Giannis Antetokounmpo, easily a top 10 basketball player at the moment, just had a documentary released about his journey to and through the NBA, this gives us inside looks of his daily life, his life at home, and his priorities as a basketball player.
The documentary starts off talking about Giannis and his family. Giannis grew up in Greece but his family is from Nigeria. Him and his three other brothers he grew up with were all born in Athens, Greece. At a young age, Giannis wanted to be just like his older brother Thanasis and when his brother started playing basketball, Giannis started playing basketball. There was a lot of diversity that Giannis faced as a child such as being an immigrant, and being accepted nowhere in his country of Greece.
About 20 minutes into the documentary, Giannis starts to talk about his basketball journey. Giannis started playing basketball at the age of 13, he and his older brother caught the eye of a coach in Greece then, and after 3 years of playing with other youth teams Giannis started playing professionally in Greece for Filathlitikos. At the age of 18, Giannis entered the 2013 NBA Draft and was drafted 15th overall. The Greek Freak´s journey has just begun.
His first season was very slow as he started only 23 games and averaged 6.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks in 77 appearances throughout the entire season. After his first year in the league, the Bucks were just not good, they did make a couple of playoff appearances, but just never could seem to make it past the first round.
Around halfway through, the Antetokounmpo´s start to talk about Giannis and how he almost quit basketball but how he was able to rebound after the loss of his father. Right before the 2017-2018 NBA season started, the unthinkable happened. Giannis lost his dad, Charles Antetokounmpo, to a heart attack. After the loss of his dad, Giannis almost quit basketball completely. He was in a terrible mental state, and was extremely emotional. But that didn’t stop him from being able to bounce back. He had a decent year during the 2018, it was also his second year as an All-Star. But things just got better from there. Antetokounmpo also signed with Nike for his own signature shoe, which he now has two of which are named the Giannis Immortality and the Nike Freak lines.
With around 45 minutes left of the doc, Giannis talks about his extensions with Maiwaukee and his journey to winning the 2021 NBA Finals. Before Giannis signed his first big extension, there was a lot that went into it. This all started with the 2020-2021 NBA season. It was a battle the entire year for the Bucks. The Bucks not only dominated the entire year but also made it to the Eastern Conference Championship. The first three games were great but then Game 4 hit. Giannis was having a great game, and then the unimaginable happened. Antetokounmpo hyperextended his knee mid-game and didn’t play for one game. I remember watching that game vividly. I was sitting at a restaurant where the only thing that was on the tv was this game, and I remember sitting at the table, I see Giannis go down and I’m trying to figure out what is happening. I then see him get up, and go to the locker room. I then heard the news that Giannis may not return to the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Bucks championship odds were out the window.
I still remember the day that the Bucks won Game 6 to advance to the Finals. It was only a couple of days after Giannis had exited game 4, and no one knew even if they won this game if Giannis would return for the Finals. But his team helped carry him through his injury. The Bucks ended up winning 118-107. They had advanced to the Finals.
After going down 2-0 the Bucks returned to home and tied the series 2-2, returned back to Phoenix, won Game 5, and then was able to return back home to Milwaukee and win the whole thing. They returned to Milwaukee and put on a show for the fans at home. I still remember watching Game 6 of the Finals. Giannis went off, he dropped 50 points, and it was one of the best finals games I had ever watched, that’s only because I never got to witness the Jordan era where he played with Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman but that’s a story for another time. Giannis brought the second championship back to Milwaukee and the first one in 50 years.
This documentary, is hands down a 10 out of 10 recommend for any sports fans. Even if you don’t really like basketball or even like Giannis for that matter, it’s extremely inspiring to see his journey and watch his dreams come true. In the famous words of Giannis Antetokounmpo ¨There´s no failure in sports. It’s not a failure, it’s steps to success¨
