He did yoga. He experimented with intermittent fasting. He tweaked his diet and began sleeping much better. By the time Andre Drummond came back to work for this NBA season, the 6-foot-10, 279-pound center for the Detroit Pistons was proud of the work he’d put into his summer body.

There was also one more part of his vacation that he couldn’t wait to share with his teammates. And it was something they were not expecting to hear from somebody in such fantastic shape.

“I’ve...