We all know that Giannis Antetokounmpo had a tough time growing up. He had to share a pair of sneakers with his brothers just to be able to practice and sell things on the streets just to get something to eat.
That’s what made his rise to stardom so unlikely and so incredible, and why his character is shaped like that.
But, as you may know by now, his first years in the NBA weren’t exactly great. He was far from the player we see nowadays, and no one ever thought he’d be as good.
That’s why author Mirin Fader has tried to shed light on the ups and downs of his life and career in his biography ‘Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP’.
In a recent interview, he spoke on how Giannis struggled to understand and learn everything right away as a non-native English speaker:
“He knew enough to string sentences together, but you’re talking about learning a playbook, hundreds of plays, and the coaches just talking so quickly. He just knew that it was all going past Giannis’s head, so adjusting on the court was tough,” the author said.
More than that, Giannis had a tough time because his family wasn’t allowed to come to the United States. In fact, he even thought of leaving all behind and going back to Greece to be back with his brothers:
“He was without his family because they couldn’t get the proper visas. They got denied twice to come to America. He felt so lonely to the point where his brother told me, Alex, that Giannis told his family. If you guys can’t come over here, I’m leaving. I’m going back to Greece. Imagine if he would have left, there would be no Giannis, there would be no Greek Freak. He was really close to that, it was really painful & hard,” Fader added.
Giannis went from barely getting by to signing the largest contract in the history of the NBA, yet he was far from lavish when he first got his money, as he had never experienced what it was like to have financial freedom:
“He also was grappling with going from not knowing where your next meal was coming from to being a millionaire. It’s not like, oh it’s all good I have money now, it’s like I’m afraid to indulge, I’m afraid to buy things,” the author concluded.
It’s impossible not to root for a guy like Giannis. We’re so glad that he didn’t give up on his NBA dream and worked his heart off to become the Greek Freak and a first-ballot Hall of Famer already.
