07/21/2021
Giannis Antetokounmpo grew up selling cheap watches and sunglasses on the streets of Athens just to try and make ends meet.
He didn’t pick up a basketball until he was 14-years-old. His focus had always been on helping his family get by. There had never been time for games. And even when Giannis did start playing, he was incredibly raw. No one ever expected him to become a pro, let alone a star.
When Giannis started to blossom into an NBA prospect, there was still a lot of doubt surrounding him. The only footage of him that NBA scouts could find was grainy highlight reels of him playing semi-professional hoops in empty, run down gyms in Greece.
Even as a two-time MVP, questions were raised about Giannis’ ability to perform in the postseason and overcome defences specifically designed to wall him off from the rim.
But in these Finals, when he put up 35/13/5 across the series and topped it off with a 50-point explosion in the championship-winning game, Giannis answered every last question anyone ever had about him, and cemented his name among the all-time greats.
From the streets of Greece to NBA immortality, Giannis’ story is as good as it gets.
