Averaging 27.7 points, 12.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game during the previous season, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Most Valuable Player award was well deserved, especially for the fact that his presence took the roster to becoming the number one team in the East.
Sure, Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors just spoiled all the fun for the Greek Freak as they won the Conference Finals 4-2 after trailing 0-2 in the first two games, and eventually went on to win the title, but that should not take away any credit from Giannis’ regular season performance.
Clearly the face of Milwaukee Bucks Basketball and a household name in every family that loves the game, the 24-year-old has just entered his prime (or has he, yet?) and there’s obviously a bright future for him in the league.
However, there exists a story full of struggles and hardships in his journey to becoming the supreme athlete that he is right now. Let’s have a look.
When the Bucks picked Giannis Antetokounmpo during the 2013 NBA Draft, the Greek signed a 1.7 million rookie contract, which was at least 10-times more than what the entire Antetokounmpo family would have thought of earning at one time.
Giannis was an 18-year-old millionaire. He could have spent his fortune on expensive rides and shiny bling much like Shaquille O’Neal did. But the boy decided to live a different life.
Fixing himself a daily budget of $190 only, Giannis chose to live a life which wasn’t as extravagant as most of the NBA stars enjoy. The reason behind such humble living can be traced back to his birth country, Greece.
His parents Veronica and Charles Antetokounmpo moved from Lagos (Nigeria) to Athens in 1991 with the hopes of earning a better living. The couple picked oranges on farms and sold worry beads and purses on city streets.
Veronica gave birth to four sons: Thanassis, Giannis, Kostas and Alex who’d join their parents on the streets of Greek capital to sell whatever they could. Toys, Postcards, cheap jewelry, whatever they could lay their hands on.
The Antetokounpos had trouble affording every night’s dinner. Once, unable to pay the rent, the family was forced out of their house.
"We all had to work to survive… We went through some hard times," Giannis told a TV reporter during a press conference.
The boys sometimes escaped to a local outdoor basketball court. "It was a kind of paradise for them," said Giannis’ mother.
"Outside the court, we didn't have stuff, we didn't have many things in life, but in the court you felt like, 'I have everything,'" said Thanassis, Giannis’ elder brother.
Things began to look good when both Giannis and Thanassis began to play for a mid-level club Filathlitikos.
Their coach, Spiros Velliniatis also pushed the club to give the Antetokounmpo family a monthly stipend, so the boys wouldn't have to work.
"When there is nobody around to help those kids, which are plenty full of talent, you have to rely on personal initiatives," he says.
After a series of YouTube videos of Giannis’ games went viral, he was called for the 2013 NBA Draft.
But Giannis and his brothers had no proof that they were indeed Greek citizens, which meant he couldn’t travel abroad.
He filled all the conditions to be granted the Greek citizenship but was one of the thousands of immigrants whose papers were kept locked in some random drawer of a government official.
“Forget it. We don’t want to risk going to elections, because of some guy that plays basketball” was the state’s who point of view towards the athlete’s situation. Nikos Michaloliakos, a Greek politician even compared Giannis to a chimpanzee and racially attacked him.
However, after a series of appointments with the Government, it was the then Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras who invited Giannis to his house, accepted all his terms and in fact thanked the young boy for making his country proud at the Draft.
"Yes, we did have some hard times growing up in Greece. But if you took me back in time and asked me to live my life again, I'd do it." – Giannis Antetokounmpo
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