It’s been nearly a full week since Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA championship.
News cycles turn over so fast nowadays that we forget to stop and smell the roses. We get so focused on what’s next that we don’t realize what’s happening around us. We lose sight of what really matters.
The story of Giannis Antetokounmpo matters.
The lanky 6-foot-9-inch, 190-pound forward drafted 15th overall, ostensibly out of a Greek YMCA league, is not supposed to win two league MVPs. He’s not supposed to win a Defensive Player of the Year award or make five All-NBA Teams. He’s not supposed to be the captain of an All-Star team opposite LeBron James.
He’s certainly not supposed to score 50 points in the closeout game of the NBA Finals.
He’s definitely not supposed to do all of that before turning 27.
Giannis’ story goes so far beyond basketball.
It is beyond impressive that Giannis is putting up stats we haven’t seen since peak Shaq and that he’s the only player other than Michael fucking Jordan to win multiple MVPs, a DPOY, and a Finals MVP.
It is more impressive that the kid in that video above made all of his wildest dreams come true.
Born in Greece to Nigerian immigrants, Giannis grew up stateless. He did not obtain Greek citizenship until he was 18. The unfortunate truth is: if he couldn’t dribble a basketball, he would still be a man without a country, stuck in his hometown of Sepolia, a poor suburb of Athens, Greece.
Every time Giannis drinks a smoothie, it is, in many ways, an achievement of a lifetime.
Every time he blocks an alley-oop or finishes one of his own — perhaps to secure a pair of NBA Finals victories — it’s a miracle.
Giannis’ story is one of family and sacrifice.
As a teenager, he and his brothers would have to walk over four miles to the gym. They frequently slept there because they so desperately wanted to get better, and because the color of their skin made it too dangerous to walk home at night.
Years later, Giannis sometimes stayed overnight in the Bucks’ practice facility. His unrelenting desire to improve remained, but his family’s constant presence did not — and he felt incredibly alone.
When Giannis was a rookie, he was the only Buck who refused direct deposit; he needed to physically feel the money. On one now fabled day, he went to a bank to send funds back to his family in Greece. He sent everything he had — literally — and soon realized that he didn’t have any money for a cab back to the arena. So he took off on foot, in sub-20-degree weather, with only a windbreaker on. He ran for about a mile before a stranger offered to drive him the rest of the way.
After he was drafted by the Bucks, the very first thing Giannis told his agent was “I need my brother.” That’s how close the Antetokounmpos are.
In fact, Giannis was willing to give his NBA career up if his family couldn’t be with him. After three unsuccessful visa applications in Greece, it’s game over. The Antetokounmpos were denied twice, and Giannis told his agent that he was leaving the United States and the NBA if his family was denied again.
Imagine for a moment how different the world looks if that third application didn’t get approved.
Giannis’ story is the story of a tall, skinny kid who was given one opportunity to change his and his family’s lives forever. He took that chance and put everything he had into it. He squeezed every ounce of potential out of himself, becoming perhaps the best basketball player in the world.
More importantly, he made sure no Antetokounmpo would ever have to go hungry or sell CDs on the street to survive again.
Giannis was given an inch, then three more after he was drafted, and he took it 5,000 miles.
From Sepolia to Milwaukee.
From not belonging to any country to being beloved by the world.
From an unknown prospect to all-time great.
From near-penniless to generational wealth.
From sharing shoes with his brothers to having their own championship rings.
From pleading for food on the street to ordering 50-piece nugget meals.
That is the story of Giannis Antetokounmpo.