Chris Brickley's original plan in basketball didn't work out, but even though an unorthodox journey took him a different route, there's nothing about it he would change.
Chris Brickley was exactly like everyone else growing up – he aspired to make it big in the sports world. He's done exactly that, but it didn't quite go the way he envisioned.
The 38-year-old basketball trainer walked on at the University of Louisville in January 2008 in an effort to go pro. But once he realized playing wasn’t exactly in his long-term future, Brickley took up coaching, becoming a grad assistant with Ole Miss ("it was rough," the Manchester, N.H. native said), and then an assistant with Fairleigh Dickinson.
After that, Brickley said he couldn’t even get a high school coaching job in New Jersey, but he "out of the blue" scored an internship with the New York Knicks.
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While working at MSG, though, he got the promotion of a lifetime – after ignoring the very locker room he worked in.
Brickley says during the preseason, Carmelo Anthony missed a game-winning shot, and he was told not to talk to him after the game.
But he went against the grain, which he said "changed my life."
"I played basketball, I know what it’s like to miss that shot, so I just told him how I felt," Brickley said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. "The next day, he went into the office, and he said ‘I want him to be my trainer.’"
"It happened that quickly," Brickley says, "but I guess that’s the power of a franchise player."
Brickley says he owes "everything" to Anthony – "without him… I don’t know what would’ve been next." He also owes plenty to Phil Jackson. When he came on board, Brickley says he was the only person that didn’t get fired. Jackson then named him the team's director of player personnel.
Now roughly a decade later, Brickley boasts over 3 million followers on Instagram and has formed friendships with some of the game’s best.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant are just some of the All-Stars to get some work in at his gym this offseason at the Summit apartment building in Manhattan. The building also was home to a celebrity game that went viral a couple of years ago, which included Justin Bieber, Drake, and Quavo – so it isn't just NBA stars who head to Midtown to visit Brickley.
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Brickley is a BODY ARMOR partner, and says he shares similar values with the hydration beverage company, which is how he’s been able to maintain relationships with some of the best basketball players of all time.
"Just everything about it is real. Real ingredients, real flavor, and it goes back to my brand. Just being myself, being authentic, being real, my brand aligns with BODY ARMOR," Brickley said. "Since I’ve been in the training game, my goal was always to be at the top, and I think BODY ARMOR’s goal is to be at the top. Both of our brands align. They aligned when I first signed with them, and they still align."
Over the weekend, his hometown celebrated "Chris Brickley Day," where new courts were built, and giveaways, including Puma sneakers and headphones, were aplenty.
It’s not exactly how Brickley drew up his basketball future, but it’s quite a nice consolation prize.
"The goal was to be the LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, whatever. Couldn’t do that, but never in my wildest dreams did I think the reality of my life was going to happen," he says. "But, day by day, keep grinding, and you hope for the best."
Brickley says he sits back and reflects on his journey "more often than you think." But the grind isn’t done yet.
His presence on social media is immense, but Brickley plans to one day get back to where it all started.
"I’m super hungry and motivated. Down the line, 100% I’ll get back into coaching, maybe even on the executive side to put together an NBA team, I think that’d be super dope…" Brickley says.
"I get offered jobs every summer, but right now, nothing beats having these amazing partners like BODY ARMOR and being able to control my day, my narrative, and who I work with. That’s the best feeling in the world."
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