How NBA All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo transformed from a skinny, ravenous child
Antetokounmpo Basketball All-Star
Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks reacts during an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis on Saturday, February 11, 2017. Antetonkoumpo has gone a long way from being a scrawny, literally starving boy throwing a ball around in an open field in the Sepolia area of Athens to starting in the NBA All-Star Game. (Darron Cummings, File/AP Photo)
Greece The son of Nigerian migrants, he was a thin, malnourished child attempting to make ends meet in the humble Athens district of Sepolia.
The NBA All-Star reportedly grew up in continual terror of the police and deportation, according to the club coach who saw 13-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo and his brother kicking a soccer ball around a local field.
Antetokounmpo was primarily interested in soccer at the moment and had just dabbled in hoops.
Spiros Velliniatis claims, “He was unable to dribble and make a layup.”
However, Velliniatis was intrigued by the teen’s character, which was characterized by roughness and drive.
“He was a champion before he was a basketball player,” Velliniatis stated.
The young Athens native, now referred to by basketball fans as the “Greek Freak,” attributes his rise to to Velliniatis.
“He was the one that gave us the opportunity to look at basketball, because me and my brothers were more focused on playing soccer because my dad was a soccer player,” Antetokounmpo stated.
The athletic 6-foot-11, 22-year-old Milwaukee Bucks forward is well-known for his ability to play above the rim, even though many people still to pronounce his name.
However, Antetokounmpo and his older brother Thanasis needed to be persuaded to go to basketball practices when they were younger.
“I inquired about his parents and asked if he would join my club if I could find his parents a job. “Yes,” Velliniatis replied.
Despite this, it was still difficult to get the Antetokounmpos to come practice with the club, Filathlitikos, which was located in a different neighborhood.
Panagiotis Zivas, the coach of Filathlitikos, remembers, “We said, ‘We must find a way to keep the kid on the court,’ This would be a success for all of us.” “They were children, they did not understand they had to be consistently committed.”
Neighbors might lend a hand, but the family had little.
People such as Giannis Tzikas, who owned a cafe, occasionally made meals for Giannis and his siblings so they wouldn’t go hungry to practice.
“Some people said to me ‘why are you feeding the black kids?’” Tzikas added that the responses strengthened his resolve to assist.
According to Antetokounmpo, “He helped us a lot,” Every day, I would see him. He supported my younger brothers a lot and was a huge supporter of the national team.
Tzikas remembers times when the Antetokounmpo boys weren’t allowed to play on the local courts. Tzikas said that the boys’ father took them to court most of the time, which kept them safe from harm.
Zivas said that the general manager of Filathlitikos not only helped the parents of the boys find work, but also gave the family money to show how committed the club was. The family moved to a better neighborhood in the end, which was closer to the club.
Once he was settled, Giannis did well.
“He was a leader in the youth team and quickly made it to the seniors,” Zivas says. “He worked well with others. The team thought he would block and get the ball back. He wasn’t interested in scoring points.
Several senior teams were interested in Giannis after one of his last games with the junior team, in which he got 50 points.
Officials from Filathlitikos made sure that the tape got around all over the world. A lot of people became interested, even the NBA. Danny Ainge, president of the Boston Celtics and a former star player, went to Greece to watch Giannis play.
“I remember that game. It was in Volos, and Ainge sat at the end of our bench. Fans from the other team thought he worked for Filathlitikos and started calling him names.” Zivas said, “Maybe they threw something else too.”
It was unusual, but not unheard of, for teams to be interested in a player who wasn’t even playing in their country’s top league. The same path was taken by future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki to get to the U.S. He left Wurzburg in the second division.
Zaragoza, a club in Spain, was the first to make Antetokounmpo an offer.
It makes Tzikas think of how excited Giannis was about the trip to Spain.
He told me, “Mr. Giannis, I signed a deal with Zaragoza, and they’re going to pay me 400,000 euros a year.” I’m going to buy a car and bring my family with me.
In 2013, the Bucks picked Antetokounmpo in the first round of the draft, and his deal with the Spanish club had an NBA “escape clause.” This meant that he could never play for Zaragoza. That year, he went to Milwaukee, and his family has since followed.
Thanasis is a 6-7 small forward who used to play for the Knicks and in the NBA’s D-League. He now plays in Spain’s Liga, but he still wants to play in the NBA. Their Filathlitikos teacher told them that their younger brothers, Constantinos and Alex, could also make it to the NBA.
The brothers’ basketball careers have taken them all over the world, but they are still well-known in Greece. Giannis used to be afraid of being removed all the time, but now he has his citizenship papers.
Giannis is also an important part of the Greek national team.
Kostas Papanikolaou, a player on the Greece national team, said, “What Giannis has done at such a young age is truly amazing.” “He is an example for every kid.”
During the off-season, Zivas keeps seeing Giannis.
“Every summer he comes here to train and lift weights,” his old teacher said.
They came to Athens in May 2016 to play a game with a group of Greek players and seniors. Kristaps Porzingis, a little-known foreign player who has made a name for himself in the NBA, was also there. Five excited fans squished into the seats of a gym next to Athens’ biggest public high school to watch the game end in a 123-123 tie.