For the first time in his NBA career, Steven Adams participated in an NBA media day as a member of another team.
Everyone’s favorite New Zealander was dealt to the New Orleans Pelicans as general manager Sam Presti cleaned house, and the move was difficult considering the fact that Adams grew to become a fan favorite with the Thunder.
On Tuesday — his first day of work with the Pelicans — Adams was asked about the difficulty of accepting being traded from the city he’d called home for seven years.
He gave the kind of answer that only Steven Adams could.
“It’s all a part of the business, you know what I mean? Getting traded, isn’t it? That isn’t really the difficult part, the difficult part is the relationships that you’ve built within it, and then you have to move on.”
Adams has learned that the hard way.
After growing quite a bit with both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, he would outlast each of them in Oklahoma City. But that experience taught Adams a valuable lesson: life goes on.
“It’s not like I died or anything, I’m gonna see them again, so that’s fine,” he said of those he left behind in Oklahoma City.
“It ain’t that sad. But yea, it was a good time in OKC… In terms of just coming [to New Orleans], man, it’s just an exciting team. Stan [Van Gundy] is an old school dude, an old school guy and I just like that, man, you know what I mean? So I just feel like I can learn a lot from him, hence the extensiones.”
Adams on being traded to the Pelicans, signing the extension #WontBowDown pic.twitter.com/4tWa4lrpiT
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) December 1, 2020
With reporters in New Orleans having the opportunity to ask Adams for his take on being traded from Oklahoma City, it’s probably the last time he will be asked, so his answer here is valuable.
The 2020-21 seasons schedule hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s fair to assume that Adams will circle his return to Oklahoma City, even if fans won’t be permitted into the arena.
What a shame.
