Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis received Greek citizenship on 9 May 2013, when he was almost 20 years old. His father, Charles, was a professional footballer and his mother, Veronica, was an Athlete. He has four brothers, two of whom are elder while two are younger than him.

Except the eldest brother, Francis who plays football, all the four brothers are professional basketball players.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was born on 6 December 1994, in Athens, Greece. His parents had immigrated into the country from Nigeria, in 1991. Before migrating, his parents entrusted their eldest child, Francis, under the care of his grandparents.

Giannis has one more brother elder to him, Thanasis, and two younger brothers, Kostas and Alexis. Giannis and three of his brothers did not qualify for receiving Greek citizenship, their birth in Greece notwithstanding. In fact, even after turning 18, he remained a stateless person as he neither had Greek nor Nigerian citizenship.

He remembers his parents struggling very hard to make ends meet and support a family of eight. On most days, he and his older brother, Thanasis would report for practice on a near empty stomach, in a field close to the modest neighborhood of Sepolia where the family lived.

A club instructor recalls a 13-year old Giannis and his brother playing with a football and was not very interested in dribbling with a basketball. The brothers could not socialize freely with other children in their neighborhood and locals as they spent their growing up years, constantly living in fear of being deported by the police.

Spiros Velliniatis, the club coach who mentored other children in the Sepolia locality, realized that although Giannis was not good at basketball, he had the mental toughness and determination to excel in the sport. Antetokounmpo admitted in an interview that the real credit for his success and rise to stardom should go to Velliniatis.

Giannis Antetokounmpo represented the youth team of Filathlitikos for three years, from 2009 to 2012. He excelled in every quarter of the game and helped his side win numerous fixtures. In one game, he notched up 50 points which caught the eye of several managers of eminent basketball clubs in Europe.

Antetokounmpo became a member of Filathlitikos’s senior squad in 2012, representing the club in the Greek A2 Basket League for the 2012-13 Season. In the same year in December, CAI Zaragoza, a Spanish club entered into a 4-year contract with him that included a NBA buyout stipulation for each season.

His contract with CAI Zaragoza was due to start in the 2013-14 season. During the 2012-13 Greek A2 League playoffs, he maintained an average of 9.5 points in at least 26 games with 1.0 block, 1.4 assists, and 5.0 rebounds in every game.

He qualified as a singular participant for the ‘Greek League All-Star Game’ in 2013.

On 28 April 2013, Giannis qualified for the NBA drafting for the 2013-14 Season. He was selected in the very first round of the draft, ranking 15th overall amongst all eligible draftees of Milwaukee Bucks. He was signed up as a new recruit for the Bucks’ on 13 July 2013.

He took the field in 77 matches for Milwaukee Bucks in 2013-14 and maintaining an average of 6.8 points throughout the season. He was the top ranking NBA rookie for the season finishing the year with 61 blocks that made him eligible for the NBA All-Star Weekend ‘Rising Stars Challenge’ held at New Orleans.

His impressive performance at the ‘Rising Stars Challenge’ playoff earned him a position in the 2nd team of the NBA All-Rookie lineup, where each squad has five players. Additionally, Milwaukee Bucks extended their contract with Antetokounmpo for two more seasons, 2014-15 and 2015-16. His average peaked at 27 points in his second year as a rookie.

On February 9, 2015, he earned his first ‘player of the week’ honor and was adjudged the ‘Eastern Conference Player’ for his stellar performance in fixtures from 2nd to 8th Feb 2015. That year, he participated in NBA All Star Weekend’s Slam Dunk Contest organized in New York.

For the 2014-15 Season, Giannis achieved an average of 12.7 points and 6.7 rebounds from 81 appearances, missing only one game. The Bucks’ who were ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference playoffs during Giannis’ second year with the club, lost their first round elimination match to Chicago Bulls.