10 NBA Players’ Insane Off-Season Training Regimens

Image via Complex Original

NBA legend Steve Nash complimented reigning MVP Stephen Curry, calling him possibly the most skilled player to ever play the game. Curry is so good we are normalized by it at this point, but he still has to work at it. He develops his footwork by doing weekly Zumba classes in the offseason. He also puts himself through one of the most intense ball-handling drill sessions and core workouts out there. Try to test your hand-eye coordination by seeing what his trainers make him do in this video clip. And, oh, remember to always keep your head up while you dribble. 

Bulls center Joakim Noah entered the league a beanpole. In his rookie and second years, he averaged 6.7 points and 6.6 rebounds. During the following three seasons, Noah packed on 5 to 6 pounds of lean muscle mass and improved his stats, eventually averaging 10.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.

Seeing this NBA Inside Stuff video with big wave surfer Laird Hamilton makes it look like a swim workout is one of the most intense cardiovascular challenges you’ll ever do. Hamilton and Noah jump in the pool with what appear to be 25 to 30-pound dumbbells. To end the clip, Hamilton instructs Noah that the next one is a no-breath exercise. Noah immediately pleads, “I need a breath, bruh.” Hamilton quickly rejects: “You don’t need one. It’s overrated.” Brutal. 

Kyrie Irving has one of the quickest handles ever seen on an NBA court. Even though he’s a Cavalier, Uncle Drew is an absolute wizard with the rock. So how exactly did he get to that level of ball-handling? The video above shows renowned ball-handling specialist Micah Lancaster guiding Irving through light-speed Figure Eights and other fast dribbling drills, while throwing additional basketballs at him. After watching this, make sure to pick your bottom lip up off the ground. 

Atlanta Hawks All-Star guard Kyle Korver is a sharp-shooter. He led the league in 3-point field goal percentage during the 2014–2015 season with a resounding 47 percent behind the arc. But how? Korver began a workout routine in 2013 with Marcus Elliott, founder of the renowned P3 Peak Performance Project. Elliott introduced Korver to the concept of the misogi, a Japanese annual purification ritual that requires you to take risks and make decisions that unify one’s self with their fears. 

“There’s a jiu-jitsu concept that was introduced to me this summer called the misogi. It comes from the idea that as we get older we take fewer risks, think more inside the box, get more careful, make more decisions based on fear. To combat this, once a year you do something that you’re not sure you can do. That’s the misogi. I’m not talking a marathon—lots of people do that. It’s more like, climb to the top of the farthest mountain you can see. That’s where I’m gonna go,” Korver told Grantland last year.

One year, Elliott put Korver on a 13-foot paddle and had him paddle board 25 miles into the Pacific Ocean. Korver said dolphins and gargantuan mola began to surround his board. The following year, Korver and a few friends ran a 5K relay on the ocean floor using an 85-pound rock to weigh them down. They did it in Southern California’s shark-infested waters.

In 2014, Korver set a new all-time NBA record. He made a 3-pointer in 127 consecutive games. Paddleboards and misogi? Whatever works.

The 2015 Slam Dunk Contest winner Zach Lavine isn’t just a high riser who relies on athleticism to keep his job on the Timberwolves. Yes, we love seeing YouTube clips of him jumping head and shoulders above the rim, with albatross wing-spanned dunks reminiscent of UNLV-era Stacey Augmon back in the early ’90s. The serious work he puts in on his vertical leap, dribbling exercises with quick stutter-steps, and other lightning quick drills pays off. Watch to the end for insane dunks. 

Portland Trail Blazers’ C.J. McCollum is the kind of underdog that we love to see win. His rise is so evident, competing NBA coaches will do anything to keep him from playing on game night. McCollum came from a small Division I school, Lehigh. His brother Errick currently plays for Division II school, Goshen College.

In this workout clip, the brothers McCollum race to complete rounds of shoulder presses, knee jumps with heavy kettlebells, tricep push-ups, and sled-pushes in under a minute.

This is the NBA’s only three-time Slam Dunk Champion. At a stout 5-foot-9 height, the weight room and private sessions on the hardwood are Nate Robinson’s sanctuary. 

He’s a 14-year NBA point guard in a business where guards are a dime a dozen. With this merciless workout routine, consisting of super circuit weight training, boxing, plyometrics and calisthenics combined, you can see how he maintains his 180-pound frame at an astounding 4 percent body fat. 

Even though some might consider Robinson over the basketball hill at age 31, he still stands out from the pack.

You gotta put LeBron James on this list. Heavy lies the crown for King James, but he’s not pressed to keep the workout regime that keeps him on top a secret. The hard part is not cutting corners. 

James acknowledges that the offseason is “the real season.” In this workout video, trainer Mike Mancias sees the court like a grid, and has James hit a certain number of jump shots per spot. Later in the season data collected during these sessions will end up on his shot chart. Basically, James focuses solely on shooting, dribble-drive moves from the top of the key, and shredding his muscles with elastic band stretches and rapid fire jump rope. Review this video of LeBron’s offseason training to realize why he’s a 4-time MVP.

Kobe Bryant has done it all for 20 years. His storied work ethic is just as legendary as his stature in basketball lore. The man shoots 400 jump shots every practice, sometimes hitting 1000 strokes per arm. And it’s often during the wee hours of the night. To drive home how nuts Bryant is about training, here’s a Reddit story by one of his trainers about the sleepless 24-7 work ethic displayed during the 2012 Olympics in London:

The night before the first scrimmage I remember I had just watched ‘Casablanca’ for the first time and it was about 3:30 a.m. I lay in bed, slowly fading away when I hear my cell ring. It was Kobe. I nervously picked up.

"Hey, uhh Rob, I hope I'm not disturbing anything, right?"

"Uhh no, what's up Kob?"

"Just wondering if you could just help me out with some conditioning work, that's all."

I checked my clock. 4:15 a.m.

"Yeah sure, I'll see you in the facility in a bit."

It took me about 20 minutes to get my gear and out of the hotel. When I arrived and opened the door to the main practice floor I saw Kobe. Alone. He was drenched in sweat as if he had just taken a swim. It wasn't even 5 o’clock a.m.

We did some conditioning work for the next hour and 15 minutes. Then we entered the weight room, where he would do a multitude of strength training exercises for the next 45 minutes. After that we parted ways and he went back to the practice floor to shoot. I went back to the hotel and crashed. Wow.

I was expected to be on the floor again at about 11 o’clock a.m. I woke up feeling sleepy, drowsy, and almost pretty much every side effect of sleep deprivation. Thanks, Kobe. I had a bagel and headed to the practice facility.

This next part I remember very vividly. All the Team USA players were there, feeling good for the first scrimmage. LeBron was talking to Carmelo if I remember correctly, and Coach Krzyzewski was trying to explain something to Kevin Durant. On the right side of the practice facility was Kobe by himself shooting jumpers. And this is how our next conversation went—I went over to him, patted him on the back and said, "Good work this morning."

"Huh?"

"Like, the conditioning. Good work."

"Oh. Yeah, thanks Rob. I really appreciate it."

"So when did you finish?"

"Finish what?"

"Getting your shots up. What time did you leave the facility?"

"Oh just now. I wanted 800 makes so yeah, just now."

Now that’s a deep commitment to not suck.