Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo recently appeared on the ‘Thanalysis Show,’ which is his older brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s podcast, and spoke about his workout regimen. He recalled how he started working out with only the retired NBA players and not the ones who are actively playing.
“I don’t like working out with players who play in the game today. I like working out with all-time greats, you know, that first of all, I’m not going to see in front of me. I’m not going to compete against them. And I want all of them to know that I respect them and value them, right?”
Antetokounmpo moved on to discuss the list of several Hall of Famers he has worked out with in the gym and taken advice from in the past.
“I’ve worked with Hakeem. I’ve worked with KG. I’ve worked with Kobe, you know, and I’m going to have the opportunity to work with Carmelo. I’ve talked on the phone with Scottie Pippen a lot of times. So, people that I can take from them and add to my game.”
But one of these workout sessions stuck with him to this day. He describes working out with the Lakers legend Kobe Bryant as the most memorable among them all.
“So, working out with Kobe was an incredible experience, and I learned a lot of things. I had my notebook because I was younger back then. I was probably 22. Yeah, I was 22, right? I took my notebook. I’m like, ‘I’m excited, man. This is Kobe Bryant,” recalled Antetokounmpo.
“I texted him. I said, ‘Hey, where is the gym?’ He texted me. I said, ‘Okay.’ So, I land on the same day that we were working out. I land at like 7:OO a.m. Whatever. I took what you call the red eye.”
“Got there. I’m like, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? I don’t have a hotel room. I’m not going to spend money on the hotel room. I’m just going to go sit at the gym.”
“I work at like 10:30. So, I got to the gym, and it was 8:00 a.m. I had my physio with me. I was like, “Okay, let’s warm up. Let’s warm up. And then warm up for like 30 minutes. And he told me he said, ‘What are we going to do now?’ I said, ‘We’re just going to wait. Just going to wait.'”
“Long story short, he comes in, and brother, I’m not even exaggerating. I’m not because I played against Kobe twice in my career. He’s walking towards me. He’s glowing, bro,” said Giannis as his brother broke out in laughter.
“I’m not exaggerating, bro. He’s walking in slow motion. Maybe talking about aura. This is what the young kids say is aura, right? We are talking about the ultimate aura,” said the Greek superstar while trying to explain his experience to the younger generation.
“Like I’m starstruck. I’m like, ‘man, like what I’m going to say? I’m going to say hello. I don’t even know what I’m going to say.'”
“So, he’s walking to me like, ‘Hey, big fella, how you doing?’ Dapped me. I said, ‘Okay.’ He said, ‘You ready to work out?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m ready.’ And I have my notebook with me.”
“So we were working out, working out. And then he told me, ‘Go right. Make some shots.’ Then I made five. Like, usually you make five, you go to the next spot. He said, ‘Just five? Make 20.’ I said, ‘What do you mean 20?'”
“Like, ‘Yeah, you make 20 until you can’t shoot no more.’ And then I’m not going to talk about the workout a lot. But one thing that he told me was that he usually said, ‘What’s your biggest weakness?'”
“What’s the main weakness of TA?.. You’re nice. You’re super nice,” said Antetokounmpo while turning to his brother Thanasis.
“I do think what TA means is that he’s nice sometimes. So nice that people take advantage of that power,” Antetokounmpo clarified. “What’s your strength?”
“I’m too nice,” Thanasis responded.
“See? See what I’m saying? So, usually, most of the time, your weakness is your strength,” clarified the Greek superstar before going back to his Kobe Bryant story.
“And I’m sitting there, and I’m thinking I’m like, ‘Okay, what’s your weakness?’ He [Kobe] said, ‘I’m an a**hole, I’m not nice.’ And I said, “What’s your strength?’ He said, ‘I’m an a**hole, sorry for my language, but I don’t give a f***, you know, I’m going to shoot 40 shots.'”
“And then I was like, ‘Okay, what’s my weakness?’ It’s that I’m stubborn. I’m really, really stubborn. Like somebody said, ‘If I say I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it no matter what. If it’s right, wrong, I’m going to do it.'”
“But what’s my strength is that I’m so stubborn that I will get it done,” said Giannis in a moment of self-reflection.
“So I got so many messages from him, so many lessons from him. And we talk about defense, we talk about offense, we talk about shooting, we talk about how to handle double teams, and how to get your teammates involved, how to elevate, like we talk about so many things.
“I have everything in the notebook, but arguably one of the greatest moments with a legend, with a GOAT, was with Kobe Bryant for sure,” concluded Antetokounmpo.
One of the other key lessons that Kobe Bryant gave throughout his career was sticking with your team through thick and thin. Meanwhile, Antetokounmpo has done everything short of demanding a trade from the Bucks front office presently.
Giannis is currently recovering from a scary calf injury that has sidelined him for a few weeks while the Bucks are 11-16 for the season following their blowout loss to the Nets. It will be interesting to see where else Antetokounmpo channels Kobe Bryant’s Mamba mentality in his career.
