When an up-and-coming basketball player decides to declare for the NBA Draft, they usually do it out of a desire to live out a personal dream. And while this may have been partly the case for Giannis Antetokounmpo, he also did it out of necessity. As the Greek Freak once opened up about being scared of life when he first got to the league, because he had to provide for his family.
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Giannis was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 15th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. At the time, he was a mysterious talent out of Greece who a lot of teams weren’t comfortable selecting with a lottery pick. Mostly because of his weight. NBA scouts raved about Giannis’ dimensions and height, but they were scared that he would get pushed around by bigger competition.
Not only were the scouts scared, though. As Giannis once revealed that he was scared at the time, too.
“Scared of life! I was f**king 18. I was a kid,” Giannis recalled. “So, I was already scared of life, now you’re putting me on the basketball court? I’m scared of these dudes, for sure.”
As an 18-year-old in his rookie season, Giannis only weighed 190 lbs. It’s no wonder he was scared of guarding 230+ lb. NBA competition. Furthermore, he got pushed around quite a bit at the time.
But Giannis said he had no choice. He had to bear down and figure out how to stay in the NBA so he could provide for his family.
“But you know what I knew? I have no f**king choice. I have no option. I can’t f**king stop. If I stop everything, my family, I can’t help them. I cannot be in a position to help them. So I kept going.” Giannis said.
Giannis eventually put on some weight and has now worked up to 242 lbs. This allowed him to become a more dominant player and overcome his fears against bigger players. He even won an MVP in back-to-back seasons. Behind this, he’s been able to support his family and uplift them.
We’re happy for Giannis today because he was able to pull his family out of poverty with his success in the NBA. But even if he wasn’t able to, the Antetokounmpo family would’ve been okay. As Giannis’ father once said, the family was happy even during tough times.
Giannis’ father was unbothered by poverty
Not having money is one of the toughest things to deal with in life. Almost 700 million people suffer from poverty around the globe daily. And Giannis’ family used to be one of them.
But he said his father was unbothered by poverty because of his family. Giannis’ dad considered his two sons his legacy, and that was enough for him.
“He had no money, he was poor. He came from Nigeria to have a better life, and we were his legacy. I could feel, like, growing up, he was the richest person in the neighborhood. He always felt rich because he had us,” Giannis said.
Giannis’ father passed away in September of 2017, but his wisdom still sticks with him even today. It’s helped him grow into one of the most dominant NBA players we’ve ever seen.
It’s hard not to love Giannis. He’s a likable personality and has a great story. Even if you’re a rival team of the Bucks, we’d be willing to bet they would say they like him as well. He’s a fun player to have in the NBA, and he’s forever left his mark.
