Most read: 'Sup uce' - Steven Adams on hilarious encounter with NBA rival and fellow Pacific Islander from Miami Heat

August 16, 2018

OKC Thunder star Adams didn't realise Miami Heat player James Johnson was part Samoan until he saw his tatts.

This story was first published on Thursday August 17.

Oklahoma City Thunder star centre Steven Adams didn't realise while playing in the NBA this year that he would be playing against another Polynesian athlete.

Adams is part Tongan and revealed to media in Auckland during a press conference that he bumped into Miami Heat player James Johnson who is part Samoan on the NBA court.

The OKC star is in the country taking part in basketball camps for the youth around New Zealand.

The 25-year-old Kiwi noticed Polynesian tattoos on Johnson's calf during a game.

"He just had Samoan tatts on his calf and I was like 'oh uce?'" asked Adams.

"And he was just like 'sup uce.'

"I was like 'what the? You're the man.'"

Adams is back in the country promoting the game of basketball, hosting the first of three camps for young aspiring basketball players around the county.

The camps are held in Auckland, Palmerston North and Dunedin. Uce is an unformal Samoan way of addressing someone as 'bro' and derrives from the word uso which can be used to describe a sibling as brother or sister in the Samoan language.

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