Not everyone is a sports fan. But I will here attempt to help us learn from an athlete by talking about it in a way that even non-fans would understand.
The player in question is Giannis Antetokounmpo. His first name is pronounced, "yawn-is." If you have trouble with his first name, I wouldn't try your tongue on his last.
The name gives hints of his heritage. He was born and raised in Athens, Greece, thus the popular Greek name Giannis. However, his parents (and older brother) were born in Nigeria. So his last name means, according to the Yoruba people of West Africa, the crown has returned from overseas. The name has extra significance since Giannis was just crowned a National Basketball Association (NBA) champion and tournament final series most valuable player (MVP).
I think you'll like learning more about Giannis. Even if you've not watched a minute of him play. Here are several ways you can learn to lead like Giannis:
Beat the odds
Giannis grew up in a poor immigrant family in Athens. Work was hard to come by. Giannis and his brother helped their mother sell handbags and other apparel in the streets. He said he was making about $200 a month helping his family out.
Eventually, Giannis and his brother took an interest in basketball. They played at an outdoor court pictured here. The neighborhood has painted the star's picture on it now.
At the time, they couldn't afford a good pair of basketball shoes. So he and his brother would share a pair of shoes, slipping them off after a game to let the other one get a turn.
They would walk four miles to get to a gym that would let them play more organized ball, and this is where his skills began to develop. Giannis would sleep for several hours at the gym on a mat after morning practice, so he wouldn't have to walk all the way home and back for the afternoon practice. Perhaps this prepared him for later on, playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, as he would sometimes sleep at their gym too. His family hadn't moved to the states yet, so he felt he had no reason to go home.
At this stage, Giannis was just another immigrant boy with some basketball talent. He was a kid without a country until the NBA Draft. Only then did Greece grant him citizenship. The draft was only his second time leaving the country of Greece in his life.
Love the fam
Of course, Giannis is making millions now and stands to make significantly more in the future. But, at the time in Athens, Giannis wasn't eating enough, so they had to convince him to eat more to grow. But he wouldn't do it, even if provided for him. Those in such a family will watch how much they eat, so everyone gets enough. His family had to go to food banks and depend on social organizations to survive. So some coaches arranged for the whole family to eat more so he could get more calories and grow.
And grow he did, to around 6'8" (203cm) when he was drafted 15th in the NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis would continue growing into young adulthood, adding another three to four inches and a lot of muscle mass, as this before-and-after picture makes clear.
Giannis moved alone to Wisconsin to play for the team that took a chance on him. In a story that might sound familiar to any immigrant working abroad, Giannis took a cab to Western Union to send money home to family. He made those arrangements with all the money he could, sending it all off to Greece. Then he realized he had no money left for cab fare. But it was a game day, so he had to be at the stadium, so he started running. After running a mile, a Bucks fan stopped him on a sidewalk, asking if he was the Bucks rookie. After Giannis said yes, they picked him up and dropped him off at Bucks Stadium in time for him to earn his next paycheck.
Greek players in the NBA are uncommon. Only 15 NBA players have had any Greek nationality (including those of dual-nationality). Three of those players are in Giannis' immediate family, so clearly, genetics matters. One brother, Thanasis, now also plays for the Bucks. The other, Kostas, now plays for the Lakers. Both come off the bench and play just a few minutes per game for their respective teams.
Giannis is often praised for his love of family. He worked very hard to get them into the US, getting denied twice (and the third denial would have become permanent). Ultimately, they were approved: the Antetokounmpo clan joined Giannis in Milwaukee.
Buck the trends (see what I did there?)
Giannis is a bit of an anomaly in the NBA right now. If you built a list of the things people complain about with the NBA, he might be considered the opposite. The current trend is to join different teams and try to make more money in a larger market, while also getting a better chance of winning a championship. But Giannis stayed put in small-market Milwaukee, re-signing with them just when everyone thought he would jump ship.
In an NBA that prizes high-frequency 3-point scoring, Giannis is a defensive-minded shot-blocker who only shoots occasional (some might say ill-advised) 3-point shots. In a league valuing finesse and shooting touch, he's a player focused on power and getting to the rim.
It is assumed that the path to an NBA championship is to stack your team with multiple highly-drafted all-stars. They also bring on several veterans willing to sacrifice to play in a big-market team on a ring-run. But Giannis and the Bucks buck that trend too: the three key players for Milwaukee, Giannis, Holiday, and Middleton, were drafted 15th, 17th, and 39th, respectively, in the NBA draft. Many are regretting the "supposed superstar" picks they made over these underdogs now. Some have called the Bucks' approach "build-a-team" not "buy-a-team" by comparison.
Love the team
Giannis brought back some plain old "love your team, love your city" energy to the Bucks. This quality is oft-missing and exchanged for an "it's just a business" mentality instead. Rookies sometimes command more respect than veterans in the future-biased NBA culture, but Giannis brought back an emphasis on rookie duties and respectful pecking order in the locker room.
When asked to be one of the stars in "Space Jam 2" (featuring LeBron James) Giannis turned them down. Filming would have meant missing weeks of training with his fellow players, and what's more, Giannis said, "I don't like being Hollywood. I don't like all this extra drama. I am just going to try to be me."
Be genuine
Speaking of "being me," Giannis has become a fan favorite in the post-game interview setting. These times are full of vanilla "you gotta hand it to them" and "we just played our game" type answers. Humor is often the last thing to understand cross-culturally, and Giannis hasn't entirely figured it out so far. He will crack jokes that are at times incomprehensible, and only funny to laugh at, not with. What's more, when asked why he left a few games in the NBA Finals he confessed his secret: "...how you guys say, politely? I had to take a tinkle." It is worth watching this clip to hear that one yourself.
Over the last many years Giannis has been a genuine laugh on social media as he repeatedly shared his first experiences with non-Greek food and culture, including his first taste of Kool-aid, a smoothie, and his first encounter with corn dogs.
Be determined
While Giannis is pretty much universally loved, he also knows how to go after the bold and audacious win. This determination shows up when he, quite literally, will jump over someone to get a dunk, or in the unbelievable alley-oop dunk of the closing seconds in game 5 against the Suns.
He has earned a nickname in response to these otherworldly displays of athleticism: “The Greek Freak.” Giannis is kind, but not soft.
Overcome weaknesses
Giannis has a huge blind spot: he's not a good free-throw shooter. Even in the 2021 title run, Giannis' shooting from the freebie line was very suspect. His star opponent in the Finals, Chris Paul, bemoaned that it was hard to get the rebound on Giannis' free throws, because, "Everybody out there anticipating a miss, hell even he is." Giannis must have taken that as a challenge to overcome his weaknesses. He made 17 of 19 free throws in his last game of the season, for 89% shooting. That change in his production changed the outcome of the game and turned criticism of his Achilles’ heel quiet.
Take over
Giannis also shows us that while depending on your teammates to deliver is important, there are times you just have to take over yourself. Giannis dominated in the last game of the finals series to close out the win and the championship.
Over the last fifty years, only two players have scored 33 or more points in a half of a finals game, Giannis and Michael Jordan (you may have heard of him, even if you don't follow basketball.) And when Giannis became the MVP of that series, he became just the 11th player in the NBA to have won the regular season MVP, a Finals MVP, and an All-Star Game MVP. But only Giannis and Michael Jordan have done that and also received the Defensive Player of the Year award. It's something special to be on a list with only "Air Jordan."
Live the moment
We perhaps learn the most about how Giannis leads and his perspective on a life of competition with his answer to a recent question. You can listen to it by clicking here, but here's the gist of his talk:
Giannis says that when you focus on the past, that's your ego. That focus on the past might be about beating certain teams or performing in a certain way, but that's just your ego talking. He conversely speaks of talking about what you're "going to do" and suggests that is your pride talking. When you act like you're going to dominate in the future, that's a pride problem. Instead, Giannis says he tries "...to focus in the moment, in the present. That's humility. That's being humble. That's setting no expectations, going out there and enjoying the game. Competing at a high level."
I hope I can lead a little more like Giannis. How about you? Leave a comment via the button below to interact with me and others with your take.
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Wow! Thanks for writing this up David. I stopped following most sports after Jordan. This is an incredible story.
David, this was an excellent blog with a purpose. I love how you drew me in to the conversation through basketball. I love the NBA. I love how you provided value to all of your readers, even those who don’t know the NBA and may have never heard of any of their stars. You shared a human story that provided a tremendous illustration of selfless leadership, Thanks.