Giannis Antetokounmpo Trivia: 40 interesting facts about the Greek freak!

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of NBA. Let’s see some amazing facts and trivia about the Greek freak!

1.He was born on December 6, 1994.

2. The son of immigrants from Nigeria, Antetokounmpo was born in Athens, Greece.

3.Three years earlier, his parents had moved from Lagos, Nigeria, to Greece, leaving behind their first born son, Francis, with his grandparents

4. Even though Antetokounmpo and three of his four brothers were born in Greece, they did not automatically qualify to receive full Greek citizenship.

5. For the first 18 years of his life, Antetokounmpo had no papers, neither from Nigeria, nor from Greece.

6. Giannis Antetokounmpo grew up in the Athens neighborhood of Sepolia.

7. Like other immigrants to Greece, his parents struggled to find work. Antetokounmpo and his older brother, Thanasis, would help out by hawking watches, bags and sunglasses.

8. He started playing basketball in 2007,  and by 2009, he was playing competitively for the youth squad of Filathlitikos.

9. In 2012, Antetokounmpo joined the senior squad of Filathlitikos and played for them in Greece’s second-tier basketball league, the Greek A2 League, during the 2012–13 season.

10. In December 2012, just days after turning 18, Antetokounmpo signed a four-year deal with Spanish club CAI Zaragoza, reportedly including NBA buyouts after each season.

11. A number of other major European clubs had been interested in adding him as well, including Barcelona and Efes, among others.

12. With the contract starting with the 2013–14 season, he decided to stay with the Filathlitikos for the remainder of the 2012–13 season.

13. During the 2012–13 Greek A2 League season, Antetokounmpo shot 46.4% from the field (62.1% on two-point field goals), 31.3% from three-point range, and 72.0% from the free throw line, while averaging 22.5 minutes per game. Over 26 games, he averaged 9.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.0 blocks per game.

14. He was also selected by the coaches as a special participant in the 2013 Greek League All-Star Game.

15. Even though he was not actually selected as an all-star, the coaches let him play in the game as a treat for the fans.

16. On April 28, 2013, Antetokounmpo officially made himself eligible for the 2013 NBA draft.

17. He fulfilled his draft projections as a first-round pick by being selected 15th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks. On July 30, 2013, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Bucks.

18. Giannis Antetokounmpo averaged 6.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.8 blocks in 77 appearances during his rookie season.

19. He scored in double figures 23 times and grabbed 10+ rebounds twice, with both efforts resulting in double-doubles. He finished the season with 61 total blocks, which led all NBA rookies and was the seventh-most by a Bucks rookie in franchise history.

20. He was selected to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend in New Orleans, where he tallied nine points, two rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes. At the season’s end, he was named to the 2013–14 NBA All-Rookie second team.

21. On October 16, 2014, the Bucks exercised their third-year team option on Antetokounmpo’s rookie scale contract, extending the contract through the 2015–16 season.

22. On February 6, 2015, he recorded a then career-high 27 points and 15 rebounds in a loss to the Houston Rockets.[16] Three days later, he was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played February 2–8, earning player of the week honors for the first time in his career.

23. He later competed in the 2015 NBA Slam Dunk Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in New York. On March 9, he scored a then career-high 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting in a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

24. The Bucks finished the regular season with a 41–41 record, good for sixth in the Eastern Conference. He missed just one game during the 2014–15 season, averaging 12.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in 81 games. In the Bucks’ first round playoff match-up with the Chicago Bulls, they were defeated 4 games to

25. On August 1, 2015, Antetokounmpo played for Team Africa in the 2015 NBA Africa exhibition game, representing Nigeria due to his parents being born there.

26. On December 31, he recorded 35 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and a career-high seven blocks in a 116–96 win over the Chicago Bulls.

27. On January 4, 2017, he recorded 27 points and 13 rebounds and made a turnaround jumper at the buzzer to give the Bucks a 105–104 victory over the New York Knicks.

28. With 25 points against the Knicks on January 6, Antetokounmpo had at least 20 points in his 14th consecutive game, matching the longest streak by a Bucks player since Michael Redd in 2006

29. He officially gained Greek citizenship on May 9, 2013,with the official legal spelling of his name being Giannis Antetokounmpo.

30. His nickname is “The Greek Freak”.

31. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s father, Charles, is a former Nigerian soccer player, while his mother, Veronica, was a high-jumper.

32. Veronica gave each of her four sons born in Greece both a Greek and a Nigerian name.

33. The name she chose for Giannis was Ougko (OO-goh).

34. Giannis Antetokounmpo has two older brothers, Francis and Thanasis, as well as two younger brothers, Kostas and Alexis.

35.  He and Thanasis were teammates in Filathlitikos, with Kostas later joining the squad in 2013–14.

36. His oldest brother, Francis, has played football professionally in Nigeria.

37. The whole Antetokounmpo family moved from Athens to Milwaukee in early 2014.

38. Thanasis was drafted by the New York Knicks with the 51st overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft. Antetokounmpo’s younger brother Kostas plays college basketball in the United States at the University of Dayton, while his youngest brother, Alexis, plays high school basketball in the US.

39. Antetokounmpo is an avid fan of Greek club Olympiacos.

40. He stands at 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), and while he primarily plays the small forward position, he is equally as effective as a guard due to his sound ball-handling skills.