All language subtitles for GiannisThe.Marvelous.Journey.2024.WEBRip-FLUX

Thank you, Lord, for this, uh, gathering.

Thank you, Lord,

for giving us wisdom.

We trust you God Almighty to guide
and protect us and lead us

to whatever we are
going to do in Jesus' name.

Amen.

When Daddy had us,

Daddy had zero money,

you know? Uh...

But he was the richest person
in the world.

He was the richest person
in the world because he had us.

Do you think Dad is watching

and he's proud of us,
what we've accomplished?

He'd really be proud of us,
he's very, very proud.

He would be smiling.

The dinner's for him,
that's why there's an empty seat,

to honor him.

He's here, he's sitting right there.

Where I came from,

what I face in my life,

family is the most sacred
and the most important thing,

uh, the closest thing to my heart.

People might say
I'm one of the best players

in the NBA right now, but...

I don't... I don't... I don't see it.

I don't... I don't feel it.

I'm just a hard worker
that's trying to survive

because I'm scared of going back.

I'm scared of losing all this.

My name is, uh, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

I wanna be an NBA player.

People think that I'm extreme.

I want the MVP.

That's why I'm here.

That mentality can't change.

Like I grew up seeing all that shit.

Whatever you tell me
does not touch me one bit.

- Giannis!
- Giannis!

Giannis Antetokounmpo!

That's why they call him the Freak.

MVP! MVP!

Hey, guys, say hello to the camera.

I'm trying to do something
my dad would be proud of.

Giannis, you have something to give
when it comes to giving back.

Antetokounmpo!

Antetokounmpo!

Antetokounmpo!

Antetokounmpo!

Antetokounmpo!

Oh, my God.

There's no failure in sports.

It's steps to success.

Who's that...
who's that handsome guy over there?

Leading up to the 2022
EuroBasket tournament,

the four Antetokounmpo brothers
were called up

in the senior national team
for the first time.

Just being able to participate

and represent our country
and wear that jersey

with your brothers,
it's, uh, it's an awesome feeling.

That's a story
that you can tell your grandkids.

Seeing Giannis, Thanasis,

Alex, and Kostas

on the same team, it's unbelievable.

Sometimes they don't even say
anything to each other.

They communicate with their eyes.

Kolos kai vraki.

It's a Greek saying.

It's basically, you're connected
like underwear and a butt.

Your relationship is so close

with your family like it's,
"Kolos kai vraki",

So, you... your underwear and your butt.

So, it's a saying that
a lot of Greek people use.

Thanasis, he's always tried
to protect me and look after me,

and I do the same thing

for my two younger brothers...

because that's how our dad raised us.

All my kids are on the national team,

a place that I don't have
even a resident permit.

That's so great.

So wonderful.

Being able to wear that jersey,

uh, it's heavy.

Nothing is given in this life.

You earn every single thing you get.

And it's been like that
since when we were kids.

I grew up
in, uh, Delta state in Nigeria.

I'm from Igbo. My husband is Yoruba.

My husband said we should leave.

Life in Nigeria in the '80s and '90s

was particularly challenging.

You have oil spillage

that began to pollute the waters.

People couldn't have access
to good drinking water.

Health authorities say
the soot in the air

is increasing respiratory ailments
in the state.

Life expectancy in the region is 40,

ten years below the country's average.

People were being forced

to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Europe provides opportunities

which you are not gonna find
in many African countries.

We left...

looking for greener pastures,

looking for better life.

That's why we left.

It was a difficult decision to leave

because I have my child in Nigeria
that I'm going to leave.

I left him with grandmom.

It was difficult for me
leaving him behind.

When they left,

they had to leave behind
my older brother Francis

because the journey, it was hard,

you know, it wasn't fit for a child.

I stopped in Greece
and said, "Okay,

here's enough. Let's start life here."

The dream of every father
is wherever you go,

you should be able to give your children
a better education.

I need to look for another
good living for my...

for the next generation after me,
which is my children, you see.

So that's why I decided to leave.

When they left and went for a better life

and moved and said,
"Okay, we're going somewhere else,

we don't know anybody there.

We're gonna save up this little money
to get us for the first month

and then we're gonna start working."

All the risk was...

on my... on my parents.

Going to a country
that they didn't speak their language,

they don't have the same skin color,

leaving my older brother behind.

That's the example
of the ultimate sacrifice.

My parents were never able
to bring Francis to Greece.

It took 26 years
until they saw Francis again.

Thanasis, Giannis, me,
and Alex, we were all born in Greece.

Thanasis is two years older than Giannis.

Then Giannis is three years older than me,

then it's me, Kostas,
I'm four years older than Alex.

The rules in Greece,
once you're born here,

you don't automatically get
Greek citizenship.

So while we was living here,
it was basically illegal too.

Greece has one of the biggest gaps

as far as the way
that immigrants are treated.

We've always been outsiders.

We had to pretty much live in fear.

Greek is a white society.

Up until the turn of the century,
there were not many immigrants in Greece.

From the year 2000,

suddenly there was a huge influx
of immigrants.

Greece also underwent bankruptcy.

The Greek government stands accused

of hiding its true economic situation.

Greece's national debt stands
at almost $420 billion.

Many people
were trying to blame others

for the fact that they were starving
or out of work.

And the easy scapegoats were

those who had different skin color.

I don't think
it was only the color of your skin.

You could be from a different country.

You could have different beliefs
than them,

different, you know, uh,
religion than them.

There was a group
masquerading as a political party

called the Golden Dawn.

They went out in the streets
spreading violence

running after immigrants.

Running after people like Giannis.

If it's a school night, and we have to
be back, we have to be back.

It doesn't matter.

No bus, no bus. We have to walk.

Kostas is three years
younger than me,

Alex is seven years younger than me.

I tell them like,

"Yo, do you think we can get home
in like two minutes?"

It's like...

like, "Yeah, let's just jog."

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,

boom, boom, boom, boom.

"Man, like, oh, wow.
I think that was like three minutes."

Giannis and Thanasis,

they would kind of like disguise it

to the point that you thought as a kid,

"Oh, I'm just playing this game."

In my head, I'm thinking
that this is actually a game,

but he's trying to make us
run through these neighborhoods

so nothing can happen to us.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Next time, I was like,

"Yo, I think that was like
three and a half minutes."

They were just happy.
They would just go with it.

But in me, I was... I was scared as fuck.

Some group of people are just gonna
pop out of nowhere and try to kill us.

There was a metro stop.

They had their headquarters

across from that metro station so like...

and that metro station was two stops
away from where we lived.

A lot of the times, what those people
would do is kind of

wait at that metro station

and see whoever was of color,
kind of drag them out of the metro,

physically assault them,
rob them, or humiliate them.

Everybody at that station

that was of color is like ducking
so it appears that the metro is empty.

Giannis, he always kind of
had that proud dad role.

He was like,
"Yo, you guys take a look around.

All these people are being scared

and afraid of a group of people
for doing absolutely nothing."

You, um...

You, um, you want the best

for your brothers, you know?

Oh, man.

It's hard to share, um,
stories like that for me

because I always look...

try to protect my brothers in the best...

the best way I can.

He's... he's... he was young.

Yeah, he doesn't know what's going on...

It's just... it's, you know,

hiding for... people

because people don't like him.

As an immigrant, you are nothing.

I would pray,

"God, please have mercy, God."

You just have to keep moving on,
you just have to find different ways

to survive, so that's what we did.

My parents, they would sell goods.

CDs, watches,

sunglasses.

Anything that was
hot at the time.

We'd go to the beach,
you wanna sell glasses,

you wanna sell handbags,
you wanna sell, like, towels.

If my dad is working

and my mom is working,
who's gonna take care of us?

We don't have nobody,

so we have to go with them.

Been selling stuff
since I was four years old.

I was always trying to do whatever I could

to help my family in any way possible.

I wasn't selling
to try to make a profit.

I was selling because I have to eat.

Because I got to go home
and buy groceries for this day.

I just want to live. I got to survive.
I got to take care of my family.

If you don't work,
you don't eat.

It's just words for people,

you know, but for me
and my family it was... it's a mindset.

That was our life.

I didn't know
if my mom or dad, they ate.

I don't know.
I've never... I never saw them.

My mom and my dad had an unwritten rule

that the kids never go to bed
without eating.

My mom and dad might have went days.

The main thing was always putting food
on the table for the four of us.

If you don't give them food today,
tomorrow, they'll get sick.

You survive them. You help them.

Be there for them.

Even when I'm tired, even when I'm weak,

I never show them.

You know, we're fighters, you know,

my family was fighters and...

we just kept on going.

In me, I know the future
is going to be bright.

I don't give up.

The first time I was introduced
to basketball, I was 11 years old.

I was playing with my dad
and we had like this soccer ball.

And we're shooting and my dad was like
telling us always aim for the backboard.

If you get to the backboard,
it's gonna go in.

It's false.

Back home, we had this very small TV,

we were watching this guy named
Sofoklis Schortsanitis.

Up ahead to big man
Schortsanitis for the dunk!

In it goes to Baby Shaq, and he scores!

He was beating the USA team, dominating.

And I was like,
"Man, like he's... he's Black,

and he's playing for
the Greek national team. Wow."

And they don't have
an answer for Sofoklis Schortsanitis.

We never had Wi-Fi.

So, there was a thing called
an internet cafe, right?

So, internet cafe,

you go in, you give let's say
one euro for one hour.

We used to go watch highlights of the NBA.

Ricky Rubio, Magic Johnson,

KD, Scottie Pippen,

Tracy McGrady, LeBron James, Paul Pierce.

Allen Iverson to Michael Jordan.

It was kind of like almost
like star struck in... through a screen.

Internet cafe would say,
"Okay, you guys, your time is done."

And I would rush
to the cashier, I'd be like,

"Oh, take 50 cents. Just give me
like 20 more minutes to see the video."

Can we have five more minutes?

It was like, "Just this time.

Just this time, Giannis. No more."

"Like, yeah, just five more minutes."

When I was 12 years old,

I watched the Lakers playing the Celtics.

I saw Kobe Bryant.

I Googled, how much money
does Kobe Bryant makes?

And it came out, you know,
at the time was like 28, $30 million.

And I'm like, holy fucking shit.

He's making a living.

And he's worldwide known and...

from basketball, from something he loves.

I could take care of my family.
I could take care of my family.

I took it serious, you know,
it was very personal.

The dream was I have to put
everything I have in this

because I might not make $30 million.

I might make $100,000.

It's better than getting evicted
for €210.

There was a point around, like, 15...

that I stuck with it.

Thanasis joined Filathlitikos.

And I joined him.

When I got to the team,

my job was to mop the floor.

I did it a thousand times.

I came from a time
that I had to do something

in order for me to survive.

I couldn't sit on my butt

and things happened for me.

The first time we heard

about the Antetokounmpo brothers
was about Thanasis.

It wasn't about Giannis.

Thanasis was super athletic.

A couple of teams in the first division
wanted to get him.

Yeah! Yeah!

There would be fans that would leave
the pros to come see us play

because the basketball
we would play was incredible.

There was a whole buzz in Greece.

At some point, somebody said that Thanasis

also has a younger brother

who may be more talented.

Can you tell us your name?

My name is, uh, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Everybody was talking about

a tall guy with huge hands

who was jumping all over the place,

so I wanted to witness it on the court.

He was like a young Magic Johnson.

What kind of basketball player are you?

I can jump. I can shoot.
I can pass the ball.

I can do everything on the court.

His feel of the game,

this was different.

He knew what was going on around him,

and the guy had never played
organized basketball in his life.

It was the first game my dad
came to watch me play.

I think I had like 27,
and we won the game.

He said, "Giannis."

I was like, "What, Dad?"

"You're pretty good."

All the European teams are coming
to like scout and watch him.

His first professional contract
that he ever signed

was to the team Zaragoza in Spain,

and the contract was going to pay him
like $20,000 a year,

which for them
was astronomical amounts of money.

I was 17, and the first thing I did,

I came with a truck

and I told my parents,
I'm like, "Let's go.

Just take everything that you want

and just put it in the truck."

And my dad's like, "I'm not taking shit.

Let's get the heck out of here."

What is your goal for your career?

I wanna be an NBA... NBA player.

Jeff Weltman
was the assistant GM at the time.

Very simply said...

"Hammer, there's a guy,
a young kid in Athens

that's really playing well right now

and really starting to gather
a lot of attention."

And he said, "We should go see him."

It's a small gym in the middle of Athens,
this major metropolitan city.

His mom and dad
were sitting right behind us.

You know, I thought to myself,
this is different because, you know,

how often do you go see a guy
walk in the gym the very first day

and everybody's there, he,
his brothers, and his mother and father?

We just saw him practice that day.

He was the tallest guy
on the floor and he did everything.

He handled the ball like a point guard.

You can see this amazing feel
that he had for the game.

3And then we saw this guy
with this amazing body, this crazy length,

these long legs,
these extremely long arms.

And he had the big shoulders.

So you saw a frame
that could possibly get big.

What we saw, we liked.

We didn't go back.
We felt like we didn't need to go back.

We get the NBA scouts,
dozens of them,

coming to an obscure little arena
in the outskirts of Athens

just to watch this guy
that not even the Greeks knew about.

Antetokounmpo.

Reports from the US

started appearing
that he was going to be drafted.

The Nigerians,

the country that his parents was born in,

they appear out of nowhere too.

They swoop in and they tried
to get passports for the boys

in order to use them
for their Olympic team,

their national team.

Giannis got a Greek passport
because the government wanted to make sure

that he played for the Greek national team
as opposed to the Nigerian national team.

Life literally changed overnight,
like, overnight.

Met the prime minister.

And mind you,
the time that my father and my mother

went to meet the Prime Minister of Greece,
they were illegal.

Then my dad was walking around by himself,
and they stopped him in the street.

They could have deported him
back to Nigeria.

It's wrong to say
that the Greek society

embraced Antetokounmpo.

Anybody else who doesn't know
how to play ball

has no opportunity
to leave this life behind.

We had arranged
for Giannis to come to the US.

Before he's supposed to get on the plane,

he calls and says he's not coming
unless his family is gonna come with him.

Now, not possible.
His family was undocumented.

They had no passports,
only him and Thanasis had passports.

And so I told him, if you don't come,
right, like all of this planning,

everything that we have,
it's all out the window.

His father told him,
"You need to go. We'll be okay,

this is gonna be important for the family,
and this will change our lives."

And it was almost like getting
his father's... got his father's blessing.

I was grateful for the moment,
but I was very nervous.

I was selling stuff
in the streets six months ago.

I remember we went to the airport.

They flew us like business class.

You know how the seat is,
you know when you have like this,

you're sitting in the middle,
you have this, and I'm like taking this,

and I'm looking at Giannis,
"Yo, what's going on, yo?"

It was me,
Thanasis, and my agent.

He showed us like the... we had the papers
and he showed us like the receipt.

It was like €22,800.

And I'm like, holy fuck.

Why didn't he just give us the money?
We can just stay home.

They're giving us, like, drinks.

How they offered you like a champagne,

or they offer you this,
we're like, "I don't think...

I don't think
we're allowed to, you know, drink."

Thanasis was like,
he was more out of his shell, was like,

"Can I have a Shirley Temple, please?"

I'm like, "What the fuck?
What the hell is a Shirley Temple?"

"Yeah, me too. Let me get one."

We land, we get in the car.
We go into New York.

He was like the deer,
it's coming the lights,

like this watching the skyscrapers.

Guys, right now
we are in a limousine. Man!

I am out of my mind.
I could not have imagined this.

Check this out.

And now Thanasis is getting in.

Hey, what up, boy?

Yes, it's ball. Whoo.

I told him, "What you bring to,
you know, to wear?"

He said, "What you mean?
I have my Nike shorts, a Nike..."

Come on, come on, come on.

So I went on my phone,
I Google, you know, the previous draft,

what people were wearing.

I've never wore a suit in my... my life.

I had to find somebody at that time

that was in New York
to tailor a suit for him.

Thanasis is more into fashion
than me and he's like, "Yeah, I'm...

I'm gonna wear this,
I think I'm gonna pick that,

and I'm gonna wear some glasses,

and, uh, wear a bracelet
and I'mma pick some shoes."

I'm like looking at him and it's like...

"Okay, whatever. I'll do the same."

Welcome to the 2013 NBA Draft.

With the first pick,
the Cleveland Cavaliers

select Anthony Bennett.

With the fourth pick, Cody Zeller.

With the fifth pick, Alex Len.

It was a mix of everything,
mix of excitement, nervous.

With the 14th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft,

the Utah Jazz select Shabazz Muhammad.

Milwaukee Bucks
are on the clock right now.

My head was down. Hold on.

Like, I was praying the whole time.
I was like this.

And I looked at the stage.

And he looked at the paper

and he had trouble saying it and I said,
"Oh, my God, it's about to be us."

With the 15th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft,

the Milwaukee Bucks

select Giannis Antetokounmpo
from Athens, Greece.

Giannis Antetokounmpo. Athens, Greece.

I hugged my brother.

I waved the flag.

We worked so hard
and God gave us an opportunity.

And I went and shaked
the commissioner hand,

and then he told me,
"Look over there." I looked.

He told me, "Look over there."
I looked, smiled.

And was like...
"Thank you, your journey begins."

I jumped.

I hurt myself, I said, "God.

This has changed.
My son is going to NBA. God."

Well, with me
the youngest player in the draft,

- Giannis Antetokounmpo.
- Yeah.

It was, you know,
mispronounced millions of times

to the point of absurdity.

Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Giannis Antetokounmpo.

- Antetokounmpo.
- Antetokounmpo.

I think I got that right.

I looked at my phone
and I went, there was like 400 followers.

All of a sudden, the followers,
like every time I refresh,

it was like 1,000, 2,000,
3,000, 4,000, and I got to like 50,000.

What will be
the more intimidating challenge,

the basketball part or the cultural part?

In the beginning,
that would be the culture.

You know, for sure, because I am...
I live in Greece for 18 years.

You know, I never leave the country.

It'll be a little bit difficult,
but I'll have my family together with me

and it'll be easy.

Yeah.

Coming from overseas,
we talk about Chicago, New York,

Miami, you know, those cities.

I never... I never heard of
Milwaukee before.

I didn't know Milwaukee exist.

♪ The Bucks don't stop here ♪

For the NBA world,
it was more of a layover.

A pit stop to the next city,
overshadowed by Chicago.

It's a very proud franchise.

It starts with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
joining the team in the second season.

And the Milwaukee Bucks
are the champions.

You played a great game.
Congratulations on the MVP.

Thank you very much.

And then eventually, he outgrew Milwaukee.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will officially
become a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.

I know that he is happier in Los Angeles.

Who couldn't be?
Milwaukee is no great place.

And then after that,
it's trying to figure out

how you build another team
without a great player.

The Bucks earned the right to draft you

by being the league's
worst team last year.

Really never being able
to get over the hump

and don't get to an NBA Finals again.

I have to give credit to the Bucks.

Their most wins in 15 years.
A wonderful season,

but it will end in disappointment.

It was a battle.
I mean, I remember the ticket sellers

were working very hard all the time.

Selling hope was the MO
in Milwaukee for a long time.

Seemingly desperate
for immediate help in the backcourt,

the Bucks select
a 6'10" 18-year-old Greek forward.

♪ Milwaukee Bucks ♪

Hello.

- Glad to have you here.
- Welcome to the family.

Nice to meet you.

- How you doin'?
- Giannis?

- Yeah.
- Giannis, sir.

- How's it going?
- How you doin'?

Nice to meet you.

- How's it going?
- Nice to meet you. How you doin'?

- Nice to meet you. Welcome.
- Yeah.

- So this is Jermel.
- Nice to meet you. How you doin'?

Have you been out
to see anything in Milwaukee at all?

- Have you gone...
- No.

- No, not yet?
- Not yet.

Oh, what is that?

The trophies.

The NBA...

The Bucks
were a mom-and-pop operation.

Nice.

The resources, of course,
weren't up to the big markets in the NBA.

The Bucks practice
at the Archbishop Cousins Center

on the south side of Milwaukee.

It was the headquarters
for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

And, you know, the archbishop lived there
and other priests lived there.

It felt like a private school's
basketball gym.

We would have the priests come

play pickup during their lunch breaks
after our practices.

They'd walk right in the gym
during practice and take off their shirt,

shirts and skins,
and be standing in the corner,

essentially saying, "Get out of our gym."

Whether you guys are done or not,
we're going to play pickup at one o'clock.

'Cause this is what we do.
And if you wanna shoot,

you're gonna have to shoot
after we're done.

The Cousins Center
needed a lot of repairs.

Sometimes a light would go off.

There would be a leak
and there would be buckets on the floor

collecting water,
and we'd practice around it.

For me, the Cousins Center was everything.
For other people, it might not be.

They came with... from better facility.
They went to like college,

big time college schools
that had better facility than the Bucks.

I loved it.

I think he was comfortable

because it reminded him
of certain parts of home.

Good.

Like that every time.

We didn't have a physical
on Giannis when we made the draft pick.

One.

So we made the pick without our doctors
having a chance to put their hands on him.

Push.

Good.

Okay.

When I came to the NBA,
they said I was 205.

They lied. I was 191...

if... I had like two burgers that day.

They did blood work test and they thought
that he was extremely anemic.

He needs to eat more meat.

We need to put him on a real diet.

They were also amazed that like
his growth plates hadn't fully formed,

that he was still gonna grow.

And at that point,
he was like 6'8" and a half.

Here we go. Go!

My job primarily
was developing the young players.

He was my responsibility,
you know, 18 years old,

coming from a different country.

Everything was new to him, um,
and I mean everything.

Where I came from,
whenever you practice,

you take your dirty clothes,
you put it in your bag,

you go back home and you wash it yourself.

All of a sudden, while I work out
and I'm taking the clothes out,

I'm about to put it in the bag
to go home and wash it,

he's like, "Hey, hey, man,
what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry. I don't understand.

I'm... I take the clothes
to go back home and wash the clothes

and bring tomorrow."
He said, "No, no, no.

Giannis, we... we wash here."

I said, "I can wash the clothes here?"

He said, "No, no, no, we.
We wash the clothes here."

I said, "You wash the clothes for me?"

He said, "Yes. You come tomorrow,
the clothes will be washed."

I said, "Oh, okay.

Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay.
I love the NBA."

Giannis Antetokounmpo
has tried his very first corndog

and apparently he liked it.

"Just tried a corndog for the first time.

Man, God bless America."

I like three strawberries.

He never knew what a smoothie was
until he had one when he came over here.

I think that changed his world.

Mm, mm, mm.

We have lots of dough.

There we go.

He's curious. He's asking questions.

Somebody get a glass?

Mm.

Yeah.

We were in Las Vegas for an NBA camp,

and I said, "Look,
let's go have dinner at this buffet."

He said, "I can eat anything I want?"

I said, "Yeah, it's a buffet.
Get as much as you want."

I look up and approaching the table,
it's him with plates up his arms.

And I'm looking at him and he says to me,
"Did I do something wrong?"

I said, "No, you didn't do anything wrong,

but you don't have to
get all the food at once."

Can I take the money?

Yeah.

You got to put something in,
make a wish.

- Like throw it down and make a wish?
- Yup.

Let me... let me...
let me tell you the wish?

- Do you want to?
- No.

Just keep it a secret.

I was raised in a way
that I value every dollar that I had.

I didn't go crazy.
I never made a purchase.

He'd send us money.

Starting from that moment,
we never lacked.

I would just go back and forth.

Withdraw money, send money,
withdraw money, send money.

When I was done, I got in this cab.

I said, "Sir, I'm trying to go
to the Bradley Center."

He say, "We don't take...
we don't accept cards.

We accept only cash."

I said, "Okay. Give me one second."
I went to the ATM.

It said, "Insufficient funds."

Which I couldn't understand at the time
because my English was horrible.

They said, "Yeah,
that's over your limit for the day."

I said, "Okay."
We have a game like 30 minutes.

I'm like, "Yeah."

I ran, ran a couple blocks,
eight blocks, four blocks.

I have never been that cold in my life.

I couldn't move my hands.

At the time,
the worst winter we've ever had

in like 72 years or something.

And I didn't have a coat.

And everybody told me,
"Get yourself a winter coat."

I'm like,
"No, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine."

But I didn't know
what they were talking about

because I've never...
I've never spent time in Milwaukee.

Now, I know.

Then I was looking at my phone,
I'm like, "Ah, I might not make it."

Then these people, this family showed up.

He's like, "Aye, you know,
aren't you the guy from the...

the Bucks' draft pick?" I was like, "Yes."

I was like, "Sir, ma'am,
are you going to the game?"

They was like, "Yeah."
I was like, "Is there any way

you can take me to the game, please?"

They was like, "Yeah."

I got in the car, I was like, "Thank you."

They pull up to
the Bradley Center and they drop him off,

and I see him getting out of the car.

And I said to him, "Who dropped you off?"

And he said, "I don't know."

And I said, "What do you mean
you don't know?"

He said, "They were very nice people."

That's the goodness in him.

He saw the best
and he sees the best in everybody.

This is the car, the first car
that I drive in my life.

Indicator. Y'all got to indicate.

We had a video guy named Ross

and he sort of taught Giannis to drive.

Here's Ross. He's my... he's my teacher.

You've got to come to a complete stop
and wait until traffic is cleared.

Hey, guys. Just to let you guys know,
I drive better than him.

Oh.

You see him laughing and joking
and driving in the car with Ross.

Under that was this real sadness,

this real loneliness.

Before the draft, Alex said
his family's got to come with him.

Okay. Now he's here.

Now we gotta...
now we have to get the family here.

And that's when we realized
what we're up against.

He was trying to get a... a visa

for me, Alex, my mom, and my dad.

It was to a point that we thought
maybe we weren't gonna be able to go.

They didn't have a Greek passport.
So here's the United States government,

you're saying, well,
you're trying to bring someone from Greece

who doesn't have a Greek passport.

It doesn't work that way.
We can't get them in.

I had never left my family's side before.

I came here, I was 18.

I had to figure everything out by myself.

After practice, you know, the NBA, you...

you don't...
you don't do things as a team.

You know, you kind of, after practice,

everybody has their own thing,
their own families.

Everybody's busy. I was a kid.

I can just remember
coming to my office, you know,

and he'd always ask, like,
"How long do you think it will be?"

You know, "When can this happen?
How soon can they get here?"

Every week,
I used to go knock on the office.

It's like, "Oh, here he comes again."

"What's going on? Where is my family?"

Two days later, "Where is my family?

Guys, I'm gonna knock on this door
every day till my family shows up.

I respect everything you've done for me
and the way you guys have treated me,

but I do this for my family.

I don't do this for myself.

If I cannot help my family,
I don't want to play basketball.

I'm... I'm done."

He called me, he said,
"If you don't come, I'm coming back."

I said, "Don't come back. We're coming.

We are processing the visa."

After the first two times that Giannis'...
Giannis' family was denied a visa,

he said, "If they don't get a visa
on this last try

and it's ten years, forget the NBA.
I'm going back home."

We tried to apply for a third time.

Everybody combined our powers
to be a legit application.

Senator Kohl was the owner
of the Bucks at the time,

and Senator Kohl called
Secretary John Kerry, and Senator Kerry,

as a favor to Senator Kohl,
called the powers that be to make sure

that Giannis' family
had an opportunity get the visa.

I remember going to the embassy,

I think the last appointment
with my parents,

and talking to the person,

we got a visa,

and we just went back home
and was just happy, dancing.

And we went straight to the US.

I'm like this.
I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm waiting.

And all of a sudden
I see this tall, lanky kid coming out.

I'm like, "Holy smoke, this is Kostas."

He got big. I'm like, "Yo."

Then I see Alex. And Alex was chubby.

I was like, "What have you been eating?

Now you've been eating real well
with all the money I'm sending back home."

And then I saw my parents.
They were so happy.

He said, "I came with limousine."

And he took us in the limousine
to supermarket.

Then he posted it in Instagram,

posted it in Facebook and said,

"Dad and Mom, welcome to America."

It was just a culture shock.

I had never been to any place
that was like this.

And I didn't even think
places like this existed.

It felt like the...

like the Promised Land.

It's the first place that accepted us
and, uh, the first city

that was able to build something.

You can get... you can grab a Gatorade,
you can drink Gatorade from here.

We've got some snacks over there.

Some fruits.

The fridge. Yeah.

Some good stuff.

And here I usually get taped

or, uh, stretch a little bit,
you know, with my trainers.

So you want to hold the ball?

It's got a Milwaukee Bucks.

There's no doubt
who the head of that household was,

was his father.

But to see the role change,

and now, he's sort of showing them around,

and he's helping them
communicate with people

in somewhat kind of a role reversal,

but in the most respectful of ways.

Oh.

Maybe in 50 years, 20 years,
maybe my number is up there.

We never know what can happen,
but I wish my number is up there,

you know, to be next to
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,

and the other guys, Oscar Robertson.

I'm very happy really, you know,
I can't wait now to finish this interview,

take a shower and go... just go home,
play with my brothers,

and get ready for the game.

You know, gonna be the first time
they're gonna see me in an NBA game.

And they're very excited.
And I'm just very happy.

We played New York, it was the first time
they was able to attend the game.

Giannis Antetokounmpo,
a very special night for him.

What a treat for the family.
And Giannis told me

get ready when I come off
the bench tonight.

I said, "Let me see how this boy
is going to play. Let me see."

Then when he dunked...

Picked up by Antetokounmpo,
off to Brandon Knight

drives on Hardaway. Layup, no good.
Clocked in, the Alphabet.

Ah!

How about that?

Oh, Giannis.

I had my career high.

I had the best game of the season,
uh, because I felt good. I was happy.

That was the point
that the dream came true.

It wasn't the draft day,

it wasn't the signing of contract,

it was we are all together

living the dream.

How does it make you guys
feel now? Like, you know,

he checks into the game,
he comes in and the place going crazy,

you know, for your son? Like, how does
it... just talk about that feeling.

It's amazing. It's amazing, really.

- It's so great.
- It's great.

It's great. It's amazing.

It's amazing, yes.
We are really happy about that.

We are really happy.

Yes.

He's a first-round pick of the NBA Draft,

so he's making considerable money
at that, just as that pick.

And at that time, he was living in
a two-bedroom condominium.

That was great for a young player
like that, that fit him,

but soon after, everybody comes,

his mother, his father, and both brothers.

They didn't move.

They stayed there.

The mom and dad in a bedroom,
the two little brothers in a bedroom.

I think Giannis was like, in like,
this little dining room area,

kind of was his bedroom.

It just tells you, like, who they are,

really just how much they need each other.

Home for me means wherever my family is.

And it's been like that
since when we were kids.

The homes that we grew up in,

we had one underground,

which was a big thing for immigrants
just because the rent was cheaper.

We had houses that my parents
didn't have a room.

The kids slept in the back

and my mom and dad slept in the...
in the living room.

I don't think it was anything
that anybody wanna stay in, but to me,

it was like a palace.

If you grow up that way,
you don't understand the difference.

You think that's how it's supposed to be.

We're living from day-to-day,
not month-to-month.

I remember living in eight
or nine homes by eight years old.

There was one time

I tried to get in the house.

I couldn't get into the house,
and my dad was like, "What's going on?

Like the key doesn't fit."

The landlord, uh, changed the lock.

If somebody's evicting you,

it can't take me a week to move my things.
You move quick.

If they ask us to leave, if you don't
leave, they'll call police for you.

We had to take our belongings.

We obviously didn't have the money
to have like a big fancy like U-Haul truck

or like a moving company, or something.

We have no way to transport this fridge.

I was young. I told my dad,

"Maybe we can put it on a skateboard."

We put the fridge on the skateboard

and we were just kind of like
pushing the fridge down the block.

We did it at like 12:00 a.m.,
so nobody could see us.

At the end of the day,
we had one another.

We never had toys and teddy bears,

and all that, uh,
but we always had one another.

Once they arrived...

he just became happier.

Now, he felt like
he could really concentrate

on what he was here to do

and where he wanted his career to go.

I can tell it means something to you.

I mean, you... all of a sudden
your eyes light up.

Yeah. It means I want the MVP.

I want the MVP. Yeah.

Very quickly his body started changing,

and when it was complete,
it was 50 pounds of muscle.

For the Chicago Bulls...

In an early playoff situation,

Mike Dunleavy Jr. popped him
on one end of the court.

Nobody saw it.

Mike ran down the court,
and Giannis was chasing him.

Dunleavy. Splash.

You knew it was coming.

That fire was etched in my brain.

- Let's see.
- Watch Giannis,

you can tell this is on purpose.

I got a feeling the Greek Freak
will be thrown out of this one.

Yeah.

There was a kid who had a sign
that was the Greek Freak.

At first, we weren't comfortable with it.

Being called a freak
is not normally a nice thing.

And then somehow, some way,

he embraced it.

There's the Greek Freak.

Greek Freak been lifting weights, baby.

Understand it's about helping each other.

Jason Kidd became the coach
in Giannis' second season.

I knew he was one of the best
point guards to ever play the game.

Jason Kidd.

I'm dealing with a guy
that know what greatness is.

You the low man.

You gotta stay there.

Giannis gets a rebound and he brings it
and then he makes a pass.

And that's where the light bulb
went off in my head.

I think he can be a point guard.

Wow.
What a play by the Alphabet.

You don't think of point guards
as being seven-feet tall.

Giannis coined what point-forward
is in the modern NBA.

Action.

This year, I'm going to fly.

Oh! Greek Freak flush!

He is usually referred to as Giannis
or the Greek Freak.

And he's doing things on a basketball
court that people have never seen before.

Let's go!

The kid who once had to
share sneakers with his brother,

will soon have his own
signature shoe from Nike,

the first foreign-born player
to receive that tribute.

Nike Headquarters.

I got my little car over here.

I love, you know, Giannis,
you know, from Milwaukee.

I can't really pronounce his last name,
but I love his game.

Look out, baby.

Being in the zone, it might be
one of the best feelings you can have.

Things just happen automatically.

And the one-handed jam.

Every decision is the right decision.

- Watch out.
- Antetokounmpo on the drive.

Behind the back pass.

It's like a orchestra.

That's... Oh, my goodness.

That's being in the zone.

Antetokounmpo has got to take a shot.

Two seconds, step back jumper.

- Got it!
- Got it!

Giannis Antetokounmpo at the buzzer!

Both parents
had an enormous amount of pride

in terms of the work ethic
that they instilled in him.

Selected to play
in his first ever NBA All-Star Game,

from the Milwaukee Bucks, the Greek Freak,

Giannis Antetokounmpo.

I knew there was
something else behind it.

Most guys,
they don't transform the way he did,

body, mind, and game all at the same time.

Knowing exactly where
Klay was, and oh, my goodness,

this is getting ridiculous out here
with Giannis Antetokounmpo.

And I just couldn't understand why
until I heard his story.

It had nothing to do with his talent.

He'll tell you,
"I'm not as talented as Luka." Right?

"The game doesn't come as easy to me
as it does Jokic."

The difference is that he played
with a sense of fear,

he has to do everything
he needs to do to stay

because he was petrified of going back.

If you ask Giannis
how he does what he does today,

he'll say that it's a piece of cake.

"When I have been hungry,

when I had no idea
where we will sleep at night,

being an NBA player is nothing."

noise with your mouth.

So usually, me and Mariah,
when we're together,

we don't say a word to one another.

He still is on his phone,
so I'm watching the show

I wanna watch
while he's on his phone anyways.

She... no, don't even say
the show because she's weird.

- What show am I watching right now?
- Yeah.

911.

She wants... she watch like, uh,

when people get killed and... she enjoys

watching people suffer,

and I don't, you know?

We've never talked about
how we met, you know?

Nobody knows... really knows.

And this... it's better to say it this way
than somebody say it for us.

I met your mother in Vegas.

We met in Las Vegas
during NBA Summer League.

Mariah was working there
at the time, right?

I said, "Hmm, that's a girl
that I can like make a family with.

I can see myself with a girl like that."

And I told one of my close friends.
I was like,

"Is there any way
you can get her number for me?"

And, um, he went out to Mariah

and Mariah was like,
"No. I don't give my numbers out."

I told him to find me on Instagram
or something like that.

Yeah. Sometimes you get rejected,
you know?

You don't get what you want immediately.

He was trying to play
hard to get after that.

I wasn't try... I'm very hard to get.

Okay, whatever.

Fast forward, I was taking a trip

to Miami with my family, my father, Mom,
my brothers, at the time,

and I was like, "Do you wanna come?

You can come with us, join us,
you know, and, uh, you know,

get to know one another."

I was really nervous
'cause you just never know what to expect.

And I get to Miami.

When I like first walked in,
he's like, "Oh, this is my mom

and this is my dad." I'm like, "What
in the heck did I just get myself into?"

- She showed up at the like...
- The first time like we had

a conversation in person,

I met his mom, I met his dad, his aunt.

- Cousins, brothers.
- I met Thanasis and Alex.

Kostas wasn't there on the trip.

He had a high school tournament.

So it was everybody at once
and I was like, "Whoa."

My...

She had the... you know,

she stayed in the house with all
my brothers, my friends, my family.

We watched the All-Star Game on TV.

- We watched...
- Cooked with his mom.

Yeah, cooked with my mom and aunt.

I have never, never brought a girl,
another girl around my parents.

I never did that.

My dad was shocked.

He's like,
"Giannis is bringing a girl around?

What the hell is going on, you know?"

I think he went to the room, started
praying and he said, "Thank you, Jesus."

That was my first interaction of, okay,
this guy is different.

Like, he's not spending it with friends
or like his entourage.

He was with his family.

Hey, guys, say hello to the camera.

Hello to the camera, Dad. Come on.

My father was tough.

My father was tough.

I called him gangster.

Stubborn too.

They're pretty similar
with their stubbornness.

Their presence...
like you feel their presence.

When Giannis walks into a room,
you feel his presence.

When Charles walked into a room,
you felt it.

Quiet.

Very respectful.

Always bowed his head.

I'm like, "Dad, like it's okay.
You don't need to do that anymore."

Like... he's like,
"No, no, no, no, no, no."

Charles was a kind person,

a loving person, a caring person,

and a humble person.

He's a very good dad.

All he cared about was his kids.

Always.

Always... always about his kids.

Christmas for us was one of
the happiest, uh, holidays.

From 24th of December
until 7th of January,

you sung Christmas carols.

We have a thing that we call kalanta.

It's Christmas so nobody goes to school.

We would always go from house-to-house

or store-to-store.

You'd sing Christmas carols in like Greek.

So there's a triangle.
You know, how you do ting?

They'll give you some money
and give you a tip and, like "Oh,

thank you so much."

And then you would move
to the next store and the next.

♪ Good evening, Noblemen ♪

♪ If this is your will ♪

♪ Christ's holy birth ♪

♪ In the town of Bethlehem ♪

♪ The Heavens rejoice ♪

♪ All of nature is happy ♪

We just walked
all the streets of Athens.

Me and my brothers,
we started at 6:30 a.m.,

and went all day. We raised like €500.

That's around $600.

My dad never
asked for anything. Never.

Never. But we all knew what he wanted.

He wanted a nice TV.

And then we went
and bought it and everything.

He was so happy.

We brought the rest
of the money back home,

and we gave it to my father.

Take this money, pay for the rent
so he can buy us one more month.

And pay for the light bill

and pay for the water bill
and get some food.

And then he was like,
"Okay. You know what,"

he was like, "Guys, I'm going downstairs.
I'll be back."

And he was like,
"Hey, I got something for you guys."

And it was the Play... the PlayStation 2
and it was the exclusive version.

It was silver.

It was actually like
a limited-edition PlayStation.

I don't know how he found that.

He brought it home with two controllers.

Usually when you get one,
they only give you one controller.

But he know...
he knew that it's my kids, my sons...

they go together everywhere,
and he brought two.

And we were going crazy.

And it was so special that all the kids
in the neighborhood

come to our house to play.

I don't know.

I don't know how my dad found this,

but I will always, in every chance
that I get, make them feel special.

And he did. He really did.

It was one of the happiest days
of my... of my life.

His mom called me.

I was driving somewhere...

and I had to turn around...

and go get Giannis
from the practice facility.

I went downstairs.
We were in the car.

I was like, "What... what's going on?"

Her hands are shaking.

She's not looking me in my eyes.

In my head, I'm like, "Who it is?
Is it my mom or my dad?"

It was a really tough day.

Really... really hard experience.

The door in the apartment was open.

Um... the apartment was open

and I just heard
my mommy yelling, screaming.

Saw my dad on the floor.

I was in Greece and, uh...

they called me.

He was crying and...

"He's heavy." That's what he said.

That's what exactly he said.
"He's heavy. He's heavy.

I can't pick him up."

Paramedics came.

Kind of revive... tried to revive my dad.

And then they looked at me and they said,
"There's nothing we can do.

Uh, there's nothing we can do."

And they just took him away.

I went back to the house,
and I was confused on what was going on.

My brain at that... at that...
at that age of like 15, 16 years old

couldn't understand how somebody
that was just with me,

he just...
he just dropped me off at school,

how is he... how is he no longer here?

Your mom is right there sitting,
and she just lost her best friend.

They've been together for over 30 years.

Uh, wherever my dad went, my mom went.
They were always together.

They never separated themselves.

When he passed away,
I was so down.

I feel like I'm alone.

Even my kids are there,

even everyone here with me, I'm alone.

They say, "You are not alone.

You are not alone.
We are here for you.

Please Mommy, please.

Don't give up. Don't give up."

His dad has a heart attack.

I lost my dad, uh, to a heart attack.

And just to understand
what he was going through,

the things that his dad
wouldn't be able to see.

That night, the whole family comes back
to the practice facility.

This was his sanctuary. This was his home.

And so we wanted to be able
to let them cry,

let them laugh.

Basketball was a anchor for this family.

The Milwaukee Bucks
are gearing up for the 2017 season,

and their young star,
he's doing it with a heavy heart.

54-year-old,
Charles Antetokounmpo,

suffered a heart attack here in Milwaukee.

We're playing the Blazers.

And, man, that still brings, uh,
chills to me when I think about that.

Here's Giannis all the way to the basket.

And he scores.

Giannis driving
on Harkless. To the rim. Lay it in.

Twenty-one in the first half.

Giannis makes all
the great plays down the stretch.

Great blocks, great scores.

Everything to seal the deal.

Giannis.

Yes. And one!

He is spectacular.

- Yes!
- Oh, yeah.

Yes! He rolls it around.

That long stride.

Giannis from Brogdon.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has 44.

Heart, resolve, grit, and the mean mug.

We haven't seen anything like this
for a long time around here.

Is that tonight's game ball in there?

My teammates gave it to me, yes.

My team... my teammates gave it to me.

They told me to, uh, keep the ball.

He got the game ball and he dedicated
the game ball to his daddy.

It's special.

I feel that motivates me
on a daily basis.

Uh, just playing... you know,
playing hard, play for my family,

and, uh, especially play for my dad.

Hopefully, he's seeing us from above
and, uh, he's proud of us.

I knew it was hurting him,

but Charles got to see
what Giannis had become,

and there's great solace in that.

My father's passing
uplifted Giannis' career.

When something like that happens,

it just kind of change the way
you view things.

You start to see that we all come from
one place and we're gonna end up...

in the same place.

So there's no point of you being scared.

And I felt like Giannis
installed that mentality,

and he stopped being scared of anything.

You don't feel fear.

Fear does not exist.

Fear for what?

Fear of losing?

Fear of what? Not being good enough?

The difference between a coward
and a hero is how to navigate fear.

We're all gonna die one day.

We are a dash.
It starts from 1994 and ends somewhere.

Do what you want to do,
and go conquer the world.

That's why they call him the Freak.

He is so special.

Oh, express yourself.

Giannis.

There are certain guys
who can get really good numbers,

but it's not always applicable
to the team success.

He married the two.

A monster blocked shot.
Ahead for Middleton.

He became that problem
for every opposing team.

Okay, the Bucks are coming to town.

What's job one?

Well, it's Giannis. It's the Freak.

Giannis finds Bledsoe,
one of the great plays this season.

He's just going by one name, basically.

- Giannis.
- Giannis.

- Giannis.
- Here he comes.

Giannis Antetokounmpo.

You don't see that every day in the NBA.

That was the year
where it was like,

"Okay, this guy could potentially
be one of the all-time greats."

Oh, my goodness. Wow.

Giannis! Whoo!

MVP! MVP!

MVP! MVP! MVP!

The 2019 Most Valuable Player goes to...

Giannis Antetokounmpo.

He tried to ask us not to cry,
because he knew that if we got emotional,

he was gonna get emotional.

I wanna thank...
thank the front office,

the ownership for like, you know,
believing in me...

when I was 18 years old back in Greece.

I wanna thank the city of Milwaukee.

I wanna thank, uh, my country,
Greece and, uh, Nigeria

for always supporting me, you know?

Uh, I wanna thank my dad.

Uh, obviously, you know,
my dad is not here with me,

but, uh... you know...

I wanna thank my amazing, uh, mom.

She always saw the future in us.

She always believed in us.
She was always there for us.

She's the foundation of this family.

You're my... you're my true hero.

You're my true hero.

The first time I saw him really show
his emotions in front of people

was on that stage.

Yeah, I said... I said I'm not...

I'm not gonna cry,
and the first thing I did was cry.

That's crazy.

He realized being vulnerable
and letting people see who you really are

and letting people see
a different side of you is okay.

It's safe.

It feels good.

- It's difficult.
- Congratulations, Giannis.

That's the day I found out
I was pregnant with Liam.

I had written him a card that said,

"MVP or not, you're gonna be a dad."

I'm like, "No way."

She's like, "Yeah."
And then I just like started just crying.

And then I'm like, "Oh,
my dad's not gonna be here to see this."

Where's my baby?

Where's my baby?

Oh, baby.

I'm here, baby. Who are these strangers?

Who are these strangers?
My baby, come here.

- You want a popsicle, Liam?
- Who are these strangers, hmm?

His father is the reason
he wanted to become a father.

It was so important to him.

He never had money.

All he had was love
and the lessons he gave us.

I hope I can be as good
as a father as my dad was to me.

Do you want ice cream?

Do you want ice cream? No?

Do you want the dinosaur?

When our boys were born,
it really grounded him

and like made him more balanced,

you know, because he came home

to this little baby
who loved him unconditionally,

who has no idea who he is.

Do you wanna play basketball?

No?

Hey, Liam, do you wanna play basketball
when you grow up?

Do you wanna play basketball?

Okay.

My kids... I guess my kids
not will be basketball players, it's okay.

You wanna be an engineer?

Maybe a lawyer? What you wanna be?

They don't know the big name.

They know him as their dad.

The part that I love of being a father
is that I know they need me.

I love that feeling.

Boo!

I'm like,
"Giannis, stop buying them toys.

There's too many."

And he's like,
"No, I enjoy buying them toys

because I didn't have a single toy
when I was a kid."

And it just like broke my heart,
but at the same time,

it makes sense like why he works so hard
to give our kids whatever they want.

You got me. Okay.

No. No.

Go get mama. Get mama.

Before Liam was born,
we went to a birthing class

and the teacher goes,
"Any other questions?"

And he's like,
"Yeah. How do you change a diaper?"

I was, like, "Oh, jeez."

I said, "I'm in trouble."

- Come on. Go get your...
- Does he need to change diaper?

- What? You too?
- Does he?

Yeah.

- Give me a diaper.
- Matt.

Matt, can you give him a diaper please?

He's like, "Daddy, poo-poos."

Like, "Poo-poos? It's not pee-pee?"

He said, "No. Poo-poos."
"Okay. Go to mama."

"Uh-uh. Daddy."
You know, like, "I want you."

So like, man, I just...

I just scored 50 yesterday,

and now I'm changing diapers?

Exciting news.

Giannis' older brother has agreed
to a two-year contract with the Bucks.

Thanasis last played in Europe
but has been in the NBA before.

Tha-nasty.

Giannis' older brother, Thanasis,
joins the team the next season.

Hey, man, feels great.

Feels great having this guy out here.

To be able to have
your best friend there,

Giannis was happy.

No one else on the planet who does that.

It's my honor to announce
the 2020 Most Valuable Player

is Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Winning back-to-back MVPs,
how difficult is that?

There's LeBron James. There's Steph Curry.

There's Joker.

To be the greatest of the greats

two years in a row
is an absurd accomplishment.

- Giannis.
- Greek Freak flush!

Once he won the MVPs,

the last thing remaining on his résumé

was an NBA championship.

Listen, listen, listen, listen.

Please. Please do me this favor
so I can be better.

I can be a better player.
I can lead this team to a championship.

Please don't call me MVP.

In December 2020,
he had a big decision to sign,

you know, another contract to stay here
for another couple years or to leave.

With professional athletes in Milwaukee,

the question is always
when is this person going to leave?

That was a very real concern

as Giannis was leading into this decision.

I know this deadline is pushing soon,

so for his birthday present,

I had the corny joke
of giving him, uh, pens.

It's just stupid-ass pens, bro.

Bro, you mad 'cause you want it.

Bro, first of all, Mamadi had

one of these in like his back pocket.

I've been his teammate
for the longest time,

and, of course,
I don't want my guy to leave.

I'm glad that you were surprised.

When people were wondering if Giannis
would sign with the Milwaukee Bucks

and stay in Milwaukee,
a Greek gentleman came up to me, a fan,

and the fan said,
"Don't worry about it, Jim.

We have a philosophy in Greece
called philotimo,

which is founded in character
and loyalty."

He said, "He'll stay."

It's more than just basketball for me.

It's more than just business.

And people can say
that's a flaw that I have.

They can tell me,
"You could go to New York,

to go to Miami, go to LA,

to a big market team and make more money."

But those people did not help me, man.

Those people did not bring my family.

I didn't cry with those people.

I didn't, uh, fail with those people.

I didn't succeed with those people.

I grew up here.

This is... this is my home.

I was a kid that came
from nowhere and they embraced me.

I couldn't leave.

Anytime you hear Giannis talk,
it's about his family,

what his mom did, what his dad did,

what his brothers are doing,

how much his kids and me mean to him.

- Okay. Let's do this. Let's do it.
- Let's do it.

- So I just, uh, put the date?
- Date.

That's who he is.

And Milwaukee is such a big part of it,

because it's what allowed his family

to go from struggling

to where they are now, thriving.

He wants the pen.

You wanna sign?

It's big, man. It's big.

Like from where we came from,

putting my signature on a paper like that,

it's fucking unbelievable.

It's unreal. It's unreal.

The biggest deal in NBA history.

And, um, it's all because of hard work.

Gonna keep working hard.

And, hopefully,
I cannot let you guys down

and make you guys proud
and make this city proud

and, uh... have fun.

Let's have fun, okay?

We love you, guys. Thank you.

We love you.

Cheers.

Congratulations.

Cheers, man.

Cheers.

Cheers.

It's not often that a true
NBA superstar stays in a small market.

News of Giannis signing
the supermax has fans thrilled.

It's good for the league
that you can see a superstar like that

stay put, give Milwaukee this identity,

uh, and not just be another guy
who bolts for the bright lights.

Philotimo, the Greek philosophy
of character and loyalty.

Giannis has philotimo.

More than anybody I've ever known.

When Giannis decided to stay in Milwaukee,

everybody breathed a big sigh of relief

and then you go right back to,

"Okay, now, what can happen?"

Back-to-back MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo,

has achieved a lot
in his seven-year career,

but what has eluded him so far,

even a crack at an NBA title.

For many people, this is a stunner.

They played Toronto
in the Eastern Conference Finals.

And he couldn't push through
the way that he wanted to.

The next year, they lost to Miami
in the second round of the bubble.

The Milwaukee Bucks
had the best record again in the NBA.

They just couldn't get
the engine going.

That's it.
The best team in the NBA is gone.

The biggest critiques are always
he needs to shoot the ball better,

that he doesn't have a good outside shot,

his free throws.

Coming off a supermax extension
against the Boston Celtics,

Giannis heads to the free throw line,

and the issue that has plagued him
comes back.

Antetokounmpo,
a chance to tie it with free throws.

Giannis for the tie.

Oh, he comes up short, and that's it.

You're a two-time MVP.

You gotta make that free throw.
It's that simple.

Can't overlook Giannis
and that missed free throw

with 0.4 seconds left.

Are you gonna sit up here
and tell me that the pressure

is on the organization and not...

- Yeah.
- Giannis?

Even though he will never say
that he hears all the criticism,

he hears all the criticism.

He sees all of it.

I wouldn't wanna be Giannis.

You take the last shot and you miss,
they'll blame you.

If you don't take the last shot
and we don't win, they blame you.

The pressures of being an MVP,

the pressures of winning a championship,

when you care about so many people,

um, as Giannis does,

his family, the organization,

uh, the city of Milwaukee,

it can become overwhelming
for a 26-year-old.

It was a tough year,
just emotionally and mentally.

And all this pressure of,
"Giannis, in order to seal who you are,

you have to win a championship,"
it gets to you.

Every person has a boiling point.

I think that he reached that level

that it was like,
"I don't think I can anymore."

I was dealing with some stuff.

I don't think I had enough time
to grieve my father.

I had to be there for my brothers
and my mom.

Seeing your mom sad
and wearing black clothes

and all that is not a good feeling.

And I don't think I had time to kind of...

take for myself, talk with my family.

I said, "I don't wanna play no more.

I don't wanna play no more."

There's no joy. It's torture.

I thought he was gonna quit.
I thought he was done.

I thought he wasn't gonna play anymore.

What I said was, "I'm with you.

You're going to stop playing.
So what?"

You gotta start being that 12-year-old
and saying, "Okay, we gotta go out there,

work, and see
what we're gonna eat tomorrow."

This is nothing.

I was like, "If you quit, we quit."

We're family. We do it together.

I think it was a decision
that I was willing to take,

not for him to feel that excluded,
not to feel alone.

I remember telling him,

"Have you ever grieved for your father?

You dove into the basketball.

You did everything to make sure
that your family was okay,

which was the right thing to do.

But when have you ever stopped
and said, 'I need help myself?'"

I started talking to a sports psych,

started doing therapy,

and it was one of the best decisions
that I've ever done in my life

to be able to, uh,
develop a coping mechanism.

He fought harder than anybody
will ever know off the court.

To see his fight and what he did to get
through it was just absolutely amazing.

Milwaukee with Giannis,
they had the best record in the east,

back-to-back seasons
and disappointed in the playoffs.

Why do they look different this year?

This is a team, if they handle close games
differently than they have in the past,

the Bucks can certainly
get to the Conference Finals.

Giannis genuinely contemplated
quitting basketball

probably in the beginning of January,

and 20th of June they were in
the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Hawks are now down
two games to one to the Bucks.

So Giannis
opens up on fire here.

And he scores.

Milwaukee trying to take
a stranglehold on this series.

Oh!

And someone's down.

And it looks like it's Giannis
grabbing that left knee.

Oh, no.

I fell down.

My knee kind of went the other way.

- Oh.
- Oh, man.

- Can't even look at it.
- No.

I keep yelling.

I'm like, "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

The way that he yelled out,

it was piercing how much pain he was in.

Trying to help Giannis to his feet.

Here's the true test.

Is he able to put any weight on it?

My brother came to me
and was like, "What do you feel?"

"Like, bro, I felt like a pop.
Like, I fell a pop on my knee."

He's like, "No, no, no, no, no.
Are you sure?"

And while I'm walking back,
I looked at my knee,

and my knee was double in size,

and I said, "Oh, shit."

This is something
you absolutely don't wanna see.

I saw him two days later.

He had a brace on.

He literally was limping into the gym.

And he was saying,
"I'll be back. I'll be back."

I'm like, "You're not gonna be back."

He hyperextended it.

And I've been around basketball enough
and have done the injury to know

that you can't come back
from that within a month.

I said, "Guys, just give me opportunity."

That's all I asked for.

Just give me an opportunity.

Hold this down for me.

Played two unbelievable games
and went to the finals.

The Bucks advance now to the finals,

but we still don't know when

or perhaps if Giannis Antetokounmpo
is gonna come back.

Almost certainly
there'll be no Giannis.

I was walking.

Then I was jogging.

Then I was running.

Then I was lifting weights.

Yeah, I was back in six days.

We have our first finals practice.

First time we see him touch the floor.

And we're like, "All right. Cool.
The game's the next day.

There's gonna be
like a little walkthrough."

And Giannis is going a 150 miles an hour.

And we're like... literally have to
tell him like, "Bro, calm down.

We don't... like...
we don't need you today.

We need you tomorrow. Relax."

He wasn't looking
for people to coddle him.

He wasn't babying the knee.

He was like,
"I'm here to win a championship."

Good evening and welcome
to game one of the 2021 NBA Finals.

Giannis Antetokounmpo,
after missing the last two games

in the conference finals,
is in the lineup.

Come on. Bucks on three.
One, two, three.

Bucks!

Antetokounmpo,
again, drives inside and throws it down.

Giannis is a super freak healer.

I don't know if he has
some other makeup than the rest of us,

but he heals in a way
that nobody else does.

There is no hesitancy
from Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Crowder to Bridges. Bridges up inside.

Blocked by Antetokounmpo.

He blows it down
the center of the floor.

Only Chris Paul is back.
He slams it.

Played the game one,
lost game one,

but I felt so much confident though,

because when I got on the court,
I'm like, "Okay, I can play."

The next game, we come back, game two.

Middleton, the drive.
Blocked by Ayton.

- Saved by Bridges.
- This is unbelievable.

Seven three-pointers.

Inside. Bridges to Ayton.
Foul, and one.

The Suns
halfway to a championship.

A 2-0 series lead.

We lost game two.

But I played better, I felt better.

Suns in four! Suns in four!

They were real enthusiastic and emphatic
that they were gonna sweep us.

4-0. 4-0.

Teams that have won
the first two games in the finals

have gone on to win the championship
89% of the time.

Could the Bucks get swept?

Giannis doesn't have
that alpha quality leadership.

They lose this game tonight,
their hopes of breaking

a 50-year drought
of a championship in peril.

The game was so close
to being taken away from me

that I appreciate every minute of it.

I didn't take it for granted.

All of a sudden,
Giannis starts to take over.

Antetokounmpo,
four assists here in the opening quarter.

They can't stop Giannis tonight.

Giannis Antetokounmpo punishing the Suns.

The impact that Giannis
has on the psyche of the opponent.

Shot won't go.
Gets the rebound. Back up.

Banks it in, and a foul.

Giannis goes for 41.

And the Bucks beat Phoenix 120-100.

I call it the Giannis effect.

Antetokounmpo on the steal.

I don't wanna get
dunked on by Giannis.

I don't wanna get my shot
blocked by Giannis.

Now Booker
throws it up for Ayton.

Shot blocked by Antetokounmpo.

What a block from Giannis.

You get so preoccupied with Giannis

that it impacts
almost every area of your game.

The NBA Finals
are tied at two games apiece.

It's a best of three now.

Two more.

Game five is one of
the most perfect basketball games

we've ever played as a team.

Booker, the drive. Gets inside.

Leans in.

Knocked away and stolen by Holiday.

Jrue Holiday stole the ball, came up,

it looked like he was
gonna dribble out the clock.

We're up one.
I think I'm gonna hold the ball.

It's probably the smart thing to do.

He told me to throw it up,
and I threw it as high as I could.

Phoenix has to foul.

And Antetokounmpo throws it down.

That play,

that recognition on the part of Giannis
crushed the Phoenix Suns.

It crushed them.

One more, baby.

One more.

We won game five.

And when we won game five, I'm like,

"We gotta go back home now."

And it's kind of tricky
because you might be up 3-2

but you have the pressure.

Bucks in six! Bucks in six!

Bucks in six!

Because if you don't finish it,
now you gotta go back there.

For Giannis Antetokounmpo,
simply the biggest game of his life.

Fifty years of no championship.

This was a chance for Milwaukee
to win an NBA title.

We need one more.

At the end of the day,
it's just another game.

Enjoy this shit.

Set the fucking tone.
Pay attention to details from the start.

Do what you do based on your fucking role.

Do what you do.

- We want to dance tonight.
- Do what you fuckin' do!

Come on, let's dance.
Come on. One more time. Come on.

- Together on three. One, two, three.
- Together.

Let's go.

Thanasis said, "Hey, man,

the trophy's in the building."

I said,
"The trophy's in the building, huh?"

You can finish it today.

This trophy is not leaving this building.
We're gonna win.

You know, we're gonna win.
We're gonna make this happen.

I gave my brother a hug and I told him,
I said, "Man, we've come a long way, huh?"

He was like,
"Yeah. Go finish this."

"I will."

This guy, like from
the first play of the game,

just showed that "I want this."

Shot blocked by Antetokounmpo.

Once again comes out of nowhere,
throws it off the backboard.

He was there on every play.

Giannis down the...
he banks it home.

I was watching it live in Greece.

The spin move. Giannis does it again.

I think he had like 35 points.

Giannis tries a three.

It's good.

And then he had like 40.

Bank shot. No good.
Antetokounmpo with the follow.

- Forty-five.
- Middleton inside.

Nice entry pass.
And a slam from Antetokounmpo.

He's got 45.

What's the difference
between a coward and a hero?

It's how you deal with fear.

Then you decide to be a hero.

Inside, Antetokounmpo.
Puts up the one-hander.

Shot is good. Forty-nine.

Fifty points.

Only the seventh player in the history
of the finals to have a 50-point game.

And that'll do it.

It's over.

The Bucks have done it.

The long wait has ended.

After a half-century,

the Milwaukee Bucks
are NBA champions once again.

The 50-point game in a close-out game
to win an NBA Finals at home.

Milwaukee's first championship

across all professional sports
in 50 years.

Finals MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Small market superstar.

His commitment to staying in Milwaukee

and it culminating
in a world championship,

you can't write it in a... in a movie.

I had one goal and one goal only,

to get to my family.

I wish dad was there
to hug him too.

Hey, guys, say hello to the camera.

Hello to the camera, Dad.

Come on.

Uh, it's been a long journey, man.

A long journey.

I can... I can remember the first time
that my dad walked into Bradley Center.

I was just like a stupid kid
with just big dreams.

Giannis works very, very hard.

His name is now a household name in Greece

because of his achievement,
and this is always what we pray for.

Yeah!

Yeah!

I'm a champion.

I'm a champion.

My city is a champion.

Kostas. Kostas.

Eh!

Meet my mom right here.

Started from the bottom, now we're here.

Whoo!

No matter what happens in life,
nobody can take that moment away from you.

It's been done.
It's history.

Milwaukee, we did it, baby!

We did it!

We did it, man.

I love it here. I love the city.

I feel like I'm one of them.

And I'm gonna do everything that I can
to win, uh, another championship.

I'm not satisfied. I want more.

I know I'm in the second chapter
of my career now.

The goal is to have another, uh,
another Hall of Fame decade.

How you doing?

- Oh.
- You good?

Now that the sun is going down,
we go up there.

We take a legendary picture
with the trophy.

Yes, sir.

It's gonna be historical,
this moment.

Let's do it.

This is historical moment.
Historical.

This is beautiful right here.

What is this?

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

Are you serious?

- Whoa.
- Thank you. Oh, my gosh.

Giannis, Thanasis, Alex,
and Kostas, they really love Greece.

That's the place they grew up.

But we don't deserve Giannis.

That's my point of view.

Stand here. No.
Stand right here...

When we go back to Greece, I was like,

"Why do you like being here
if there's so many people

who don't think you belong here?"

You don't see a lot
of immigrants thriving in Greece.

I feel like if me or my brothers
don't do it now, who's gonna do it?

I believe that dad is extremely proud,

you know, what we've accomplished
and who we've become as human beings.

He's watching from above.

He's smiling at us.

He's guiding us, you know,
through our journeys.

He's proud of our grandkids.

He's proud of, you know,
what we're gonna accomplish in the future.

If I could have one wish right now,
it's that every person on this earth

could have the opportunity
to accomplish their own dream,

to reach their own potential,
to be great in what they love,

to accomplish their dreams.

There's something special
in reaching your dreams.

It fills you up as a human being.

And I believe this family
can do that for people.

Like Daddy used to say,

if you can take advantage
of an opportunity today,

why wait till tomorrow?

I know that it's starting
from a little meal right now.

This foundation is gonna be beyond us...

- Amen.
- Because this is gonna be

going for years, and years, and years,
centuries, you know?

And then when we are... when we are done,

our kids gonna take over.

And when our kids are done,
our grandkids are gonna take over.

And when our grand... your great-great-
great-grandkids are gonna take over.

I thought about them like, "Okay,
I'm just gonna start this foundation."

I got the name, CAFF,
Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation.

Try to do something
my dad would be proud of.

Try to uplift immigrants in Greece,

in Nigeria, in Milwaukee.

He's like,
"I'm changing that perception

of what immigrants can do in a country."

It's Giannis!

How are you guys doing?

How are you?

He's five-meters tall!

Immigrants aren't criminals.

They're not here to take your jobs.

They're here looking for a better life,
just like you are.

So, this hoop here
has got a lot of history.

This hoop is where
I scored my first slam dunk.

Did you train for many hours every day?

Every day, but for me it was a lot of fun.

I played with my brothers,
with my friends.

Let's build some new memories
on this court.

Well done! Now you have to defend.

Where I came from,
what I've faced in my life,

I'm hopeful that...

when they see me
and they see that it can be done,

they see my brothers
and they see it can be done.

There you go! There you go!

No, hang on! Where are you going?

First turn around and tell him,
"In your face!"

That's bigger than just basketball.

You did it! Well done!

If you go to any
of the immigrant neighborhoods in Athens,

you will see a lot of Antetokounmpos.

Maybe they won't be famous or rich,

but all of them believe
that they can do it now.

Antetokounmpo!

Antetokounmpo!

Antetokounmpo!

Antetokounmpo!

Antetokounmpo!

Giannis, one photo please.

Hey, hey. The president arrived.

The president.

No, it's very hard to get here.

- What?
- It's very hard.

It's very hard.

How you guys feel, man?

How do you feel, man?

I'm happy
that I can pin these guys down.

Play some basketball for once.

This is amazing.
If we was playing basketball on a court

like this when we was younger, we'd feel
like we was on the top of the world.

I changed my shot. I'm telling you,
everything is going straight now.

What's your definition of your success?

For me, it's to be able
to provide for my family.

Ten years ago,

my definition of success
was putting food in my mouth.

He got two in a row.

He got three in a row.

Steps to success always,
always, always, always.

But... hey.

Hey, I'm proud of you guys.

When we see ourselves
when we're 60, 70, we'll have no regrets.

Whatever comes as a family.

We are living and breathing our dream.

Who is it gonna be?

Yes!

Yes!

I want to win
a medal for my country.

It's a challenge that
I haven't yet conquered.

I gotta keep on going back until I do it.

Grayson Allen.

Pump fake. Inside the lane.

Miami has its upset.

Number eight has upset number one.

Do you view
this season as a failure?

That's the wrong question.

There's no failure in sports.

Every year you work,

you work towards a goal.

To be able to, uh,
take care of your family,

provide a house for them,
or take care of your parents,

you work towards a goal.

It's not a failure.

It's steps to success.

There's good days, bad days.

Some days you are able
to, uh, be successful.

Some days you're not.

Some days it's your turn.
Some days it's not your turn.

We were able to win one.

Hopefully, we can win another one.