LEANDER, Texas — The Mexico City Capitanes were fresh off a three-hour bus ride when they found themselves before a curious audience just outside of Austin, Texas. A cluster of children in karate uniforms craned their necks over a barrier at an athletics facility and wondered aloud whether they were looking at “famous basketball players.”
After traveling a winding path to their first season in the N.B.A.’s developmental G League, the Capitanes were getting ready for an afternoon practice and had no qualms about sharing a gymnasium with a bustling martial arts tournament.
The Capitanes are an important part of the N.