Photo Credit: Aaron Gash/Associated Press

Giannis Antetokounmpo Talking About His Late Father During Emotional MVP Speech

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s parents are Nigerian, but immigrated to Greece in 1994, shortly before Giannis was born. They didn’t have any papers. Also, the family was very poor and struggled during Giannis’ youth. Giannis and his brothers had to sleep together in one bed, as the family only could afford staying in 2-room appartments and had trouble supplying every member of the family with enough food.

“It was tough. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had a lot of happiness.”

Even in later stages of their childhood, the family barley had anything. At one point even, Giannis and his brother Thanasis had to wear one pair of shoes during games. They therefore couldn’t play together. When Giannis checked out, he took off his shoes and gave them to Thanasis so he could check in.

To help his family covering the expenses, Giannis started selling stuff on the streets of Athens as a kid. He hustled everything; glasses, watches, CDs and DVDs and claims to have been the best ‘salesman’:

“I was the best… I didn’t give up. I would always keep asking questions. I was cute, too. I was young…”

Fast forward to last night. This hustling, little kid has become the NBA’s MVP. What a story. While accepting the award, and giving a speech, Giannis got very emotional, when speaking about his later father and how he plays every day for his dad:

Giannis got emotional as he paid tribute to his family while accepting the #KiaMVP trophy. 🙏#NBAAwards pic.twitter.com/T8p5XH73cZ

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 25, 2019