by Mirin Fader
My reporting for this book was born out of a Bleacher Report feature I wrote on Giannis and his youngest brother, Alex, titled “The Rise of the Next Antetokounmpo,” on July 18, 2019. I have used some scenes and dialogue and general reporting from that story and have cited those instances in the notes. During the course of the reporting for the Bleacher Report story, in June 2019, I visited Giannis’s home, as well as the Bucks’ practice facility, where I interviewed Giannis; his mother, Veronica; and his brothers Alex and Kostas. I originally intended to write the story solely on Alex. I hadn’t known that Giannis was going to be there that day. But he was, and observing the chemistry and love between Giannis and Alex led me to the realization that the story had to focus on both of them. It also made me more curious about Giannis’s own story. Giannis the person, not just the basketball player. Giannis the brother, the protector, the soon-to-be father. I realized I wanted to write a book about Giannis while also telling the story of his family. I developed a proposal for Giannis in early December 2019 and began officially working on the project in late February 2020. Shortly thereafter, I interviewed Alex and Kostas in person (separately) for a second time. I interviewed Giannis’s other brother, Thanasis, in person on two occasions in March 2020. Many of the additional interviews with other subjects were completed over the phone or by video call over WhatsApp and Viber, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prologue
Primary source interviews: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Veronica Antetokounmpo, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Alex Antetokounmpo, and Josh Oppenheimer.
Sometimes she’d leave the house at 11:00 p.m.: Steve Kroft, transcript of his 60 Minutes interview with Giannis, 2018.
Nearly ten-thousand-square-foot: Kristine Hansen, “Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo Nets Wisconsin Home for $1.8M,” Realtor.com, November 5, 2018, https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/giannis-antetokounmpo-wisconsin-mansion/.
“You don’t change”: Mirin Fader, “The Rise of the Next Antetokounmpo,” Bleacher Report, July 18, 2019, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2845193-the-rise-of-the-next-antetokounmpo.
Rain settles: Ibid.
An elderly couple: Ibid.
Mariah opens the door: Ibid.
“Mila just wants to say hi”: Ibid.
Inside there is a sign: Ibid.
Alex is downstairs in the basement: Ibid.
They’ve moved five times: Ibid.
Giannis preserves: Ibid.
“American Dream”: Ibid.
“You see this in the seats”: Ibid.
“It’s a reminder”: Ibid.
“God is here”: Ibid.
His legs turn into scissors: Ibid.
He yearns to impress: Ibid.
“I get more nervous”: Ibid.
The court is a cocoon: Ibid.
When Giannis speaks to Alex: Ibid.
“I definitely think Alex”: Ibid.
“It’s just me”: Ibid.
“Lock that shit out”: Ibid.
“Just trust me”: Ibid.
The sharp parts: Ibid.
Share the same hearty: Ibid.
Sometimes Giannis looks at Alex and glows: Ibid.
He wants Alex to understand: Ibid.
1. Hunger
Primary source interviews: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Veronica Antetokounmpo, Alex Antetokounmpo, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Steve Kroft, Giannis Tzikas (via translator Maria Drimpa), Notis A. Mitarachi, Michael Carter-Williams, Father Evangelos Ganas, Spiros Velliniatis, Emmanuel Olayinka Afolayan, Harris Stavrou, Stefanos Dedas, Takis Zivas (via translator Lefteris Zarmakoupis), Giorgos Kordas, Grigoris Melas, Tselios Konstantinos, Giorgos Pantelakis, Christos Saloustros, Nikos Gkikas, Panos Prokos (via translator Ana Tosouni), Gabriel Rodgers, Rahman Rana, Niki Bakouli, and Katy Kostakis.
Giannis was six years old: Steve Kroft, transcript of his 60 Minutes interview with Giannis, 2018.
Maybe one or two euros: Chris Mannix, “Out of Order?” Sports Illustrated, March 10, 2014.
21.5 million citizens of the European Union: Ian Kershaw, The Global Age: Europe, 1950–2017 (New York: Penguin Books, 2020), 493.
Two-fifths of Greek youths were unemployed: Kershaw, The Global Age, 493.
Six coups and three presidential assassinations: James Brooke, “Nigeria Trying to Start Over amid Recession and Turmoil,” New York Times, November 23, 1987.
Claimed the lives of an estimated one to three million people: Shayera Dark, “‘I Looked for Death but I Couldn’t Find It,’ a Nigerian Town Relives the Brutal Civil War, 50 Years After It Ended,” CNN, January 16, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/15/africa/biafra-nigeria-civil-war/index.html.
Oil accounting for 95 percent: Brooke, “Nigeria.”
$21 billion in foreign debt: Ibid.
“On the verge of external bankruptcy”: Ibid.
Charles, from the Yoruba tribe: Elina Dimitriadi, “Η Βερόνικα Αντετοκούνμπο μιλάει αποκλειστικά στη Vogue Greece” (“Veronica Adetokunbo Speaks Exclusively to Vogue Greece”), Vogue Greece, September 27, 2020, https://vogue.gr/living/i-veronika-antetokoynmpo-milaei-apokleistika-sti-vogue-greece/.
Background singer for an album recorded in Nigeria: Ibid.
She loved Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and reggae: Ibid.
Immortality: Nikos Papadojannis, “Αφρική, η άλλη πατρίδα” (“Africa, Giannis’ Other Home”), Hot Doc, no. 119, February 2, 2017.
Veronica and Charles gave them Greek first: Joanna Kakissis, “NBA Rookie Wants to Bring Hope to Greece, and to Milwaukee,” NPR Morning Edition, September 26, 2013.
“Crown that came from faraway seas”: Dimitriadi, “Η Βερόνικα Αντετοκούνμπο” (“Veronica Adetokunbo Speaks Exclusively to Vogue Greece”).
Ugo, means “the crown of God”: Ibid.
An electrician: Papadojannis, “Αφρική, η άλλη πατρίδα” (“Africa, Giannis’ Other Home”).
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not eating. I have to make sure my kids eat”: Kroft, 60 Minutes transcript.
“No, I’m coming with you”: Nike, “Self-Made: I Am Giannis, Episode 1,” July 1, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyxLKFDwwU4.
He felt he was the best salesman in the family: Nike, “Self-Made: I Am Giannis, Episode 1.”
“You want this glass”: Kroft, 60 Minutes transcript.
“Oh, they’re really nice; they’re going to help you do this”: Ibid.
“But why?”: Ibid.
Sometimes people would leave food items: Niki Bakouli, “Ο Γιάννης Αντετοκούνμπο πρέπει να χρησιμοποιήσει τη φωνή του” (“Giannis Antetokounmpo Must Use His Voice”), February 18, 2017, https://www.sport24.gr/sthles/o-giannis-antetokoynmpo-prepei-na-chrisimopoiisei-ti-foni-toy.8505535.html.
Seven days in a row, maybe two weeks: Kroft, 60 Minutes transcript.
Drive for five hours, ten hours: Ibid.
Just like one of his idols, Thierry Henry: Adrian Wojnarowski, “The Giannis Draft. Episode 1: Who Is Giannis?” The Woj Pod, November 16, 2020.
Avoid drugs and other negative influences: Mannix, “Out of Order?”
“Take care of your body”: Nikos Papadojannis, “Θανάσης Ανττοκούνμπο: Οι μετανάστες να ξέρουν ότι είμαστε δίπλα τους!” (“Let the Immigrants Know That We Stand by Their Side”), Documento, October 13, 2019, https://www.documentonews.gr/article/oanashs-antetokoynmpo-oi-metanastes-na-xeroyn-oti-eimaste-dipla-toys.
He used juju medicine: Ibid.
“It’s happened to me too”: Ibid.
They’d run relay races at a nearby track: Malika Andrews, “Everything Is Fuel for Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Competitive Fire,” ESPN, December 15, 2020, https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/30521245/everything-fuel-giannis-antetokounmpo-competitive-fire.
Filling in at goalie: Dimitriadi, “Η Βερόνικα Αντετοκούνμ�
�ο” (“Veronica Adetokunbo Speaks Exclusively to Vogue Greece”).
Competitions to see which boy could clean up his room: Andrews, “Everything Is Fuel.”
“If you love your father, if you love your mother, you’ll live long”: Dimitriadi, “Η Βερόνικα Αντετοκούνμπο” (“Veronica Adetokunbo Speaks Exclusively to Vogue Greece”).
Teaching him about Nelson Mandela: Sean Gregory, “Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo on Growing Up Undocumented, Taking On LeBron and Gunning for MVP,” Time, October 17, 2017.
He remembered Giannis’s eyes: Marina Zioziou, “ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΑΝΤΕΤΟΚΟΥΝΜΠΟ: Ο «ΤΣΟΛΙΑΣ» ΑΠΟ ΤΑ ΣΕΠΟΛΙΑ ΠΟΥ ΕΓΙΝΕ ΝΟ1 ΣΤΟΝ ΚΟΣΜΟ” (“‘Tsolias’ from the Sepolia That Became No1 in the World”), Ethnos.gr, June 25, 2019, https://www.ethnos.gr/athlitismos/46677_giannis-antetokoynmpo-o-tsolias-apo-ta-sepolia-poy-egine-no1-ston-kosmo.
His spirit just seemed buoyed: Ibid.
To stumbling on a young Mozart: Ken Maguire, “A Hunger for a Better Life May Lead to the N.B.A.,” New York Times, June 25, 2013, section B, page 11.
He hated it: Nike, “Self-Made: I Am Giannis, Episode 1.”
No hot water: Ben Cohen and Joshua Robinson, “The Greek Mythology of the NBA’s Superstar,” Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2019.
“They’d have to leave school”: Mirin Fader, “The Rise of the Next Antetokounmpo,” Bleacher Report, July 18, 2019, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2845193-the-rise-of-the-next-antetokounmpo.
He shot bank shots with a soccer ball: Mannix, “Out of Order?”
He lasted for seven minutes: Jim Owczarski, “NBA Provides an Escape for Bucks Rookie Antetokounmpo,” October 22, 2013, https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/giannisantetokounmpo.
One in three Greeks lived below the poverty line: Kershaw, The Global Age, 493.
Minimum wage was reduced by 22 percent: Ibid.
More than twenty thousand were homeless: Ibid.
“He loved us too much”: Owczarski, “NBA Provides an Escape.”
2. Dreaming
Primary source interviews: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Veronica Antetokounmpo, Alex Antetokounmpo, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Michalis Kamperidis, Nikos Papadojannis, Alexandros Trigas, Stefanos Dedas, Tselios Konstantinos, Takis Zivas (via translator Lefteris Zarmakoupis), Spiros Velliniatis, Nikos Gkikas, Christos Saloustros, Georgios Diamantakos, Grigoris Melas, Rahman Rana, Panos Prokos (via translator Ana Tosouni), Dimitrios Katifelis (via translator Gabriel Rogers), Giorgos Kordas, and Giannis Tzikas (via translator Maria Drimpa).
“What you are doing is not right”: Nikos Papadojannis, “Θανάσης Αντετοκούνμπο” (“Let the Immigrants Know That We Stand by Their Side”), Documento, October 13, 2019, https://www.documentonews.gr/article/oanashs-antetokoynmpo-oi-metanastes-na-xeroyn-oti-eimaste-dipla-toys.
They’d challenge her to shoot three-pointers: Elina Dimitriadi, “Η Βερόνικα Αντετοκούνμπο” (“Veronica Adetokunbo Speaks Exclusively to Vogue Greece”), Vogue Greece, September 27, 2020, https://vogue.gr/living/i-veronika-antetokoynmpo-milaei-apokleistika-sti-vogue-greece/.
They made nearly $150: Steve Kroft, transcript of his 60 Minutes interview with Giannis, 2017.
“Let’s do something with our lives”: Adrian Wojnarowski, “From Street Vendor to Surging NBA Player, Greek Freak Living the American Dream,” Yahoo Sports, March 18, 2014, https://sports.yahoo.com/news/from-selling-sunglasses-on-street-to-nba-player-on-the-rise--greek-freak-living-the-american-dream-214309752.html.
“Always want more”: Ben Golliver, “Giannis Antetokounmpo Wins NBA MVP Award, Completing Rise from Unknown to Superstar,” Washington Post, June 24, 2019.
She always knew her sons would accomplish something: Dimitriadi, “Η Βερόνικα Αντετοκούνμπο” (“Veronica Adetokunbo Speaks Exclusively to Vogue Greece”).
The boys thought Charles was the most successful man: Papadojannis, “Θανάσης Αντετοκούνμπο” (“Let the Immigrants Know That We Stand by Their Side”).
Even his classmates at school wouldn’t pick him: Aggeliki Katsini, “Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Hungry for His First Ring,” Contra.gr, October 24, 2019, https://www.contra.gr/synentefxeis/giannis-antetokounmpo-is-hungry-for-his-first-ring.7520012.html.
“He treats me like his own child”: Sport24.gr, “Αντετοκούνμπο: Θα είμαι σίγουρα εκεί” (“Antetokounmpo: I Will Definitely Be There”), September 17, 2013, https://www.sport24.gr/basket/antetokoynmpo-tha-eimai-sigoyra-kei.8114302.html.
He wouldn’t eat his first meal of the day until 11:00 p.m.: Adrian Wojnarowski, “The Giannis Draft. Episode 1: Who Is Giannis?” The Woj Pod, November 16, 2020.
She would still wash her boys’ socks: Dimitriadi, “Η Βερόνικα Αντετοκούνμπο” (“Veronica Adetokunbo Speaks Exclusively to Vogue Greece”).
She wanted them to develop happy memories: Ibid.
A concert by the famous composer Mikis Theodorakis: Papadojannis, “Θανάσης Αντετοκούνμπο” (“Let the Immigrants Know That We Stand by Their Side”).
The Brothers Karamazov: Ibid.
“Inch by Inch”: “Amazing NBA Motivation Clip—Inch by Inch—[HD] By Din Basel,” July 19, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmYiiXwfaNU.
“Life’s a game of inches”: Ibid.
“When you want to succeed”: “Don’t Sleep Until You Succeed (NBA) [HD],” Bram dekkers, March 15, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sw3wQXC2EI&t=235s.
He knew he couldn’t compete with him: Wojnarowski, “The Giannis Draft. Episode 1.”
“How much money does Kobe make?”: Kroft, 60 Minutes transcript.
“Maybe around”: Ibid.
I gotta make it to the NBA. I gotta try to make as much money as Kobe made: Ibid.
The boys would look at other kids funny: Mirin Fader, “The Rise of the Next Antetokounmpo,” Bleacher Report, July 18, 2019, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2845193-the-rise-of-the-next-antetokounmpo.
That ball could be the difference: Ibid.
He pushed Alex: Ibid.
Alex just looked at Giannis’s body: Ibid.
Giannis told Alex that there were a lot more: Ibid.
“There’s so much more”: Ibid.
Blue mattress: Katsini, “Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Hungry.”
3. Stateless
Primary source interviews: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Veronica Antetokounmpo, Alex Antetokounmpo, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Rahman Rana, Nikos Gkikas, Nikos Zisis, Konstantinos Georgousis, Gabriel Rodgers, Favor Ukpebor, Christos Saloustros, Kostas Missas, Kostas Kotsis, Yannis Psarakis, Nikos Papadojannis, Fotios Katsikaris, Nikos Deji Odubitan, Niki Bakouli, Grigoris Melas, Emmanuel Godwin, Emmanuel Olayinka Afolayan, Etinosa Erevbenagie, Takis Zivas (via translator Lefteris Zarmakoupis), Stefanos Dedas, Stefanos Triantafyllos, George Kouvaris, Alexandros Mistilioglou, Basileios Motsakos, Alexandros Trigas, Ioannis Papapetrou, and Michalis Kamperidis.
They’d gather with kids and parents: Elina Dimitriadi, “Η Βερόνικα Αντετοκούνμπο μιλάει αποκλειστικά στη Vogue Greece” (“Veronica Adetokunbo Speaks Exclusively to Vogue Greece”), Vogue Greece, September 27, 2020, https://vogue.gr/living/i-veronika-antetokoynmpo-milaei-apokleistika-sti-vogue-greece/.
Veronica remembered feeling that her family felt loved: Ibid.
They believed all immigrants should be deported: Rachel Donadio and Dimitris Bounias, “Hard Times Lift Greece’s Anti-immigrant Fringe,” New York Times, April 12, 2012.
“We will clean this square”: Konstantinos Georgousis, director, The Cleaners, National Film and Television School, 37 minutes.
Sympathized with the military dictatorship: Donadio and Bounias, “Hard Times.”
Getting just 0.3 percent: Nikos Konstandaras, “As Goes Greece, So Goes Europe?” New York Times, May 28, 2014.
Syriza, a leftist party, won 4.6 percent: Ibid.<
br />
“I think all history is written”: Donadio and Bounias, “Hard Times.”
They sold Mein Kampf: Max Fisher, “Are Greek Policemen Really Voting in Droves for Greece’s Neo-Nazi Party?” Atlantic, June 22, 2012.
Eighteen seats: Helena Smith, “Neo-fascist Greek Party Takes Third Place in Wave of Voter Fury,” Guardian, September 20, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/21/neo-fascist-greek-party-election-golden-dawn-third-place.
Unemployment stood at 25 percent: Rachel Donadio, “Amid the Echoes of an Economic Crash, the Sounds of Greek Society Being Torn,” New York Times, October 20, 2012.
Government allowed supermarkets to sell expired: Ibid.
Price of home heating oil had tripled: Ibid.
“The financial crisis will be solved”: Georgousis, The Cleaners.
“We will make lamps”: Ibid.
“Soon enough, the Greeks will become a minority”: Matthaios Tsimitakis, “Greece’s Fascists Are Gaining,” New York Times, October 4, 2015.
“When immigrants hear Golden Dawn”: Georgousis, The Cleaners.
“For a Greece that belongs to Greeks”: Ibid.
“Next time it will be seventeen”: Ibid.
Immigrants made up only about 10 percent: Jake Whitman, “Filmmaker Captures Unguarded Racist Hatred of Greece’s Hostile Golden Dawn Party,” ABC News, August 13, 2013.
Armed with heavy wooden poles: Liz Alderman, “Greek Far Right Hangs a Target on Immigrants,” New York Times, July 10, 2012.
“You’re the cause of Greece’s problems”: Ibid.
“Dark-skinned merchants”: Liz Alderman, “Right-Wing Extremists’ Popularity Rising Rapidly in Greece,” New York Times, September 30, 2012.
“Alarming phenomenon”: Human Rights Watch Report, July 10, 2012, https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/07/10/hate-streets/xenophobic-violence-greece.