Adams has told Basketball New Zealand that he won't be available for the Tall Blacks this year, mainly due to scheduling conflicts and his commitment to his NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The New Zealand men's basketball coach Paul Henare. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Australia's big name exports have made themselves available for selection, but Basketball New Zealand chief executive Iain Potter said Adams' decision to pull out was entirely his own.
He said Adams had a number of other commercial commitments, and he and his agent had the final call on his availability.
Tall Blacks coach Paul Henare conceded losing him for next month's Olympic qualifying series against Australia was a setback, but said the centre's reasons for pulling out were understandable.
"Obviously I'm disappointed, but it's not a disappointment where it's personal or ill feelings towards anybody - it's just a disappointment because Steve would have made us a better team."
Adams said while he would not be playing this year, he remained very keen to be part of the team in future competitions.
Australia will have a number of their NBA players available for the Oceania series.
Henare said their door was always open and they looked forward to continuing to build on the relationship with Adams and OKC to enable him to pull on the black singlet again sooner rather than later.
The Tall Blacks are in Europe preparing for the series and scored two wins over Great Britain at the weekend.