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Home / Sport / Basketball

Steven Adams on Trump, Kevin Durant, US education and the limelight

NZ Herald
27 Jul, 2018 11:47 PM3 mins to read

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Steven Adams during the game against the Utah Jazz. Photo / Getty Images

Steven Adams during the game against the Utah Jazz. Photo / Getty Images

Steven Adams has opened up about Donald Trump, politics, Kevin Durant and US education in his autobiography Steven Adams: My Life, My Fight that will be released on Monday.

Here are some of his most revealing opinions.

Donald Trump
[Donald] Trump's a dick; that's obvious. But Oklahoma is a Republican
voting state that backed Trump in the 2016 election. Some people look at Republican states and lump everyone together, saying they're scum. It's just a state like every other state and there's a whole spectrum of beliefs, so really those who say that are the scum for being narrow minded about it. I wanted to vote in New Zealand, but I hadn't read up enough on each of the candidates. In the end, I voted for Gareth Morgan's The Opportunities Party because he had a lisp and a decent moustache. Then I heard that after the election he was mean about the new prime minister's cat dying and that's not cool. I'd like to formally retract my vote.

Kevin Durant
I found out that KD had left [for the Warriors] by looking at my phone. Everyone was shocked. I understood why KD did what he did, although I might have done it differently. Winning a championship ring is more important to some players than others. For me, as long as I can keep improving and developing as a player, I'm happy. Plus, I couldn't handle the snake comments.

US college education
When I went to sign up for classes [at Pittsburgh], I found I'd already been put in some of the easiest elective papers. It's a weird situation because I think the athletic department assumed that all the basketball players wanted to do the least schoolwork possible and worked out their timetables for them. I ended up taking a bunch of social science electives because apparently they are the easiest to pass. Most of the assignments I had to do were opinionated answers or self-reflection for which you didn't need to do any research. I basically didn't go to school. I'd just go to the exam, write an essay on what I thought about a topic.

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The limelight
If a kid comes up to me and wants an autograph or a photo, I'm all good so long as they have manners. But when it's an adult, I can't help thinking why does a grown man want a photo with me just because I play basketball? To me, it's the same as me asking my doctor for a photo. I appreciate my fans, but it gets old after a while. People my age or older asking for a photo? Come on, mate, you know we've both got better things we could be doing with our time.

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