Steven Adams has made a career out of being the rare modern NBA figure who never seems impressed by the modern NBA. The screens, the flash, the noise, the constant branding of everything. He plays like a bouncer, talks like a guy who’d rather be fishing, and, according to a recent video making the rounds online, still sleeps on the floor in a sleeping bag even after earning generational money.
Adams’ NBA contracts have been enormous across a long, steady career, and his most recent deal with Houston is a three-year, $39 million fully guaranteed extension. He has a total contract value north of $200 million over his career. The image resonates because it cuts against the expected arc of stardom. Most players level up their lifestyle with every contract. Adams, at least in this snapshot, seems to be doing the opposite: stripping the whole thing down to what he actually uses.
It also fits the broader Steven Adams mythology, an NBA lifer who treats fame as background noise and money as something you earn, not something you perform. In a league where identity is often packaged, Adams’ most viral flex might be that he doesn’t care to flex at all.
You would never be able to tell that Steven Adams was an NBA player 😭
h/t @funakistats
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) January 22, 2026
