Africa-Press – Gambia. If Steven Adams never plays for the Tall Blacks it will prove the biggest regret of his basketball career.
Into his ninth season in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies, the 28-year-old is yet to don the black singlet on the international stage. The odds of it happening any time soon don’t appear flash.
Adams’ reluctance to suit up for the Tall Blacks is a shame.
The big centre’s frustrations with Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) are well documented and detailed in his biography, My Life, My Fight.
Unable to fork out the thousands of dollars to represent New Zealand at age-group level as a youngster, Adams is in no rush to help out BBNZ and the Tall Blacks now he’s a multi-millionaire. It’s a longstanding grudge, which continues to rumble on.
“Some might expect me to be the Basketball New Zealand poster child, but I did the opposite of rising through the ranks of national junior teams,” Adams said in his book. “Being in a national team is far too expensive for most kids – me included.”
His longtime mentor and NBL great Kenny McFadden previously said Adams would have likely played for New Zealand already had he been better supported by BBNZ in his youth.
His international basketball stance is a stark contrast to Dallas Mavericks’ Slovenian superstar Luka Dončić.
Dončić, one of the top 10 players in the NBA, flies back to Europe in the off-season for World Cup and Olympic qualifying tournaments.
He was critical in helping Slovenia progress to the Olympics for the first time and took over in Tokyo as his side narrowly missed out on bronze, losing to Australia in the third-fourth playoff.
Long-serving Australian NBA players Joe Ingles and Patty Mills have regularly made themselves available for the Boomers at major international tournaments throughout their careers.
Switching sports, New Zealand’s top men’s footballer Chris Wood, who features for Burnley in the English Premier League, is the antithesis of Adams.
Despite being domiciled in England and dealing with a busy playing schedule, Wood has always done his best to represent the All Whites when he can.
Wood led the way for New Zealand at the Tokyo Olympics, scoring two goals as the team made the quarterfinals for the first time, losing to Japan in a penalty shootout. He then lined up for the national team in friendlies against Algeria A and The Gambia in Dubai during Fifa’s November international window – showing his commitment.
You could understand Adams’ hesitation in his early years in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where an injury with the Tall Blacks could jeopardise his career. With Adams now coming up to 10 years in the league, the time has come to put any rift aside and front.
Adams’ Tall Blacks standoff is perplexing, but he has to be applauded for the camps he runs in New Zealand in the NBA off-season and the scholarship opportunities he provides for young Kiwi basketballers. He certainly gives back to the sport in New Zealand and that should be commended.
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