Antetokounmpo to become one of Europe’s best basketball exports ever
The sky is the limit for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Greek guard who has swept the NBA and become Greece’s best ambassador in the world, acknowledged even by outgoing US president Barack Obama.
The Greek basketball sensation of the Milwaukee Bucks received over 1.6 million votes to get into the starting five of the Eastern Conference at the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, the world’s biggest basketball league announced late on Thursday, becoming the youngest ever foreigner to get into the Game’s starters.
Besides becoming the first ever Greek to feature in an All-Star Game, Antetokounmpo, 22, is also the youngest ever Bucks player to make the All-Star Game starters beating the record set by legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Also known as The Greek Freak, or The Longest Name in the Game, Antetokounmpo is going from strength to strength in the NBA and his selection for the league’s showpiece this year is only fair for the Greek international.
On February 19 in New Orleans the Sepolia-born all-rounder will make his parents, who originate from Nigeria, and his entire country proud just as he has done all along his time across the Atlantic – with many more years and honors to come for the player who may well prove to be Europe’s best ever basketball export to the homeland of basketball.
Straight after the news broke in the US, Giannis, a former player of Triton Sepolion and Filathlitikos Zografou in Greece, made sure his expressed his gratitude for the votes and support he received from his compatriots, showing he is neither disrespectful nor oblivious to the country where he was born and raised and made his start in the game.
After all that was also illustrated by a recent event after a game he decided in New York with a buzzer-beating shot against the Knicks: A Greek fan brought a Greek flag for Giannis to sign on, but the Bucks superstar said he would not do it as that would show a lack of respect for the flag, while being happy to sign anything else he was given.
And the fairy tale goes on for this guy, who as a poor kid of immigrants at Sepolia used to sell hankies to drivers along with his brothers…
