Knicks Ex Carmelo Anthony Inspired a Kawhi Leonard Championship

New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony may have played a role in Kawhi Leonard's championship season with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.

Today, they're suing them. Yesterday, they were inspiring them.

The Toronto Raptors reaching the NBA Finals for the first and only time in franchise history after adding Kawhi Leonard in 2018-19 likely says more about the star's impact on Ontario's finest than it did the team itself. Leonard has only been a part of one title-winning squad since leaving the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, but despite playing at an elite level when he wasn't injured, his ability to be the No. 1 option in Toronto spoke levels to his game.

While his ending with the Spurs was all but pretty, it was skills he learned from NBA trainer Chris Brickley, formerly of the New York Knicks, that helped him to develop into an All-Star and champion.

"In 2017, I worked with a few guys, but specifically with Kawhi Leonard," Brickley told Emily Austin on The Hoop Chat. "This was before he was an All-Star. He came up to me and was like 'I want to learn Melo's moves.'

At the time, Carmelo Anthony was just finishing his time with the Knicks, the last lengthy stop of his NBA career even though he was still putting up solid shooting performances at the tail-end. Leonard wanted to improve his shooting and keep playing at a high level, so modeling his game after one of the league's top talents seemed to be the way to go. 

Thus, Brickley asked Anthony if he could work with Leonard.

“(Anthony) said sure,” Brickley said. “(Leonard and I) worked and he had a breakout season. He won a championship, became an All-Star and won Finals MVP, and I was like, ‘Wow.’"

That success was enough to convince Brickley to leave the Knicks and work with individual players full-time.

"I was like, ‘If I could do this with other players, that’d be so dope," Brickley said.

Unfortunately for Leonard, he hasn't been able to replicate that championship success since leaving Toronto. He'll look to do so again with the Los Angeles Clippers this season, with a visit to Anthony's former dwelling of Madison Square Garden looming on Nov. 6.

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