From Grind to Greatness: NBA trainer Chris Brickley on defining his legacy and releasing his third sneaker with PUMA

Chris Brickley's influence across the NBA is ubiquitous. 

The most esteemed trainer for the game's greats turned his New York gym into an off-season laboratory for NBA players to work on their games and compete in some of the most star-studded off-season runs ever.

When an NBA player needs to fine-tune their skills, Brickley is the man they call. 

Brickley's rise to the top is a story of grit, determination, and hard work, getting his start with the pros training J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony as an intern with the New York Knicks, who soon elevated him to player development coordinator in 2013. 

From there, Brickley took his training to another level, going out on his own to become the most influential trainer in basketball, transcending his craft to become a cultural icon, from appearing in the NBA 2K video game franchise to releasing his own sneaker with PUMA, as the first-ever basketball trainer to sign a sneaker deal.

Now, dropping his third shoe with the brand, Brickley continues to blaze a trail while cementing himself as a cultural icon.

"It's amazing. At this point, PUMA feels like a family. I've been there for five, six years," Brickley told The Sporting News.

"My first two basketball sneakers were super basketball, they looked like really on-court shoes that you can't really wear off the court, so going into the third one, I wanted it to be almost the opposite.

"So it's All-Pro NITRO 2, which is a technology shoe, which is light, the material is supposed to be light and I took it and I put leather on it, I put suede on it and I made it like an off-court/on-court shoe. So I went away from how I did the first two and I'm definitely happy I did that. Just wearing it off the court, it's a cool vibe."

The PUMA All-Pro NITRO 2 Empire Legacy by Chris Brickley features PUMA's NITRO SQD foam for explosive energy return and a lateral stability frame for sharp movements, with the suede colourway and detailed accents, showcasing Brickley's personal style.

PUMA

Making his name in New York, the sneaker feels like a love letter to the city, featuring the menu from the deli he visited every day at the start of his career, iconic street signs on the sole, and his personal motto "Keep Going, Keep Growing" on the tongue, with the box displaying the view of the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building from his apartment. 

"I would be delusional to say that New York hasn't played a giant part of my success," Brickley said.

"Being in New York City, whether you're an NBA player, you're an artist, you're coming through New York City at some point, so earlier in my career, that played a giant part, being at the Mecca, being here in New York.

"So, having lived in New York City, two different lives in a sense. One where I'm almost like homeless and one where I'm living in a penthouse looking at the Empire State Building. So it's been really, really cool."

This summer has been no different for Brickley, with a host of NBA stars coming through the gym, including LeBron James, Devin Booker, Jaylen Brown, Donovan Mitchell, Michael Porter Jr., and many more. 

"It's been a great offseason. I've had probably the most individual workouts I've done over the course of an offseason since I've been doing this. So it's been really good," Brickley said. "I had a bunch of guys for two or three weeks."

Brickley's Summit gym workouts and legendary Black-Ops runs dominate social media over the summer, giving us a glimpse into players' off-season work, but beyond the training, sneaker releases, and cultural influence, Brickley is building something bigger. 

A legacy.

"I want a basketball fan to look at the game and look at generations. I feel like there hasn't been many...there's been some special coaches that have done this, but where I've captured a whole generation's greats, and then the next whole generation's greats, and then the next," Brickley said.

"I want to get as many generations' greats as I can. So I'm doing this till the wheels fall off. I love it. I'm super passionate about it, I wake up every morning trying to become a better trainer, trying to get my workouts better, and that's the goal."

The PUMA All-Pro NITRO 2 Empire Legacy by Chris Brickley is available now.