New NBR Rich List: Steven Adams and his $50m joins some familiar names

Basketball star Steven Adams can now count himself among the world's richest Kiwis, the National Business Review revealed today in its annual "Rich List".

Worth an estimated $50 million, The Oklahoma City Thunder player is the only sports star to make this year's list.

But the richest person in New Zealand is hardly a surprise. Graeme Hart retained the top spot he has held for the past two years, adding $1.5 billion to his $9 billion fortune.

He is one of 13 billionaires on this year's list.

Mr Hart was followed by Richard Chandler, worth $4.7 billion; the Todd family, worth $4 billion; PayPal founder and recent immigrant Peter Thiel, worth $3.6 billion; Sir Michael Friedlander, worth $1.85 billion.

The net worth of this year's rich listers also jumped dramatically – from nearly $80 billion last year to over $100 billion in 2018.

Adams, whose name is the very last on the list, became one of the highest paid NBA players in his position in 2016 after agreeing to a monster multi-year contract extension reportedly worth $142 million.