For the third consecutive year, Kiwi basketballer Steven Adams has been voted the NBA's toughest player in an annual general manager (GM) survey.
Oklahoma City Thunder bigman Adams received 32 percent of the vote from general managers in the NBA.com poll, beating Golden State's Draymond Green with 18 percent.
Houston forward PJ Tucker was third on 14 percent, ahead of superstar LeBron James on 7 percent.
NBA.com states that the percentages reported are based on the pool of respondents, rather than all 30 GMs voting.
GMs are also not allowed to vote for their own team or personnel.
Adams received no votes for the 'best centre in the NBA' category, which goes to Serbian Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
Last year, Adams received 33 percent of the 'toughest player' vote, with James and Marcus Smart equal second with 13 percent.
When asked about winning the award last year, Adams unsurprisingly, gave a quirky answer.
"Do I get anything?" Adams asked. "Do I win? Do I get a bonus? That'll be sick!
"I don't know, it seems dumb. It does... it seems like a weird thing to poll. Guys are just bored, I think."
The year before, the 26-year-old was tied for first place with 14 percent of the vote, along with Green and Kawhi Leonard.
In other results, 46 percent of voters predicted the Los Angels Clippers - who acquired Paul George and Kawi Leonard during the offseason - would win the NBA championship, while Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo was the hot favorite to retain his Most Valuable Player title with 52 percent of votes.
The Thunder open their 2019/20 season next Thursday against the Utah Jazz.
Newshub.
