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

The Oklahoma City Thunder had just lost one of its star players to a trade with the Houston Rockets. When James Harden left for Texas, the Thunder acquired guards Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb, along with two first-round picks and a second-round pick. They used one of those picks in the 12th slot of the night to select the 7’0 center from Pitt: Steven Adams.

At training camp in the summer of 2013, Steven claims that Perkins threw him an elbow and scowled, “I’m the only silverback!”

Joining the roster in the absence of Harden certainly put pressure on the budding basketball player. Aside from what he’d observed in an old video game one of his brothers owned, Steven didn’t know much about the league he had just joined. According to Windhorst, teammate Nick Collison said:

"“He’s not easily impressed, he doesn’t take things too seriously. He didn’t grow up with the dream to play in the NBA, and it shows.”"

This perceived indifference wasn’t always admired by the superstar players around him. In fact, Steven’s scrappy attitude resulted in a number of skirmishes early on. The first of which included none other than former teammate Kendrick Perkins. At training camp in the summer of 2013, Steven claims that Perkins threw him an elbow and scowled, “I’m the only silverback!”

To which, of course, Steven laughed.

"“You saw right away this kid just came to work,” Perkins later told Windhorst. “I don’t think he even knew who a lot of the opponents were when he came into the league. He wasn’t star struck.”"