Moments after Oklahoma fell to Rhode Island in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Trae Young sent a text message to trainer Travelle Gaines: “I’m ready to get to work.” Six days later, Young was in Los Angeles to train three times a day under Gaines’s tutelage. Despite Young's becoming the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in scoring and assists, most analysts focused more on the freshman's slight frame and late-season struggles than his need-to-apply-pressure-at-halfcourt range and the elite playmaking abilities that make him one of the year's most dynamic prospects.

In just eight weeks, Young was able to put on 15 pounds of lean muscle and cut his body-fat percentage down from five to two. This wasn't easy for the naturally lean guard. “It was a tricky combination of figuring out how many calories he burns a day, and how much food he had to consume to get the calories to the point where he’s gaining weight,” said Gaines. “Once we figured it out, though—once we knew when to get him that protein shake—the rest was hard work on his end and direction on ours.”

Before Thursday's NBA Draft, we caught up with Young—who, along with LiAngelo Ball, is participating in Foot Locker’s new “One and Done” campaign—to discuss the processes of putting on weight, changing his picky eating habits, and finding ways to curb his passion for chicken fingers. At least, for a little while.

GQ: The pre-draft training push is finally over. How'd you do?

Trae Young: I can definitely see the improvements I made, and I’m very pleased with it. In meeting with teams, they could see the changes—not only in my body and the way I look but in the way I played and worked out. I’m lucky to have a strength coach like Travelle. He helped me with exactly what I wanted to focus on.

What was your diet like before going down there to Los Angeles?

I’m not going to lie to you: It was bad. I was eating chicken strips and pizza almost every day. That really isn’t good for you.

I’m still a kid—I'm only 19. I’ll still eat chicken strips and pizza every now and then. But I definitely have worked myself over to eating as healthily as I can. I drink a lot more water now. And the thing that helped me put on all that muscle and the weight was the protein shakes. That was big for me.

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