Steven Adams of the Houston Rockets Photo: DARREN CARROLL
If your NBA feed has been missing some spice, fret no more. New Zealand's best basketballer is taking the court again after an extended injury break.
Steven Adams has swapped franchises and has a new home for the 2024-25 NBA basketball season.
And his Houston Rockets teammates got a taste of how different he is to them when he posted a picture on Instagram of a bare room featuring a mattress on the floor with the caption, "new beginnings".
It went viral, fans expressing doubt that the 2.11 metre giant would even fit in the room.
But the rumour is that the bed was for his dog Loki... and that he sleeps on the floor because it makes him tougher.
Who knows? Adams doesn't lift the cover on his private life often - and he's also not one to spend up large on bling, preferring to spend his millions on meals with mates, his farm, and his New Zealand basketball camps for kids.
He's had a quiet two years, sidelined by injury which failed to repair itself, followed by knee surgery and more recovery. He got traded in the middle of it.
But in spite of his virtual disappearance from our screens, he's still one of perhaps just four Kiwi athletes recognised to such a level around the globe - the others being Chris Wood in football, Lydia Ko in golf, and cricketer Kane Williamson.
That's why independent sports website The Niche Cache spends quite some time documenting the basketballer's movements.
Niche Cache writer Nick Robinson is also a fan.
"Frankly it's just not been the same without him you know, for the last 600-odd days," he says. "It's just lovely to have him back."
"There's a lot of great Kiwi sportsmen and women going around the world these days and doing incredible things. Steven Adams hits the mark on his success level, the things he's achieved in the NBA - completely unprecedented for a Kiwi - he has done this whole thing with just a great attitude, you know, with a great personality.
"[He's] someone who's very funny, is very enjoyable to hear speak in interviews, and at the same time I think he represents something that Kiwis like to see in themselves, from people who represent them overseas.
"He is a basketballer who does the hard yards. He's the guy who doesn't need the credit, it's not about ego, it's very much about 'how can I help my team win; how can we be successful; what can I do to help; what does the coach want me to do, I will do that, I'm not worried about anyone else.' That kind of stuff. I think that resonates with a lot of New Zealanders as well."
Also - "he turns up to games in jandals and the same camo hoodie he's been wearing for years and years and years", a stark contrast to the fashion parade arrivals of other players.
"He seems like a cool dude, you know?"
Tim Summerville is SkyTV's highlights editor and will be keeping a watchful eye on his ESPN feeds for anything that features our big man.
He tells The Detail Adams' role will be slightly different this year in that he won't be the starting centre for the first time since the beginning of his career more than a decade ago. His coach Ime Udoka will be looking to the veteran to mentor the Rockets' group of younger players.
"He's in the second year of a two-year contract which was US$25 million, so he's getting US$12.5 million a year. His contract's up at the end of this season so he'll be hoping to prove that he's still got it and hopefully either re-sign with the Rockets or get picked up by another team after this one.
"He's a pretty competitive guy and I think he just wants to be in a winning situation, which he has been for most of his career."
Adams was drafted in 2012 after just one year in the college (or university) basketball, and has stayed true to his origins throughout the change in fame levels, hair styles and body art.
"I think the thing as well, is he's just managed to stay himself, and he's such a New Zealander," Summerville says.
"We can recognise his sense of humour and the way he talks and the way he dresses, with his bare feet and swandris and that sort of carry on. And it's just really cool that all of this sort of fame and money just doesn't seem to have changed him at all, and I think that just adds to his popularity here, where it's like, this guy's just one of us."
"Obviously he's seven feet tall and immensely talented and stuff but he's just a New Zealander and he's made it all happen. He doesn't have to change or sell out or anything."
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