Warriors’ winning formula? Three NCAA champs helped team win NBA summer league

Lendeborg soon came upon another teammate, LJ Cryer, who rolled his eyes upon seeing the loquacious rookie. Cryer played on Baylor’s title team in 2021 and the Houston squad that lost to Richard’s Gators by two points in the ’25 championship game. “We will spank both of them,” Lendeborg said on the video. This playful dialogue highlighted an inescapable truth about Golden State’s NBA summer league team. The Warriors, who earned the championship with Sunday’s 94-90 win over Cameron Boozer and Memphis, fielded a starting lineup bursting with players who have big-time winning backgrounds. Not only did Lendeborg, Richard and Cryer secure NCAA titles (nearly twice in Cryer’s case), but check out their college records. Cryer’s teams were 145-30 in three years at Baylor and two at Houston; Richard’s teams went 101-41 in one season at Belmont and three at Florida; and Lendeborg’s teams were 84-28 in two years at Alabama-Birmingham and one at Michigan. “If you look at a lot of losing teams, it’s guys trying to do too much. But I feel like Will knows his game, I know my game and so on. Guys are comfortable in their own skin, and we just go out there and try to play to the best of our ability.” “It’s definitely selflessness,” he said. “I mean, Will is on a standard contract in his second year, and he could have come out here to summer league like, ‘I’m gonna shoot more than everybody else,’ or ‘I’m going to get in my bag.’ “But he’s working on the things that are going to get him on the floor with the big team. I feel like that’s what we’re all doing. The team asked me to get up as many 3s as I can, so I go out there and do that. I’m sure they’re asking Yax something else, but we just go out there and do what we’re told.” That last item merits special mention, given Golden State’s perpetual problem with turnovers. When Cryer played at Houston, the team had to run sprints after every turnover in practice — so he got the message, and it helps explain his caution with the ball.