NEW YORK — In the first days of Knicks training camp, one of the early tasks was a conditioning drill, and when it was Obi Toppin's turn, the rookie asked the trainers what the record was for the test. He marked that as a goal — and his first achievement in the NBA.
"I feel like me being who I am, me wanting to grind, me wanting to always win, I just feel like I always put in the work when conditioning time comes up, it's like I'm automatically ready for it," Toppin said in a Zoom call Thursday. "When I go out there, I try my best to have the highest score. I always ask what the highest score is so I can beat it. We had a conditioning test and I asked what the highest score was and I had to beat it."
Although Knicks sources said they don't keep an official list and that this was based on the trainer's recollections, the agreement was that the record was real and that Toppin was given a time to beat — and shattered it.
