Steven Adams Tells A Funny Story About His Pre-NBA Draft Workouts

Everywhere he's been, Steven Adams has proven to be a good teammate who contributes to his ball club's winning ways. As a matter of fact, even before Adams played a single minute of official NBA action, he was already quite the team player.

In a recent appearance on “The Young Man and the Three” podcast, the Houston Rockets center flashed back to his pre-NBA Draft days. While aspiring athletes strive to impress as many teams as possible during this stage of their career, Adams had another good reason to attend multiple pre-draft workouts.

“I was trying to go and work out for as many teams as possible because you get to keep the training gear,” he admitted. “I was collecting all the training gear, all the T-shirts and stuff.”

Adams, who spent just one season at Pittsburgh before declaring for the 2013 NBA Draft, went on to share the teams that allowed him to get his hands on free apparel. “I got Sacramento stuff, Boston stuff, and the Phoenix Suns,” he enumerated. “I was just getting all this gear and then taking it back home for the boys.”

That year, the Suns had the fifth overall pick; the Kings picked seventh; and the Celtics would make a selection at No. 17 (though this pick ended up getting traded). Both Phoenix and Sacramento passed on Adams, but he was already off the board by the time that the Celtics were on the clock, as the Oklahoma City Thunder drafted him at No. 12.

Even before the likes of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook benefited from Adams' hard screens and tenacious rebounding, the big Kiwi was apparently exerting a lot of effort to please his friends back home. “Some of the other players who were doing draft workouts just left their [training gear]. I was like, ‘Bro, can I have it?’” Adams added.

After seven seasons with the Thunder, the 32-year-old has since played for three other teams, with Houston being his fourth stop in the league. Adams has helped several teammates along the way, but in all likelihood, his friends back in New Zealand have never forgotten his act of thoughtfulness 12 years ago.