A few years ago, renowned NBA trainer Chris Brickley wanted to start his own high school All-American game.
Growing up, Brickley, 36, routinely watched the McDonald’s All-American Game and Jordan Brand Classic, which showcase the rising stars of the basketball world in a grassroots setting. After establishing himself as basketball’s pre-eminent NBA and college trainer over the past decade, Brickley determined it was time to follow his longtime passion project and expand his reach into the high school realm.
Advertisement
Last Friday, Brickley launched the inaugural Chris Brickley Invitational, a high school All-American showcase with a wrinkle: Each player gets to train with and learn from him. Brickley invited 20 of the top high school players in the country — of all grades, not just seniors — to Chicago and put them through individualized workouts, film work and one-on-one settings and then a five-on-five game.
The group included 2023 McDonald’s All-Americans Matas Buzelis, Sean Stewart, Jeremy Fears Jr. and Elmarko Jackson, as well as top-ranked players such as Kansas enrollee Chris Johnson and 2024s Jason Asemota and Vyctorius Miller, among others.
“It’s like a basketball player’s dream experience,” Brickley said. “I feel like those games are all amazing, classic games, but I feel like this is going to be a game mixed with elite workouts. It’s with my own twist.”
Brickley, who has 1.5 million followers on Instagram, has become arguably the most famous trainer in the world, cultivating a viral online following as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and rappers Drake and J. Cole, among many other basketball superstars and celebrities, have played in his famous Black Ops Basketball runs and trained with him in New York.
Brickley and his manager, Alex Koblenz, began discussing the concept of a high school showcase several years ago. After Brickley and Bose partnered last year, he determined toward the end of 2022 that they’d be an ideal presenting partner for the showcase. Brickley has more brand partnerships than most NBA stars; among them are Bose, Puma, Wilson, NBA 2K, Bodyarmor, Lids, Google Pixel and Therabody. He was the first trainer to get his own sneaker deal and to be included in NBA 2K. Several of his partners — Puma, Lids, Wilson and Bodyarmor — provided jerseys, hats, basketballs and drinks, respectively, for the Chris Brickley Invitational.
Advertisement
Though Brickley’s gym at Summit New York is considered iconic to some — his videos there have amassed numerous views on social media — he determined that Chicago’s 167 Green basketball court was the best choice given its central location.
Once he had a partner and the location, Brickley had to find the right players. Brickley, who has a jam-packed schedule centered around training roughly 60 NBA clients, said this was the hardest he’s worked on any endeavor over the past decade.
“To be honest, I went in as blind as humanly possible,” Brickley said. “I didn’t speak to anyone that ever had anything to do with any of the games that I spoke about. This whole thing’s been a learning process.”
While looking for players, Brickley largely ignored conventional rankings because he feels “the rankings aren’t always right.” Instead, he watched high school games and film on top prospects, identifying traits and skill sets that resonated with his basketball sensibilities. Each player is among the best in the country, but Brickley picked specific players who had characteristics he was fond of, particularly urgency.
“You’ll see kids, and some kids will be too cool,” Brickley said. “You can tell by the way they play, with their body language, their attitude. I didn’t want players like that. I wanted players that were urgent to get better. That’s a player-development dream, to work with an elite player who wants to even get better.”
Following his player workouts in the mornings and early afternoons, Brickley spent multiple hours on the phone with parents, AAU and high school coaches, managers and agents to gather intel and interest on prospects for the event. He also identified and reached out to each player himself, aiming to forge a personal connection.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” Brickley said. “I’ve never done that in my life … really time-consuming. But I’m happy I did because I’m really excited.”
Advertisement
His strong social media presence is a draw for the showcase. Brickley and his team post clips and highlights from the workouts and scrimmages, exposing many of the players to a broader audience that might not be there for them yet.
“I’m big on empowering players,” Brickley said. “So, I’m just gonna be live-posting throughout the workouts and throughout the game. It’s been cool. I’ve had a few NBA scouts, and a few college coaches reached out to me like, ‘Man, I can’t wait to see some of the content from the workouts and from the game.’ Content is king in 2023.”
Brickley held a one-on-one film session with each player, allowing him to get to know each of them and vice versa. He also adjusted his typical coaching style, acknowledging he’s dealing with younger players who don’t have formal, high-level training or the typical life experience of his typical clients.
“I need to understand I’m dealing with 15-year-olds and 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds,” Brickley said. “So, just patience. And then also, I feel like with the NBA guys, if you can accept your role, you can make a living for a lot of years. But when you’re in high school, all of these kids are the stars of their team. They’re kind of working on everything right now. They don’t know what their role is going to be. So, it’s fun from the standpoint of ‘we’re working on everything; we’re gonna touch on everything.’”
Brickley isn’t looking to change a player’s mechanics after one workout. He’s more so evaluating where each of them is from a mentality standpoint. If he clicks with players, he’ll work with them down the road as they advance in high school, enter college and/or get drafted into the NBA.
For the younger players, the sophomores and juniors, Brickley hopes they’ll return to future iterations of the invitational.
“In a perfect world, I mesh with every kid and they all come back,” Brickley said. “But I understand life. Some of the kids might not come back. I guess it would just be a case-by-case basis. We’ll see how they like it. My goal is that they all want to come back, for sure.”
Advertisement
Nonetheless, Brickley is clear that he doesn’t want to take any of these players from their trainers. “I respect all trainers,” he said. “I respect the craft.”
Brickley already is planning the second annual Chris Brickley Invitational, with a much longer runway than the inaugural event. The inaugural event had only a few months of preparation.
His goal is for the event — sooner rather than later — to be mentioned alongside the McDonald’s All-American Game and Jordan Brand Classic as one of the most respected high school showcases in the country.
“I definitely want to expand it,” he said. “This year, we’re not selling tickets. Next year, or maybe the year after that, the goal is to do it at a big arena and have it on ESPN or whatever channel. But this is Year 1. Year 2 will be even bigger.”
(Photo of Chris Brickley and Jimmy Butler: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k21pam5oZXxzfJFsZmlsX2aGcK%2FHq6CsZZKntqS3y56wZqGeq7a1rdOipqeZnGK7o62MoaCgoF2osKm7zqVkm5mjoLK1rsClo2g%3D