Steven Adams was all but a rookie getting his first whiff at the big show, as his team made a deep postseason run with the Oklahoma City Thunder, only to get knocked off by a perennial powerhouse in the San Antonio Spurs.
While a loss in the Western Conference Finals hurt for most of his teammates, and while it was tough on him too, the native Kiwi tried to salvage the bare minimum that he could while the teams exchanged pleasantries, as he got to meet a legend in Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
“Being knocked out of the finals was heart-breaking, but at the same time I was a rookie who had been able to play a lot in an amazing playoff run with one of the best teams in the league. I wasn't exactly sulking,” Adams recalled on his autobiography My Life, My Fight (via Erik Horne of The Oklahoman).
“As we went through and said good luck to all the Spurs guys for their final series rematch against the Heat, I dialled in on Pop and made sure he didn't leave before I could embrace him. When I finally got my arms around him … mate, it was beautiful. I just held that legendary man and got a quick sniff of his hair. He smelled lovely. Don't act like you wouldn't do exactly the same thing if you had the chance.”
Adams might have been steps away from an NBA Finals stint as a rookie, but meeting Pop for the first time seems to be a memory that has stuck with him ever since.
The Spurs would go on to win the NBA championship over the Miami Heat at the end of that postseason, but all that Adams will remember from that experience is getting to hug a legend in his way out of playoff contention.
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