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Grayson Allen has managed to carve out a place for himself in the NBA since making the leap to the pros after cementing himself as one of the most hateable college basketball players in recent memory during his time at Duke, and he heads into the upcoming season packing a fair amount of muscle after adding 35 pounds to his frame.
Mike Krzyzewski knew what it took to put together a talented basketball team during the more than 40 seasons he spent as the head coach at Duke, but those squads didn’t feature a ton of guys who went on to secure Superstar Status in the NBA.
There are some notable exceptions including Grant Hill, Kyrie Irving, Jason Taytum, and (arguably) Zion Williamson, but the vast majority of Blue Devils who ended up playing at the next level after doing their thing for Coach K are best known for being roleplayers as opposed to all-around phenoms.
Grayson Allen certainly falls under that umbrella, as the guard whose college legacy was tarnished by his reputation as a serial tripper is gearing up for his seventh season a year after the Phoenix Suns became the fourth team he’s played for since he being drafted by the Jazz with the 21st overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
The 28-year-old spent his first few seasons coming off the bench before proving what he has what it takes to be a starter, and he apparently took his offseason conditioning pretty seriously this year when you consider he said he’s tipping the scales at 230 pounds after saying he was closer to 195 last season—a 35 lb. increase.
Grayson Allen on bulking up over the summer: “Each offseason I’ve put on a little bit of muscle, and this offseason I started lifting a little bit sooner. So a little bit of it was unintentional.”
Said he went from 195 to 230 pounds#MuscleWatch #UnintentionallySwole
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) September 30, 2024
It would be a bit of a stretch to call the physical transformation “dramatic,” but Allen certainly looked a bit beefier in the photo he took at this year’s media day (on the right) compared to the one he posed for prior to last season.
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Not too shabby.