, Lendeborg gave thanks to the Lord for guiding his steps.
“It’s all a blessing to be honest with you,” he said. “All glory to God and thank you to my mom as well for helping me out and digging me out of the hole that I was in.”
Tattooed on Lendeborg’s left shoulder are three crosses, visual evidence of how important his relationship with God is to him.
“I pray before games to let Him know I believe,” he said. “And I’m always grateful for what He’s done for me.”
The Wolverines (7-0) have this week off before they host Rutgers (5-3) in their Big Ten Conference opener Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET.
Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel entered the NBA this season with high expectations as the No. 4 overall pick from the 2025 NBA Draft. A few months in, he’s exceeded nearly all of them.
The 6-foot-6 guard is averaging 19.4 points per game — more than any other rookie in the league — and he delivered his first signature performance with a career-high 32 points Nov. 14 against the Milwaukee Bucks, the team he grew up watching in his hometown.
But for Knueppel, everything remains rooted in gratitude and his faith in God.
“It’s such a blessing from God to be able to enter the NBA,” he told ESPN shortly after being drafted, “but to be able to share it with your family is beyond comprehension, so it’s such a special moment for us and for me.”
That gratitude stretches back generations. Knueppel’s great-grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Germany and became a pastor, planting seeds of faith that have shaped the Knueppel family for decades.
“It’s really a generational thing,” Kon said earlier this month on the “Non-Microwaved Truth” podcast with C.L. Whiteside, a former high school coach of Knueppel’s. “I think that’s how it’s supposed to be. That’s how God wants people to live. He wants Christians to live that out and pass it down to their kids and be a generational thing.”
Knueppel is one of five brothers, all raised in a home where Christian formation was as foundational as basketball. He attended Lutheran school from kindergarten through senior year, spending his high school years at Wisconsin Lutheran High School, where he blossomed into the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year before spending one season in college at Duke.
“That was something that was important to my parents — having a Christian education,” he said on the podcast. “I think just being involved in something like that on a daily basis is really good. It makes it easier on the parents, especially when both of my parents worked, to be able to know and trust that we’re getting good information about Jesus in school.”
But his faith wasn’t just something he absorbed. As he matured, he began sharing it too. During high school, Knueppel once gave the message at one of the school’s daily chapel gatherings, though he admitted it was uncomfortable territory for him in front of that many people.
Privately, his interest in Scripture has only grown. When asked on the podcast who his favorite person in the Bible is — other than Jesus — he pointed to Job.
“I just think it’s so countercultural to have a bunch of bad things happen to you — like catastrophic things happen to you — and still remain so strong in your faith,” Knueppel said. “I think it’s really remarkable.”
Staying connected to Jesus in the whirlwind of the NBA lifestyle takes intentionality, but Knueppel has already established rhythms that ground him.
“I think one of the cool things the NBA does is about an hour before tip, there’s chapel — before every game,” he said on the podcast. “Obviously, the lifestyle of an NBA player, you’re not home to go to church on Sunday, which is tough. It’s tough not be part of a home congregation. But being able to have that chapel opportunity before every game is awesome, because there’s 82 games.”
He also stays rooted through a group chat with friends as they work through a Bible-in-a-year plan on the Bible app.
And as his platform grows, Knueppel is already thinking intentionally about how to use it. He points to athletes like Tim Tebow, C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy as models for faithfulness in the spotlight, calling Tebow “an excellent example.”
“In all of the interviews and postgame stuff, just making sure it’s known Who you’re grateful to and why you have the ability to play,” Knueppel said. “Those guys who just share on a regular basis and it feels natural, I think that’s something I’ll do.”
Knueppel and the Hornets (4-13) are back in action at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday against the New York Knicks (10-6) at home.
