The OKC Thunder Kiwi Bible – An ultimate guide to Steven Adams

Early Loss:

When Steven was born, his father was already in his 60s. After dealing with the effects of a car accident and a long struggle with stomach cancer, Sid died when Steven was only 13.

The death was a major blow, and consequently Steven’s mother couldn’t control him on her own. Without his father’s strict military regime, he was lost. As a result, he began skipping school and even became involved with a local gang called the Mongrel Mob.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Adams said, “I didn’t have that parental guidance, and I kind of took advantage of it because I was a stupid idiot.”

Soon enough, Steven’s siblings recognized that he needed help. Older brother Warren took Steven under his wing and moved him to Wellington, a town some 300 miles south of Rotorua. By the time he was 14 years old, Steven was already 6’5″, which gave Warren an idea.

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He called his old friend Kenny McFadden, an American basketball player who played professionally in New Zealand before staying there to coach after his retirement. McFadden saw potential in the wayward giant, and therefore arranged for him to receive a scholarship to an expensive Presbyterian boarding school in Wellington known as Scots College.