NBA star Steven Adams and Black Cap Trent Boult at the Adams Centre for High Performance. Photo/supplied
NBA star Steven Adams and Black Cap Trent Boult at the Adams Centre for High Performance. Photo/supplied
NBA star Steven Adams has been spotted back in the Bay of Plenty working out with a BlackCap and testing the structural integrity of a recently reinforced gym wall.
The 7ft-tall Oklahoma City Thunder centre trained for about 3.5 hours at the University of Waikato Adams Centre for High Performancein Mount Maunganui yesterday.Bearded and barefoot, Rotorua-raised Adams worked out alongside another international athlete: New Zealand BlackCap fast bowler Trent Boult.
"It was cool to catch up with him," said Boult, who was spending the winter season getting some downtime at home in Mount Maunganui.
"All the guys in the gym were pretty pumped to train alongside him."
Boult will be among Kiwi sportspeople competing in the second annual Steven Adams Invitational golf tournament next month.
Adams, who turned 25 last week, became New Zealand's highest-paid sportsperson when he signed a $140 million four-year contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016.
Brennan said the wall, often used by rugby players practising passing, was reinforced just last week.
"That was good timing."
Brennan said Adams enjoyed working out at the centre alongside other international calibre athletes.
"It's not a public gym so he's not mobbed by people."
Adams also posed for snaps with Adams Academy athletes who happened to be at the gym, including local sprinters Ethan Holman and Brooke Somerfield.
Membership to the Adams Centre - named for Tauranga developer Paul Adams - is limited to athletes aged 15+ representing their sport at regional level or higher and development squads.
Adams' autobiography: Steve Adams: My Life, My Fight, co-written by Kiwi journalist Madeleine Chapman, comes out on Monday.
