Giannis Antetokounmpo: From the streets of Greece to the lawns of the White House - The Antetokounmpo brothers and the transformative power of sport
Stateless and selling CDs to get by, the Antetokounmpo family are no stranger to hardship. It's what makes their remarkable journey to the top of the world's most lucrative basketball league one of sport's most stunning triumphs.
Basketball
When basketball superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo stepped up to the podium erected outside the White House to begin a speech he had spent hours writing and rehearsing, there was already a lump in his throat.
Moments before, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, had singled him and his brother, Thanasis, out:
“Sons living the immigrant dream from Nigeria and then Greece in search of a new opportunity, in struggles they always dreamed.”
The words struck a chord with the 26-year-old because, in truth, when the two had started their sporting journeys some 13 years ago, impoverished in the streets of Athens, not even they could have imagined that one day they would be standing in the garden of America’s seat of power as 2021 NBA champions with the Milwaukee Bucks.
And yet somehow, against all the odds, there they were.
“For everybody out there,” Giannis began with the President’s own words still echoing out, “if you dedicate yourself to waking up every single day and try to get better in anything you do, in anything you love and believe in your dreams – you can accomplish great things in life,”
“Man, he added, “I’ve done that my whole life and I’m in the White House. This is awesome.”
The Antetokounmpo story so far is not just an NBA rags-to-riches fairy-tale when a dose of imagination is needed, but a great case-study on the power of sport and why its life-changing capacity should never be underestimated.
Hard and humble beginnings for basketball-loving brothers
The brothers’ journey to sporting glory started not in Greece, but in Nigeria.
Their parents – Veronica and Charles – after struggling to find work in their native country, made the decision to emigrate to Europe in search of a better future for themselves and their family.
In 1991 they travelled from Lagos to Sepolia. A year later Thanasis was born, with Giannis following two years after.
Though born in Greece, and raised there, due to their parents’ immigration status the boys were never officially recognised as Greek citizens. Effectively stateless - the threat of deportation and racist attacks constantly hung over the family’s head, making their early years a struggle.
Subsisting in the shadows of economy, through a lack of official citizenship documentation, the brothers often peddled goods on the street to try and help support their parents.
“We used to sell glasses, watches. Then, we used to sell CDs, DVDs” Antetokounmpo shared with CBS’ 60 Minutes.
It was then that Giannis developed his now infamous never-say-die attitude.
When selling, his technique was to insist until eventually his goods were gone: “I didn’t give up. I was like, I always keep asking them questions. And I was cute too. I was young.”
The brothers’ breakthrough moment came through Spiros Velliniatis, a Greek amateur league basketball coach.
On the hunt for new talent to join his ranks, Velliniatis would scour neighbourhoods trying to find raw athletic potential that could be realised into something greater.
Then one day he saw three boys running around chasing each other, a moment that changed many lives.
“I had a discussion with God in this moment,” the Greek coach said to the New York Times, “You can call me crazy, but this is the way I felt. I said ‘Father in Heaven am I seeing correctly?’”
What the basketball scout particularly absorbed was the natural talent he could see oozing from Giannis. He identified the size of the then 13-year-old’s hands, and saw the possibility stacked in his frame.
When Velliniatis met the boys’ mother he offered her and her husband jobs paying 800 euros per month on the condition that their sons would come and play basketball for him. She accepted.
From Filathlitikos to the NBA
Giannis' burgeoning talent wasn’t initially well accepted by his new team. He lacked the obvious skills a basketball athlete should have – the capacity to dribble, to layup – and even then, he hadn’t neared his eventual height; no one could see what the fuss was about this new discovery.
But for every time the basketball prodigy failed, he worked harder. He would stay behind in the gym working on building his strength to keep up with his peers.
He never stopped working hard and dreaming of what might be possible.
Three short years later, at 16, the Antetokounmpos were stomping the Greek basketball scene.
Even in the amateur leagues the potential exhibited by Giannis and Thanasis at Filathlitikos was obvious and soon scouts were flying in from the United States to catch a glimpse of these famed prodigies.
In 2013 both brothers declared for the NBA draft, but an administrative hitch threatened to derail everything.
Their stateless status, which had haunted them throughout their lives, meant that Giannis was effectively unable to travel. Thanasis withdrew from the draft.
It was only by intervention that the second-generation immigrant finally received his Greek papers and was able to fly to New York and on July 30 he became the 15th overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Thanasis would eventually join him in the NBA a year later after was he selected with the 51st overall pick in the 2014 draft by the New York Knicks.
Giannis and Thanasis: 2021 NBA Champions
Fast forward the clock to 2020-21 and Giannis, alongside Thanasis, who joined the Bucks in 2019, were in the season of their lives.
Hot off their third brother Kostas (born 1997) winning the 2020 NBA Championship with the LA Lakers, in December, Giannis went one step further in adding some prestige to the Antetokounmpo name and sealing his fate as a master of the court.
The man known as ‘The Greek Freak’ received a supermax contract offer from the Bucks for an eye-watering $228.2 million (€190.5 million) on a five-year deal.
As a now two-time league MVP – his franchise was confident he was worth the sum and hopeful that with that extra financial incentive their Herculean star could bring the Wisconsin team its first title in 50 years.
Did anyone expect that the Bucks would do it that same season?
A sluggish regular season start and a sticky play-offs period that saw Giannis injured left many unsure that the Milwaukee-based outfit would be able to prevail.
Still against the odds, the Bucks pulled out a sensational Finals sweep.
From 0-2 down against the Phoenix Suns, again the Bucks, driven by the might of the relentless Antetokounmpo spirit, pulled off a comeback to become the fifth team to win the best-of-seven championships series after losing the first two games.
In a masterful performance Giannis peaked perfectly in Game 6 with a playoff career-high 50 points to clinch the win for his team and deliver what he had always dreamed of.
Filled with emotion, the Finals MVP said afterwards: “I could go to a super team and just do my part and win a championship. But this is the hard way to do it."
And with a humility that has long been attached to the Antetokounmpo family – that sees Giannis brush off any notion that he is greater than other legends of the game – the basketball star then added:
“This is for my mom. She works extremely hard every day for me to be in this position, and she never pressured me to do other things. This is for my dad. He's watching from above, and he can see it. This is for my significant other. Every day, she helps me be a better person. She lets me do what I'm supposed to do. She takes care of my son. And for my brothers.”