Steven Adams is known for his long, brown hair and thick beard as much as for his tough, physical basketball for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It's the state of Adams' hair which gives a strong insight into his childhood, something he reveals in his new book, My Life, My Fight.

In 2016, in an interview with Sky, Adams revealed his long locks were a result of budget constraints. "Honestly, it was like a budget thing. It was like 60 bucks to get haircuts and it bummed me out".

Turns out that tightness with money is something that came from his father, Sid, a man who greatly shaped Adams' life.

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"Every morning, Dad would wake up before us, make a massive pile of toast, brew a big jug of Milo and then sit down in his chair to watch TV and read the newspaper, which we took turns to fetch from a petrol station just across the road from our house," Adams says in his book.

AP Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams blocks the shot of Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams.

"The petrol station workers knew Dad and us kids and sometimes gave us the paper free.

"Dad was so tight with his money that he gladly took the freebie even though the paper only cost a dollar."

Adams, who is now entering the second year of a four-year, $140 million contract with the Thunder in the NBA, attempted to stretch his pennies at a young age.

Each Friday, father Sid would give Adams' elder siblings Sid or Lisa a $10 note, and send the four youngest children off to the local dairy for their weekly lolly fix.

The note would be split by someone at the local liquor store, and then they'd all spend their allowance.

"The next 30 minutes was when I would make the most important decisions of my childhood," Adams said.

AP Steven Adams with Thunder team mate Russell Westbrook.

"Chocolates of gummies? Sour or not? Zombie Chews or seashells? We'd browse the pick 'n' mix counter at the local dairy for way too long before finally emerging holding a white paper bag stuffed with lollies.

"One Friday I thought of a genius plan and waited until the others had walked back home. I bought a bunch of chocolate coins with my allowance and then walked to a different dairy to try to buy more lollies using the chocolate coins as currency.

"The dairy owner just laughed at me as I sulked off. That's when I wondered if maybe I wasn't as clever as I thought I was."

For all the good memories Adams has of growing up in Rotorua, one of his toughest is the time his towering dad died.

Adams' siblings rushed from all corners of the country to be at Sid's side during his final hours, while sister Valerie flew home from Australia.

Sid Adams stood at 6'11" before getting sick, and Adams said it was hard seeing such a big, powerful man completely powerless to cancer.

"Dad was deteriorating quickly," Adams said. "He couldn't move or talk or even make noises.

"His hands, those enormous hands, lay motionless at his sides. When I put my hand in his and squeezed, he didn't squeeze back.

"There was a rumour around town that Dad had once broken a guy's hand by squeezing it too hard in a handshake.

"I started wishing he would break my hand in his grip because at least that meant he could still move. But instead his hands just lay there, huge and calloused from a long life of labour."

The book, which is written with Madeleine Chapman, details Adams' childhood before progressing through to his early days in the NBA.

It includes a telling chapter from Russell Westbrook, detailing his opinions on Adams.

And it finishes by detailing where Adams hopes to head in the future, while giving a final shout out to his father.

"I went [into basketball] full steam and used it as a distraction from thinking about Dad," he said.

That drive led him to the top.

* Steven Adams, My Life, My Fight is published by Penguin and is available for $39.99 at all book stores.