30 Mind-Blowing Facts About Giannis Antetokounmpo Every Fan Should Know

23 March 2019, 10:20 am EDT By Ruby Karnick

Giannis Antetokounmpo, nearly 7 feet tall, is currently playing for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association. From street vendor to surging NBA player, The Greek Freak is living the American dream. Here are some facts about, the Greek professional basketball player:

He was born on December 06, 1994, in Athens, Greece, to Veronica and Charles Antetokounmpo of Greek-Nigerian ethnic background. He has four brothers, two of whom are also basketball players.
Three years before his birth, his parents moved from Lagos, Nigeria. His father, Charles, was a former Nigerian association football player and his mother, Veronica, is a former high jumper. His father passed away in September 2017, at the age of 54.
Though Antetokounmpo was born in Sepolia, Athens and studied in Greek school, he and his brothers did not automatically qualify to receive full Greek citizenship. For 18 years of his life, he was without a country, until May 09, 2013, when he officially gained Greek citizenship.
He took to basketball in 2007 and in two years he was playing competitively for the youth squad of Filathlitikos. In 2011, he joined the senior men’s team of Filathlitikos, and played with them in Greece’s third-tire, a semi-pro league.
During the 2012 to 2013 season he turned professional with Filathlitikos, playing in the Greece’s second tire level basketball, the Greek A2 League. In the season he averaged 9.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.0 block in over 26 games. He was selected as a special participant in the 2013 Greek League All-Star Game, as treat for the fans. He recorded a season high of 23 points against Irakleuo and grabbed a season high 10 rebounds against G.S Laviro.
Though he signed a four year contract with Spanish club, CAI Zaragoza on December 17, 2012, he made himself eligible for the 2013 NBA Draft and was selected 15th overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks. He signed a rookie scale contract on July 30, 2013.
He made his debut for the national team in July 2013, at the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, securing fifth place finish for Greece. A year later he made it to the senior team at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Antetokounmpo played in 77 games for the Bucks in his rookie season, averaging 6.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 24.6 minutes per contest. He was named to the ‘2013-14 NBA All-Rookie second team,’ first since Brandon Jennings in 2009-10 and overall 12th player in franchise history.
His total of 61 blocks was the highest by a rookie in that season and seventh highest by a Bucks rookie in franchise history. He was selected to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge at NBA All-Weekend in New Orleans.
On February 06, 2015, he recorded then his career high 27 points and 15 rebounds in a loss to Houston Rockets. His performance during the week earned him the ‘Eastern Conference Player of the Week,’ for the first time in his career.

On March 09, 2015, in a loss to New Orleans Pelicans, Antetokounmpo bettered his scoring to career high 29 points on 11 of 16 shooting. He ended the season playing all but one game averaging 12.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.o block in 31.4 minutes per contest.
On August 01, 2015, he was part of Team Africa in a 2015 NBA Exhibition against Team World, played at Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa. Team Africa was made up off NBA players and alumni that were born in or had parents born in Africa. Team Africa lost the game by a score of 97-101, with Antetokounmpo recording 22 points.
On October 26, 2015, the Bucks exercised their fourth year team options on his rookie scale contract, there by extending it by another year. In his two year with Bucks, he has played in 158 games averaging 9.8 points with 5.6 rebounds and became the youngest Bucks in franchise history to amass 1,000 points.
Antetokounmpo had better start to the 2015 season averaging 16 points in first twenty games and also recording then a career high 33 points for a losing cause against Cleveland Cavaliers. He recorded near triple double with 11 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists in inflicting Warriors first loss of the season with 108 to 95 score.
On February 22, 2016 he recorded his first career triple double with 27 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in a 108-101 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. At 21 years he became the youngest Buck to record a triple double. The Lakers legend Kobe Bryant described him as an ‘unbelievable’ talent.
When on April 01, 2016 he recorded his fifth triple double, he became the first Bucks player to record with four or more triple-double in a season and two days later he scored a career high 34 points in a 102-98 loss to the Chicago Bulls.
At the start of 2016 season, Antetokounmpo signed a four year $100 million contract extension with the Bucks and started the season with game high 31 points in a 107-96 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, on October 26.
Buck coach Jason Kidd had high praise for Antetokounmpo, who was often matched up against LeBron James in the game against Cleveland Cavaliers, on November 29, 2016. He tied career high with 34 points with 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals and two blocks in a 118 to 101 win. On December 05, he was named ‘Eastern Conference Player of the Week,’ for the preceding week.
On January 04, 2017, he lived to his tag of being NBA’s most explosive players when he recorded 27 points with 13 rebounds and made a turnaround jumper at the buzzer to give the Bucks a 105 to 104 victory over the New York Knicks.
When he scored 25 points in the return match against Knicks on January 06, Antetokounmpo had at least 20 points to his name in his 14 consecutive games, matching the longest streak by a Bucks player since Michael Redd in 2006.

On January 19, he was named a starter on the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the 2017 NBA All-Star Game. In just his fourth NBA season he is averaging 23.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.8 steals, and 2.1 blocks per game, leading the Bucks in every category.
At 22 years and 74 days, Antetokounmpo became the youngest player in franchise history to start in an All-Star Game and also the first Greek NBA All-Star. He led the East with 30 points in a 182 to 192 loss to West.
On April 03, 2017, he was named the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for March. The award is the first of Antetokounmpo’s career and the first of a Buck since Michael Redd won the award in January 2004. He is one of the only four Bucks to earn this award.
He secured at least the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference with an 89-79 win over the Charlotte Hornets and also picked up his third triple double of the season with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on April 10, 2017. He equaled Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career eight triple doubles.
At the end of 2016-17 regular season he became only the fifth NBA player to lead the franchise in every one of the five major statistics categories, points, rebound, assists, blocks, and steals. He emulated the likes of Dave Cowens, Scottie Pippen, Kevin Garnett and LeBron James.
He finished the league among the top five in each of the five major categories in a regular season and was named to the All-NBA Second team, earning his first All-NBA honor. He was also named the NBA Most Improved Player for the season also the first for Bucks.
On October 21, in the third match of the season against Portland Trail Blazers, he recorded his career high 44 points in a 113-110 win. He scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a dunk that put the Bucks ahead 111-110 with 11 seconds to go. He was subsequently named the Eastern Conference Player for the week.
In the first half of the 2017 season he had many high to his name. His 147 points through the first four games are the most in team history, the 175 points in five games is also the best start by a NBA history. He also grabbed a career high 17 rebounds against Dallas Mavericks and by recording 40 points against Celtics he registered his third 40 plus of the season.
On January 17, 2018, he was named a starter for the 2018 NBA All-Star Game for the second consecutive season. Earlier in the month on 15th, he recorded 27 points and a career high 20 rebounds in a 104-95 win over the Wizards, to become the youngest Bucks to record a 20-20 game behind Andrew Bogut.
In March 2019, Antetokounmpo was named the ‘Euroscar European Player of the Year’ for 2018, thus becoming the second Greek player to receive since Nick Gallis in 1987. He beat Luka Doncic in the voting for the European basketball Oscar.