While he may be seven seasons and three teams removed from serving as a member of the OKC Thunder, Steven Adams clearly still holds a special place for the ball club in his heart.
During a recent catch up with Spurs legend Manu Ginobili out in Baltimore for an All Blacks New Zealand Rugby Team interview, the two were seen taking playful jabs at one another for their sports fandoms and allegiances.
When Adams jokingly asked if he was studying the All Blacks' way of play because he felt they were better than his home team Argentina, Ginobili clapped back, saying it's a "fair assessment, like probably Spurs with Thunder."
During their respective careers with these clubs, Oklahoma City and San Antonio squared off against one another on multiple occasions in the postseason, though only the Spurs successfully ran the playoff gauntlet and won NBA Championships during this era.
In response, Adams was physically sent a back, laughing and clapping his hands, loudly shouting "damn" and admitting that the slight at his Thunder tenure was "well played."
Clearly, all this time removed from his last game with the club back in 2020, it's evident that while you may be able to take the big man out of OKC, you can't take OKC out of the big man.
Without a doubt, this is yet another reason why Adams is still, to this day, such a beloved figure of Thunder lore.
Thunder, Spurs rivalry still alive and well
The 2010s were certainly a grand old time when it came to the rivalry between the Thunder and Spurs, but now, midway through the 2020s, one could argue that the tension between these two clubs has never been higher.
Between the frequent shots Victor Wembanyama takes at the expense of OKC and its players and last year's highly intense, seven-game bout in the Western Conference Finals, the two teams facing off against one another has become must-watch TV.
As a result of these recent happenings, they are widely regarded as arguably the hottest rivalry in the entire league at the moment and were hand-selected by the schedule-makers to face off to kick off the upcoming 2026-27 campaign.
The Tim Duncan-led Spurs and the Kevin Durant/ Russell Westbrook-led Thunder undoubtedly were heated rivals back in the day.
Now, with Wembanyama leading the charge out in San Antonio and the two-time reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander serving as the cornerstone for Oklahoma City, both the present and future state of this strife seem to be heading toward exciting new heights.
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