Mixed messages from Adams

Steven Adams says he is a ‘‘proud’’ New Zealander, and portrays that image while playing in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder. His Kiwi-ness, and unabashed determination to remain the person he is, is a big part of his character, his charm and his humour that makes him so beloved around Oklahoma City, the wider NBA community, and also back here in Godzone.

But after Adams’ latest decision to reject an invitation to play for the Tall Blacks, Kiwi hoops diehards are entitled to feel a little confused.

In fact you might be within your rights to call him on it and ask, if he’s so proud of where he’s from, why is he so firm in his desire not to represent that same nation?

For the first time in . . . well, ever, we’re being asked to accept that a top New Zealand professional sportsperson loves his country and is proud of where he’s from, yet, at the same time, has no interest in pulling on the national jersey.

Talk about your mixed messages.

Can you recall a Kiwi sports pro of Adams’ ilk who has simply refused to play for his country?

This particular Fiba international window was seen as a hoops version of the perfect storm.

It falls smack-bang in the middle of the NBA off-season, the Thunder were eliminated early in the playoffs this year, and both games are in New Zealand, where the big Kiwi has been until just recently decamping to, possibly, Asia.

Basketball NZ even graciously scheduled one of the games for Adams’ home town of Rotorua where the big fella could have completed a dream Tall Blacks debut.

So, naturally, us Kiwi sports fans got our hopes up. He pops up here, gets a feel for the special nature of the team, plays some hoops with a collection of his old mates and then the floodgates are opened, so to speak.

Fronting up for the world championships in China next year isn’t such a big deal.

Instead we get another rejection. A continuation of the same lack of interest. How would five or six days with the Tall Blacks have hampered his three-month offseason? It wouldn’t, is the answer.

Look, this is a special young man in a special situation. He makes more than the combined salaries of the All Blacks. His brand is becoming global in one of the world’s big-two sports.

But it’s hard not to shake the feeling that he’s damaging the one thing he holds true – his Kiwi-ness.