SAN FRANCISCO – Yaxel Lendeborg laughs when reflecting on his path to the NBA, where the Warriors this week selected him in the first round of the 2026 draft. He grins while revealing the laboratory in which he developed his ability to process the game in real time. It wasn’t inside a gym. It wasn’t while running up flights of stairs. It wasn’t hours upon hours of video study. It was, well, let him tell it:
“I know this is going to sound crazy,” Lendeborg tells NBC Sports Bay Area, “but I definitely learned that from 2K. It’s going to sound crazy, but I promise you I learned that from 2K.”
Lendeborg’s lab, he insists, was a comfortable seat, a sturdy controller and a video screen. A place where he can tune his eyes and mind to a simulated game. NBA2K was, for him, another basketball coach.
It was, however, effective enough to guide Lendeborg through three colleges, from 78 games at Arizona Western Community College to 72 games at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to 40 games – and the national championship – at the University of Michigan as a senior.“I played...