Giannis Antetokoumnpo has already made himself quite a name in basketball. The NBA star helped lead the Milwaukee Bucks to the 2024-2025 playoffs. In their most recent game, tensions flared when Giannis Antetokounmpo got into a heated exchange with Tyrese Haliburton’s father, who confronted him by waving his son’s towel in Giannis’s face after the Bucks’ playoff loss.
In response, Giannis said in a post-game interview, according to CNN, “I believe in being humble in victory.” He added, “A lot of people out there that are like: ‘No, when you win the game, you talk sh*t and it’s a green light for you to be disrespectful towards somebody else.’ I disagree. I’ve won a championship, they haven’t.”
As Giannis gears up for the ad to show during the biggest game of the year, here’s what else to know about the NBA superstar and budding actor.
Born Giannis Sina Ugo Antetokounmpo in December of 1994 in Athens, Greece, to Nigerian parents, the imposing 7-foot-tall athlete has since been nicknamed “Greek Freak” — because many had trouble pronouncing his formidable name. His remarkable height and outstanding skills as a power forward also marked him as an outstanding athlete from the beginning. In any case, it wasn’t an easy childhood. According to the New York Times, as a youth he helped sell items like watches and sunglasses in the streets of Sepolia to help support his family, including his Nigerian immigrant parents.
He ultimately took Greek citizenship at the age of 18.
