I'm confused, but that's my resting state.
I suggest you leave the joystick aside, and get two Arduinos each with an NRF24L01+ taking to each other.
Even if they aren't saying much more than "Hello World!".
Getting this radio set to work has frustrated the best of the heavies. It is essential that you find and work from complete and correct example code for this.
Here's one that is poplular, google for and look at a few others and see what you learn.
Please remember, the joystick logic is an entirely separate matter from getting the radios to work.
a7