30 Unbelievable Facts We Bet You Never Knew Before About Steven Adams

28 May 2019, 2:17 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Steven Adams, currently playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA), is the first New Zealander to be selected in the first round of an NBA draft, and also the first player out of Pittsburgh to be selected in the first round since the year 1999. Here are some really interesting facts about the New Zealand professional basketball player:

A self-described bushman from Rotorua, New Zealand, has the honor of being the first man from his rugby-loving country to be selected in the first round of an NBA.
He was born Steven Funaki Adams, on July 20, 1993, in Rotorua, New Zealand to mother, Lilika Ngauamo and father, Sid Adams.
Adams father, Sid Adam is originally from England, but settled in New Zealand after serving in the Navy. Sid fathered 18 children with five different women.
Adams was never close to his mother and when his father died of stomach cancer in his 13th year, he went off the rails, began skipping school and started hanging out with a gang called the Mongrel Mob.
After his father’s death, Adams lost motivation and developed bad habits. His brother Warren introduced him to a fellow basketball player, Blossom Cameron, who eventually became his legal guardian after he moved in with her.
He inherited his height from his father who is 6’ 11” and he is the youngest of 18 Adams siblings. All his siblings are tall and athletics with his brother’s average height being 6’ 9” and his sister’s being 6’.
His half-sister, Valerie Adams is a dual Olympic gold medalist and four time world champion in shot-put.
It was his brother Warren again who took him to Wellington and got him enrolled into an academy run by former teammate Kenny McFadden. He also arranged for a scholarship to posh Scots College.
Adams is rumored to be dating girlfriend, Ezel Kokcu. She is an entrepreneur who immigrated to New Zealand from Turkey and owns a company named Passphere.
Adams excelled at Scots College and passed through the NCAA Clearinghouse after graduating from Scots in December 2011.

Playing for Wellington Saints, in the National Basketball League, he averaged 5.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in 15 games to be named the league’s Rookie of the Year as his team won the championship.
In order to get acclimate himself to American basketball he moved to the United States to enroll at Notre Dame Preparatory School for a semester in June 2012.
Adams joined University of Pittsburgh in 2012 and went on to play one season of college basketball. He averaged 7.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, with 2.0 blocks in 32 games and was named the Big East Preseason Rookie of the Year and earned East All-Rookie Team honors.
He declared for the NBA Draft forgoing his final three years of college. He was selected 12th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder, to become the first New Zealander to be selected in the first round of an NBA draft.
On October 30, 2013, he made his debut against Utah Jazz, and recorded two points, three rebounds, one assists, and three fouls in 18 minutes of game time.
He recorded his first double-double of his career in his fifth game of NBA career against Detroit Pistons on November 8. He scored 17 points and 10 rebounds the best of regular season in a 119-110 win.
He started 20 of 81 games in the 2013-14, season averaging 3.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks, in 14.8 minutes of game time in helping the Thunder reach the Western Conference Finals. He earned NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors.
On November 16, 2014, Adams had a career high six blocks out of Thunder’s 15 blocks, but still couldn’t take advantage because of 25 percent shooting and lost the game 69 to 65 to the Houston Rockets.
Towards the end of 2014-15, season Adams had successful surgery to repair a broken right hand and missed 11 straight games over February and March.
In his second season he started in 67 of 70 games he played averaging 7.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 0.9 assists, with 1.2 blocks per game with 25.3 minutes of play time.

Adams continued to grow from strength to strength by equaling his career high 17 points in the Thunder’s 110-115 loss to the Blazers on January 10, 2016. He made most of his 35 minutes on court, for his third double-double of the season with 10 rebounds.
Adams made a pair of free throws with 1:01 seconds remaining as Thunders held on to 108-102 win in the first game of play-off against Warriors. He finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in the game.
On October 31, 2016, he signed a four year, $100 million contract extension with the Thunder. The extension kept Adams out of restricted free agency in the following summer.
In the 102-99 loss to Houston on December 09, 2016, he scored career high 24 points and his 17 points in the first half were a career high for a half.
Adams made all 11 of his shots from the field and all five of his free throws, as he scored a career high 27 points to help Thunder beat Timberwolves 111 -107, on December 1, 2017.
On February 2, 2018, he recorded 23 points and 12 rebounds in a 114 – 100 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. In the process he reached 3,000 points to become one of the three Thunder players with 3,000 points and 350 career blocks.
He recorded 22 points and 17 rebounds in a 120-112 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers On February 13, 2018. His 17 rebounds include 12 offensive rebounds to become first Thunder player to do so.
Out of season best 66 rebounds for Thunder, Adams grabbed a career high 23 rebounds in a 132-113 victory over the Kings, in the game played on December 19, 2018. He also recorded 20 points in the game.
He kept on showing better result with each new season and in 2018-19, season he averaged 13.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1 block per game with 33.4 minutes of play time in 80 games. His points, rebound, assist and steals per game are the best of his career.
Adams’ autobiography ‘My Life, My Fight’ is co-written with Madeleine Chapman and published at Penguin Random House.