[Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] once again it's one of the unlikeliest stories in nba history my name is uh an international rags to riches tale too unbelievable to script [Applause] athens to the top of the basketball world [Music] this is the story behind giannis antenna kunpo was born in athens to nigerian immigrants who had arrived from lagos only a few years earlier yanis was one of five boys in the family with oldest brother francis still in nigeria at the time older brother thanasis with him in greece as well as younger brothers kostas and alexis money was tight for the immigrant family so much so that giannis and thanasis pitched in by selling trinkets and dvds on the streets of athens we had a lot of money but we had a lot of happiness so it wasn't broken uh happiness-wise you know when we were struggling back in the day we were all together in one room same room we were having fun we were smiling it didn't help that he was essentially stateless as is the case in many european countries because neither of giannis parents were greek by blood the brothers couldn't become citizens until they were 18 years old despite the fact they were born and raised in greece giannis also wasn't a nigerian citizen though and without papers from either country the eventual basketball phenom couldn't travel abroad until he was an adult domestically after originally playing soccer just like his father and oldest brother did in nigeria a teenage giannis's size and length drew the attention of scouts almost the second he took a basketball court for the first time back in 2008. within four years the 17 year old was playing semi-professionally for phila faritikos in the greek third division the club would become a family staple as thanasis joined giannis on the senior team while costas and alex suited up for the junior side fame and fortune were still years away however and earning less than 500 dollars a month with phil athleticos janis and thanasis famously shared a pair of shoes one game swapping the kicks when the brothers would sub in and out with the attenti kumpos in the fold phil athleticos was promoted to the greek a2 division and in giannis's first full pro campaign in 2012-13 he nearly helped drag the club to the top flight of greek basketball ultimately falling short in a double overtime heartbreaker that would have sent phil athleticos to the top division though he signed a four-year contract with spanish club zaragoza in the middle of that 2012-13 season european basketball would no longer be of consequence to giannis as the newly minted greek citizen was already on nba radars only nba nba player anybody in the nba that you like to watch and maybe emulate i like magic johnson and they gave it a run though he was still a relative unknown to the basketball world at large pro scouts were salivating and less than six years after he first picked up a basketball and tedecupo heard his name called midway through the nba draft's first round with the 15th pick in the 2013 nba draft the milwaukee bucks select giannis adekokumbo from athens greece he last played for feel athleticos in greece with rookie averages of roughly seven points four rebounds and a couple assists on inefficient shooting janus's production wasn't exactly blowing anyone away early in his nba career but the signs of a future do it all star were there if you looked closely enough and the greek freak was rewarded with an all-rookie second team selection gets up it's no good by the alphabet giannis snakes in the back door quick side note here can we acknowledge how much better a nickname greek freak is than the alphabet anyway while janice's game was starting to do a little talking on the court nba fans everywhere were falling in love with a teenager's wide-eyed almost aloof attitude toward being a real-life nba or off of it at one point during that rookie campaign with his credit card not working and having spent all of his money at the time sending funds back home to his family through a western union giannis caught a ride to a buck's home game with a couple of fans who had spotted him running to the arena by the end of that debut campaign the entire aterakumpo family saved for frances and thanasis joined giannis in milwaukee his early numbers in a 15 win season may not have been the stuff of legend but giannis always had the vision the talent and the work ethic to see it through these guys that are legends because the number retired the breakthrough began in azerikumo's sophomore season as under the watchful eye of new coach jason kidd the 2014 15 bucks nearly tripled their win total from the previous year going from 15 and 67 seller dweller to a 41 and 41 playoff team with giannis upping his averages to nearly 13 points seven rebounds and three assists in over 31 minutes per game kidd had seen enough to become a believer and he put the ball in giannis's hands for the greek for each third season with point giannis and chris middleton emerging as milwaukee's leaders the bucks took a step back winning only 33 games but the foundation had been laid for giannis future as a positionless two-way destroyer after fulfilling his mandatory military service in the summer of 2016 to a nation that had only granted him citizenship three years earlier antetokounmpo arrived back in milwaukee for season number four on a whole nother level the second half of the third quarter after inhibition take by giannis look out baby defensive hands he's gone watch this now how am i going to do it [Applause] he picked cousins who ended up on the seat of his pants and had to watch this from the other end the then 22 year old fresh off a four-year 100 million dollar extension exploded for averages of 22. 9 points 8.
8 rebounds assists 1. 9 blocks and 1. 6 steals on 52 shooting leading milwaukee to its first winning season in seven years for his efforts giannis earned his first all-star all-nba and all defensive team selections while taking home the league's most improved player award we can't just be calling him the greek freak anymore i think it's a disservice unless we call him by his full name so would you no no no be honest be honest come on you can do it no he's like elvis you go about one night hey ladies for the record that name which pundits like barkley still make a mockery of was actually slightly changed when giannis became a greek citizen the way we know it and the way we see it on his now legendary jersey is actually the greek transcription of his family's nigerian surname the meaning of those roots only multiplied when giannis and his family lost father charles to a heart attack in september of 2017.
back on the court the mip continued his rise towards fulfilling kobe bryant's mvp prophecy earning another all-star start and all nba selection while continuing to post prolific numbers during the 2017-18 campaign though the bucks upped their win total from the previous season milwaukee slid from 6th to 7th in the eastern conference and fell to boston in a seven game first round series a year after falling to toronto in six games and three years after falling in the same fashion to chicago giannis may have been establishing himself as a star but through five seasons in milwaukee he had yet to be part of even a 45 win team and the bucks hadn't won a playoff series since 2001 the true transformation was about to begin however 2015 coach of the year mike budenholzer replaced kid during the 2018 offseason brook lopez was added to the existing core of antenna kumpo middleton eric bledsoe and malcolm brogdon and coach budd implemented a nearly unstoppable system that surrounded giannis with shooting what followed was a stunning 60 win campaign that ended in the nba's number one overall seed for milwaukee and an mvp award for entertainment whose emotional speech upon winning the award paid tribute to charles you know my dad's not here with me but [Music] [Applause] [Music] um you know two two years ago and um you know i had to go in my head that i'm going i'm gonna be the best player in the league yeah i'm gonna do whatever it takes to help my team win and i'm going to mvp and everything every day that i step on the floor i always think about my dad and that motivates me and he pushed me to you know play hard and move forward even though when my body is sore even though when i i don't feel like playing i was going to show up and i was going to do the right thing though giannis had reached the individual pinnacle there was more team heartbreak to come as in the eastern conference finals the top-seeded bucks blew a two-nothing series lead and an overtime lead in game three to kawhi leonard's raptors who would go on to win the 2019 championship making matters worse leonard and his toronto defense anchored by marc gasol were credited with slowing and solving antenna kupo's plan of attack as every great player before the greek freak has learned there comes a time when a switch is flipped in the court of public perception and for giannis it began following that 2019 collapse suddenly the nba's international star media darling and fan favorite the prodigy who had endeared himself to even casuals and non-basketball fans when his inspiring story headlined an episode of 60 minutes was having his game and mindset picked apart his lack of shooting range and predictable north south rim runs made it easier for versatile defensive teams like playoff foes toronto and miami to build a greek freak stopping wall cutting janis off from the rim fatally hampered the bucks as his rampaging drives are what helped create open looks for the shooters around him never mind that a teracupo needed only two or three strides to get from center court to the paint to so many fans pundits and even players the reigning mvp lacked a proverbial bag you know but i wish i could just run running with seven feet and run and just dunk like that takes no skill at all it didn't help janice's case that as the critics grew louder his free throw struggles reached comedic proportion he emerged as one of the greatest defensive talents of his generation yet was ripped for not demanding the primary assignment on the game's best scorers despite the fact he won defensive player of the year in 2020 for his roaming help defense in boudinholzer scheme which is built upon that freakish healthy between the 2018-19 and 2020 2021 seasons antetokounmpo averaged 28. 4 points 12. 4 rebounds 5.
8 assists 1. 3 blocks and 1. 1 steals on 63 true shooting for a team that averaged 58.
5 wins per 82 games earning two mvp awards a defensive player of the year title three straight all nba first team selections and three consecutive all defensive first team known by posting a player efficiency rating of 31. 9 during the 2019-20 campaign he also broke wilt chamberlain's 47 year old single single-season per record yet giannis individual and team failures in the playoffs where the raptors and heat shut him down in the 2019 conference finals and 2020 east semis respectively meant he hadn't made believers out of everyone the bucks believed though offering the franchise savior and historic five-year 228 million dollar extension before the start of the pandemic shortened 2021 season in stark contrast to so many of his contemporaries who wielded the full breadth of their earned superstar power in free agency holding the league hostage as they entertain prospective suitors yanis put pen to paper on the massive extension eight months before ever hitting the open market he first silenced the small market skeptics who assumed he would catch the first flight out of milwaukee and when the 2021 playoffs rolled around he silenced the doubters who refused to believe there was anything different about him in the box who had replaced bledsoe with drew holiday before the season say what you will about the 20 21 bucks conquering an unprecedented postseason of star injuries or surviving by the length of a kevin durant tow but take nothing away from what giannis and the bucks accomplished in delivering milwaukee its first championship in 50 years like it's easy to go somewhere and go and win a championship with somebody else it's easy i could go like i don't put anybody in the spot but i could go to a super team and you know just do my part and win a championship still but this is the hardware doing and this is the one and we did it you also can't talk about 2021 playoff injuries without acknowledging that yanis himself battled back from a nasty disturbing knee injury in the conference finals to produce one of the finest finals performances the nba will ever see and try to cover that angle for him to score i thought i was late like i didn't jump to block the ball [Music] going down the stretch just do whatever you know it takes to win the game the greek freak averaged 35 points 13 rebounds and five assists during the six game triumph over phoenix capping his epic championship series with an unforgettable 50 point outburst in the game six clincher whether it was dominating the rival heat in a first round sweep outlasting durant in round two rallying back from a two-nothing deficit of their own in the finals or sinking 17 of his 19 free throws in the championship closeout game and then taking home finals mvp honor by the end of their cathartic 2021 playoff run there were no demons left to slay for giannis and the bucks even the haters can now only marvel at this once in a generation athlete the modern incarnation of shaq in the paint but also a point center who might be the best forward in the game i'm denouncing my superman ship and i'm giving it to the greek league this is era through eight seasons in the association twenty six-year-old antetokounmpo is an nba champion a finals mvp two-time league mvp and defensive player of the year he's a five-time all-star five-time all-nba selection and four-time all-defensive team member he joined michael jordan and hakeem olajuwon as the only players in history with an mvp finals mvp and defensive player of the year award to their names yet he remained so authentically giannis he may no longer be the wide-eyed kid mesmerized by the simple beauty of a smoothie well actually so can i can i have please a 50 piece not 51 none 49 chicken minis yes 50.
