I came to tell you everything.
Giannis Antetokounmpo on SPORT24, this is the original article here. All rights reserved and all that Disclaimer stuff, not my text, all photos from there, click for the original, I am just translating for foreign readers.
Literally everything has been written and said about Giannis Antetokounmpo. Pleasant and unpleasant. He has been deified and leveled, like every great athlete. Who he is is up to each person to decide .
But surely, the megastar of the Milwaukee Bucks and the Greek National Team goes to bed at night proud of what he has accomplished, happy for what he has offered on and off the field, happy because he never stopped trying to make the next day better than the previous one.
A few days after winning the bronze medal at EuroBasket 2025 and just before returning to the USA for the 13th season of his professional career, the kid who just wants to play basketball visited SPORT24 for the biggest conversation of his life.
Because what you are about to read was definitely not an interview.
The relief for the medal, the slap in the face to Larentzakis, Spanoulis’s words, the question to Sloukas, the trade of Doncic and his future in the NBA, the Bucks of 2026, the discussion about the “best player in the world” and the very likely possibility that he will come to Europe in a few years to end his career here.
This and much more, in a unique 73-minute conversation, which you will watch again and again.
Interview with Haris Stavrou
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What are the days like after success?
I’m fine, I’m happy, I’m healthy, my family is fine. We came 3rd in Europe, I’m having a good time. Nothing changes for me.
I try to be the same person in both defeat and victory.
I was definitely very happy because so many people were happy, and when I go out on the street or when my family goes out on the street, I feel the love.
They pass by my house and shout ”
Yiannara, you made us proud, well done ” and all that, ”
give your mother kudos for the way she raised you “
It doesn’t change anything. I come home, the moment I walk in the door, I become a dad.
I take my kids to school, pick them up from school, then home, they eat, and then if mom lets us, we go for a couple of hours and play basketball. Nothing changes.
Certainly, with the fact that we won, a weight was lifted off me, because I always wanted to have success with the National Team in my career and it’s something I was missing.
You saw it, the world saw it, how I reacted at the end, you’d say I three-peat with the Chicago Bulls
For many, my reaction was excessive. Not for people here from Greece, but for people from America, they can’t understand it.
But why, while they have started watching EuroBasket more, don’t they understand the culture more?
What bothers me is that you can’t tell someone what’s important to them and what’s not.
For me, winning MVP may be important, but winning something with the National Team is more important.
Sorry, but it is. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.
I’m happy, now I’m smiling, yes, because now I’m not playing.
When I’m focused and playing, I always want the job to get done.
I want to give my best, I want to help the team.
I believe that God has given me an opportunity and put me in a position and I never want to take advantage of that position or take it for granted.
I know I have a few years ahead of me and I want to achieve my dreams and goals.
Right now, whatever I’ve set my mind to, I’ve accomplished and now I’ve just realized that I like living under pressure and adrenaline.
I want to set goals in my life, fight and try to achieve them.
Now I’m going to push you a little, I want to look at a photo and I want to see if you remember when and where it was taken.
Giannis Antetokounmpo at the 24MEDIA offices, a few days after his selection in the Draft, summer 2013
I had hair.
Oh, yes, and you were a kid.
And you were still short, you hadn’t gotten it yet.
I was 2.06 then, yes.
It was a few days after the Draft, you hadn’t even been to America yet. A few days later you started this journey and now we’re just before your 13th season in the NBA.
The years passed, very quickly.
Let me show you what you said in that live chat we had.
My voice hasn’t changed.
Twelve years ago, you loved the National Team ever since. You’ve already spent 10 summers with it and have played in nine of the 11 tournaments you could have played in. And yet, there are still people who believe that in the summers you’ll look for a way not to come.
I have said one thing, so I am healthy and I can, I will always be available for the National Team.
The one summer I didn’t come, I had surgery on my right knee, and in 2017, when I couldn’t, I tried to come.
You came, but you were injured in a friendly against Montenegro in Belgrade.
I tried. Okay, it doesn’t matter what 10% or 5% or 1% of the world thinks.
I have played nine tournaments with the National Team, I wish I could play 15-20 tournaments
And I did what I wanted to do, win a medal for the National Team.
We left the cellar, we have more to go than the copper.
Yes, yes, yes, we have, we have. It is definitely very difficult.
Both Serbia and France are improving a lot.
So in 2027, which is two years away, you will have Canada, the USA, South Sudan, Australia.
Countries that are very dangerous and will be very good.
We need to improve too. We need to train, find kids, have good years and be ready in two years from now to come and help the team.
But let’s go back a little to what I said.
I’m glad I had the success with the National Team and we won the medal, I did it with my brothers, which, you understand, is even more special for me.
And I’m so happy for my mother, who was able to see this.
I can’t imagine, as a father of four children, what it’s like to see three of your children make their dreams come true and win something for a country I’ve been in for 30 years, my mother for 32-33 years.
I believe it was a unique moment for my mother and she enjoyed it more than anyone.
In Vegas, last December, we had a conversation after winning the NBA Cup. You told me ” I want to be healthy, I want to play, we want to get the medal and we’ll have a lot to talk about .” At that time, I felt that you had something in you, but I didn’t want to pressure you. Now that this success has happened, what is this “something” that we have to talk about?
Okay, as you’ve known me for 13 years now, I always try to talk on the field. After the games I don’t like to make statements.
In the NBA, it’s mandatory, if you don’t do them, you get fined and they take the money from your salary.
But whenever I have the chance and I don’t get a fine, I don’t want to talk, I don’t like it, I prefer to talk on the field, that’s the kind of kid I am.
I believe that…
Okay, anyway, it doesn’t matter.
It’s just that sometimes people don’t understand that being Antetokounmpo is also a burden.
Because I never wanted to be famous, I never wanted to play for the money, I wanted to play for my family, not me
You’ll never see me in an interview saying ” I want to have a better life .”
I always said I want my mother and father to have it, because I believe they deserve it, because they raised us the way they raised us and made all these sacrifices, and I want them to have a better life.
My father had time from 2013 when I was drafted until 2017 when he passed away, four years, to see me do what I love.
And Thanasis and Kostas and Alex.
He caught up with this better life, he saw what I was able to offer.
I went to a public school, down in Sepolia, where I finished elementary, middle, and high school. The two younger brothers, Kostas and Alex, went to a private school.
I was in a position where I was able to offer this to my siblings, my father saw it, that’s enough
It’s not like he only saw me on the field.
He saw me grow from a child to a man, he met the woman of my life, whom I have married.
Okay, he didn’t meet my kids.
Anyway, I went too far.
Being Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t all about the good, it also comes with a burden
You have to be right, you have to be a role model for the children.
You have to be able to inspire the next generation by being authentic and being low-key, that helps a lot.
And anyway, I’ve heard everything. Your friends write it down (laughs). I’ve heard everything.
You read everything.
Yes, I read them all, because they boost my morale, I get courage, I get motivation.
I get motivation because I’m like that, like a child, I like challenges.
I like being told I can’t do it, I go out there and give it my all.
I don’t believe there will ever be a game that you’ll play or watch after 5-6 years, 10 years, where I don’t give it my all, don’t sweat, or have a breather.
There are games where I can’t breathe because I give it my all, but I’ve certainly heard everything, that I don’t deserve to be in the National Team, that I don’t deserve to have a Greek passport, that I don’t.
That I can’t play in Europe because the European style is different.
This was ten years ago, of course.
Okay, I’ve heard of them though.
I’m glad that the 1% of the world or some journalists who say these things are the same ones who have helped me be in the position I am in today.
To be very tough mentally and to have made all my dreams come true.
I’ll ask you something as Haris, not as a journalist. In Slovenia, if you say that Luka is not the best in the world, they might beat you up. The same in Serbia with Jokic. In Greece, many say that Luka is the best, Jokic is the best. Doesn’t it seem a little strange to you?
Look, it’s the eye test.
And it’s what you like, what you prefer.
The public here in Greece may like a player who passes well.
With you, but you are our child.
Yeah, okay, it doesn’t work like that.
I might not be one of the best players in the world in five years.
They won’t say that Giannis is the best player in the world. But then again, it’s everyone’s preference.
The top five players I think are Luka, Jokic, SGA, Tatum and me
And it depends on the year you are doing it.
So if I, let’s say, go back this year and I’m improved and I help my team win the East and we go to the final and we play against whatever team is there, I automatically become the best player in the world.
But if Luca does it, he becomes the best player in the world.
If Jokic does it, he’s the best player in the world.
When you get to that point, what is your preference? What do you like to see?
My preference has always been to see a player who will not only be a good player, but will also be an example for his teammates in behavior.
It’s not enough to just score goals to be a leader, it also counts in the locker room how you are and on the bus, and when you eat as a team, how you are, how you behave.
Anyway, whoever has the best year will be the best player.
My preference is two-way players. I like one player, Anthony Edwards, I like him a lot.
I like Anthony Davis, see what I mean?
I mean, I like Leonard, I like him a lot.
I like players who can play both defense and offense and are dogs.
When we enter the field, know that they will always give 100%, they may not play well, but they will always give 100%.
Some people like shooters, others like passers, some people who have a very high IQ, the sharp-shooters.
Anyway, what I have to say is that preference doesn’t matter.
Maybe here in Greece they think I’m not the best player in the world, and right now I’m not saying I’m the best player in the world either.
Do I believe I’m one of the best? Yes, I’ve believed it for the last eight years, but it’s with the year.
If I have a good year and help my team be successful, then I believe I will come out on my own and say that I am the best player in the world.
You once got angry with a question I asked you during Covid. It was after a match in Miami and I asked you if as you get older you have to learn not to play at 100% all the time. In that match you were worn out with offensive fouls. You got angry and you answered me ” I only know how to play at 100% “. That was your answer. I’ll ask you this question again. How easy is it when you’ve learned for so many years to bring your A-game every night, to take more care of your body?
Look, I’ll tell you one thing.
I can’t stop playing at 100%, I don’t know, that’s how I’ve learned, I don’t know if it’s even possible
Last year I changed my game a bit, I shot a few more two-pointers, mid-range.
I hope as I grow older I can shoot three-pointers.
But I have learned one thing that helps me.
In the past, I played 100%, but I also trained 100%, meaning, in training I was even worse than what you saw in the game.
And for me and for all basketball players you can ask, training is much harder than playing.
In training, the coach allows fouls, do you understand?
So you make a mistake, he stops training, yells at you, curses at you, takes you out, kicks you out of training.
In the game, you can’t kick me out. That means I’m wrong, we continue, the game continues.
Training is more difficult.
I learned from Coach Ziva that to get a lot, you have to give a lot. Do you understand?
What you give, you get.
Now I’ve reached a point where I play in red all the time, not that I don’t train, I just train smarter.
I take better care of my body, I rest more, instead of training for eight hours or six or four in a row, I might do one and a half and then come back in the evening to do another one and a half.
I have learned to take better care of my body and train smarter.
This in the game helps me play 100% and not put so much wear and tear on my body.
In December, I’m going back to Vegas, you told me – and this was a statement that went around the world – that you were thinking about and that you wanted to play five years in Europe because it would be different for you and your body and you would enjoy a different game. Do you really believe that? Do you see it happening?
Yes. Last year, after the pre-Olympic, I was sitting with Thanasis, as I told you, we were watching some highlights and I said to him ” hey Thanasis …”.
Look now, he was looking at me like I was crazy.
The best player in the world, one of the best players in the world, to come and play in Europe?
Is this happening, my child?
Of course it can be done.
If you told Jokic he would get about the same money and be in Serbia, he would do it.
Okay, I think about my body a lot. Of course the amounts are very different and not just the amounts.
The organization is completely different, you’ve come to the NBA, you’ve seen how things are.
But every year I play for the National Team, I always say the same thing.
I told my wife too.
I say to her, ” What do you prefer, staying in Greece or going to Milwaukee? “
He looks at me, says ” in Athens, in Athens, it’s good in Athens .”
I say, ” Okay, think about it .”
I believe the game is much more physical here.
You take more punishment, but there are no bodies to punish you. Do you understand?
It’s a little more insidious.
Yes, it’s more insidious. It’s a little dirtier, but there’s no Duren from Detroit.
There’s Segev from Israel, who will elbow you in the middle, but you’ll get past him.
Yes, it’s not Adebayo, it’s not Steven Adams, it’s not Zach Eddy, it’s not Anthony Davis, it’s not Jaren Jackson.
I can tell you names now until tonight.
You’re kidding, but for me they just don’t have the same bodies here in Europe.
And maybe the wood is a little less.
So you see it happening. Is it possible at all?
Yes, this is where Messi went to MLS, he went to Miami
If the right specifications and timing are there, it doesn’t affect me at all.
I’m holding Athens – Milwaukee. You didn’t tell me Barcelona, Monaco, Milwaukee, you told me Athens – Milwaukee.
You got it.
A while ago you said that you went to a public school, where you were a classmate of Giannoulis Larentzakis. Is that right?
Yes, I was a classmate with him for a year and a half.
Everyone talked about this incident in Thessaloniki, everyone analyzed it, everyone did a psychogram. Now tell me, what happened?
Nothing happened.
You see, in the next game Larry was throwing me a bone, in the locker room we were ass and pants.
We’ve been like this since we were little kids, we’ve played in many tournaments together.
I didn’t throw it at him as hard as it seems, I really mean it, I didn’t throw it at him that hard.
We talked, we finished it, we laughed, that was it, it wasn’t anything.
But isn’t it amazing when you’re Giannis, when you’re such an important person, that something very small becomes so big?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But I didn’t like it, it wasn’t right the way it happened.
And I was very sad, because it’s not just that I see it, Larry and I are friends – and Larry has slapped me more than I’ve slapped him.
It’s that we, two friends, gave anyone the right to talk about our relationship and say ”
if Giannis had it in for me, I would have punched him .”
And for all those who say this, you should know that I’m 2.10 and 115 kilos.
No one would slap me, because before you could reach me, Thanasis would have jumped in front of you and Kostas, you saw what happened with Valantsiounas.
We are three brothers who have slept in the same bed, worn the same shoes, worn the same clothes, eaten, had a loaf of bread, cut it to share.
You can’t understand.
To be on the field at the same time playing and me passing a pass to my brother to shoot and someone hitting him?
You don’t see, you forget the game.
You really forget about the game and try to protect your brother as best you can.
But Larry and I, guys, are friends.
I won a medal with my siblings and with the other kids, but the fact that I won a medal with my classmate is also very important.
We talked and we were both saddened by what was said, by the fact that I pushed.
Let’s go back to the National Team. You made this bronze look like gold and you did it with your good mood, with your smile. How difficult was this whole journey? No one believed in you. Or at least, almost no one.
Of course, they didn’t believe us. Some people said we weren’t even in the top ten in Europe, I saw that too.
They put us 8th in the power rankings, they said we wouldn’t be able to cope, they said about Olympiacos, about Panathinaikos, Giannis can’t, he’s not a leader, he doesn’t speak, we saw it all
I remember the first day I went to training.
I looked at coach Spanoulis, I said to him ” coach, we’re good “. He said to me ” I’ve built the team the way it should be, I’ve put shooters in, they’re all shooters “.
I tell him ”
Come on, coach, I’ll do it myself “
I think he built a very good team, but that was the beginning, then it’s the players who make the difference.
From the first moment I entered the locker room, I went straight to Sloukas and talked to him. I said to him, ” What do you see? ” He said, ” I believe it .”
I tell Sloukas ”
if you believe it once, I believe it a thousand times more, this is our year “
Every year, I say this for the first time, every year I play for the National Team, I always think of Nick Calathes, I think of Papanikolaou, every year, I’m like this like a child.
I always say ” let’s make it, because these kids deserve to get a medal” .
This year was the first year, I also told Papanikolaou that, who said ”
guys, I want the medal, I want it “
I knew that we hadn’t won a medal in 16 years.
The coach wanted it too, but above all, before that, before I thought about anything, I said ” I want it, I want it, I want to achieve this success .”
I entered the preparation very focused and I think I set an example for everyone, that ” guys, I’m not here to waste my summer, nor to play games, we’re here to get better, to be focused and to focus on ourselves .”
I was saying that we are a small flame that will be very difficult to extinguish.
If we’re all on the same page, we’ll do well.
And if you look at the entire tournament, beyond the match against Bosnia that we would have actually won if I had played, but even without me playing we would have won if it counted, we lost one game, against Turkey.
There they extinguished the flame a little.
They didn’t wipe it out for us, because in the end you always have to end the tournament with a win.
And playing on the last day of the tournament.
Yes, playing on the last day of the tournament, which we hadn’t done for 16 years, and ending with a victory.
Okay now, whether it’s gold or bronze, it didn’t matter at all, because as a national team we have won six medals in our history and we won one this year.
And we have tournaments ahead of us and we’re improving and we believe more that we can go and make a splash.
If you look at 2022, when Germany beat us, they came in 3rd.
We would have won it if we had beaten them in that match. I really believe it.
Look, to tell you the truth, Spain got it because it deserved it.
But we had beaten them that summer.
We had beaten them, we had beaten them by 20 points at OAKA. But I want to tell you something.
The Germans who beat us, came in 3rd and then went on to win the World Cup, then came in 4th at the Olympic Games and then went on to win the EuroBasket.
For what reason?
Because I believe that the medal gives you strength, it gives you motivation, it makes you believe.
After 2021 when we won the championship, every year I believed I would win.
Every year. This thing, I don’t know, makes you feel like a superhero and a maniac.
And right now I believe that this medal will also make it to our National Team.
I hope we are healthy in 2027, we will be here to go and play.
Will the coach be there?
I have no idea…
Okay, I don’t want to embarrass you. But I want you to tell me about the coach, what have you experienced? A conversation he has told you, that you have never discussed.
You’re not putting me in an awkward position.
I will say one thing, our collaboration with coach Spanoulis was AWESOME, from the first day we came into contact, from the first phone call.
I am a person who always says that you should do what is best for yourself and your family.
I wish we could continue together, but he will do what is best for his family.
Who am I to tell him what, that doesn’t exist.
I like it because it motivates me and tells me the truth.
He’s cruel to you, people don’t know that.
He’s very harsh on me and he knows I can handle it.
Because he understands that we are all the same, that we are dogs, that we are warriors, that when someone says we can’t, we go and prove to them that we can and that we have no fear when the time comes.
That we are not afraid because we have prepared so much, we have put in so many hours of work and we are ready.
I liked one thing, he told me throughout the preparation, ” I see it in your eyes, in your eyes, we will succeed .”
I don’t talk much, I was always nodding my head, saying ” yes coach, yes, yes, yes, yes “.
He tells me ” I don’t care, I don’t care, I can see it in your eyes, this is our year, we will make it, I can see it in your eyes “
And you know, when someone tells you, you start to believe it.
And he kept telling me that and I believed it more. Then, I believed it even more.
After the match with Turkey…
In my morning training, I have a routine where I sit for 5-10 minutes and just try to tell myself ” don’t take this moment for granted in life, having this pressure is nice, it’s a beautiful thing, go out on the field and give it your all because you have your family .”
He came next to me and told me some things, helped me understand what I had to do in the match against Finland to help my team win.
And at that moment, I didn’t tell him, but he’ll see now, it helped me a lot.
Many athletes say that in the finale, the feeling of relief is much greater than the feeling of happiness.
Yes… I felt relieved…
You didn’t celebrate. When Kostas and Thanasis caught you, you simply closed your eyes and let yourself be carried away in their arms, before what followed followed. You didn’t celebrate.
I know, I know…
Even when I won the championship, I didn’t celebrate.
I went straight to the locker room, put my hands up, hugged my mother, my brother, my wife, then sat on the bench.
Then you saw what happened, I cried, I cry a lot, I don’t know why.
Then I went to the locker room and called Thanasis. That was it.
Now that we won the medal, my brothers hugged me, which was a very beautiful moment and a very beautiful photo came out that I will frame at home and I just had a moment where I said ” well, he came, he came, okay, he came and a weight was lifted off me “.
But what weight? I’m putting the weight on, because I want it so much
And then I went live, we listened to Lex, we listened to Light, Thanasis played some songs, Sloukas was dancing.
Chaos, chaos ensued, the coach spoke, they were pouring champagne in the locker room, we were all soaked.
I sat down, that was it.
And then I went and was a dad, I went to the hotel and was a dad again.
Since you’re talking about victories, for Pantelis Vlachopoulos, the greatest moment in the history of SPORT24 in the 20 years we’ve been around – and we’ve been here for many of those 20 years – was this video that we’re going to watch.
You went viral…
I don’t know if you’ve seen this video.
No, first time.
I’m moved, it was a terrible moment, remember, closed borders due to Covid, we had put in a lot of effort to be there. But I will always remember a thing you said, that you are a pleaser and that you want to make the people around you happy. And at least my life, you have changed it. You make your dreams come true, that’s how I’ve been making mine for so many years. And we thank you very much. Fortunately, you came today so that we could overcome that moment with something even greater. Has there come a time when you said ” man, I can’t carry this burden “?
Yes, of course. Okay, I’ve said this before.
Pressure is a privilege, but I’ve realized that now, in my 30s or 28, 29, 30.
In recent years, earlier, when I was a kid, there were times when I would go to the stadium and I didn’t even want to step on the court.
The match would end and I would say, ” Well, this match ended well. I’m going home to my child, I can’t do it anymore .”
Or after a Lakers game I was sitting with my brothers, I said to them ” Guys, I can’t play basketball anymore, I don’t know, for some reason now it’s become like a job, I don’t enjoy it like I used to “
Why you get into a routine, it’s not just your environment that does it, the environment will definitely do it as if it were a routine.
It’s a job, you have to be Giannis Antetokounmpo every day and get on the court and be the best and put up 30 and get them on your back and win the championship and all that, which the environment certainly does that, but then you do it to yourself.
Because if you’re a perfectionist and you always want to be one of the best, I might not say it, but I think it in my head.
I want to be among the best, I always want to be there.
There was a time when I saw it as a job and I spoke to a sports psychologist, we’ve been talking for seven years now and he has helped me a lot in my way of thinking, not only in the sports aspect, but also in life as a dad, as a husband, as a brother, as a son, as a person in general.
And it completely changed my mindset, you have to find joy.
I remember one day I was in the locker room and a teammate of mine, I don’t want to say his name, said to me, ” if you come in today and this player punches you in the face, I mean, you’ll be everywhere, they’ll put you on social media, you’ll be everywhere, they’ll laugh .”
And I tell him ” that’s not true, the way you’re thinking is very wrong, because I could punch him in the face or cut him off, so I’ll be everywhere .”
I found joy in what I do again from 2022 onwards.
And now I’m in the best phase of my life, not only in the way I think, but also in my body and the way I play.
I like it. I love basketball a lot and changing your environment sometimes helps you fall in love with basketball again.
Do you remember 2022? I had made a post with the National Team, that I had found the love for the sport again.
And the same this year and the same with the Olympics.
Every time I play for the National Team, I fall in love with basketball all over again because I understand what it is, why I do this thing.
Anyway, there are so many moments when I’ve said I want to give up, but don’t quit today.
If you gonna quit, don’t quit today, quit another day. You want to quit, ok, it’s ok. But, not today.
Score 30, score 50 and then quit, like Michael Jordan, three-peat and then quit
In 2015, you played a game with the Knicks in London. On that trip, I did an interview with Hakeem. He comes and says to me, “You’re from Greece.” I tell him, “yes.” He says to me, “You have Giannis, do you know if he’s of Yoruba descent?” I tell him again, “yes,” and he says, “I’m Yoruba too. This kid will become the best player in the world.” You worked with Hakeem. You worked with Garnett and Kobe. Tell me something that each of them has said to you. I’m mainly interested in what Kobe told you.
With Kobe…
I went to the stadium where his daughter was practicing. The practice was around 12, but since my flight was at 8:30, I had nowhere to go.
I arrived in Orange County, where he lived nearby, around 9, went to the stadium early and waited.
I stretched, I shot, I sat and waited.
When Kobe came and opened the door, it’s this thing that… The breeze, breeze, breeze…
He opened the door and walked towards me and it was as if everything was moving in slow motion.
I mean, imagine. God forbid. Imagine if Kobe or Jordan came in, you’d be in for a shock.
Are these 3, 5, 10 seconds that will be in slow motion and you’ll say, wait, wait, what’s going on here?
I wasn’t Giannis Antetokounmpo then, I wasn’t the player I am today, I was 22-23 years old and it was Kobe
It was Top5, Top10 of all time.
We talked about defenses, we talked about training.
He told me that I was one of his daughter’s favorite players and when he came he was embarrassed to talk to me.
You’re Kobe Bryant’s daughter, why are you ashamed?
He told me how to study defenses.
That it is very difficult for defenses to make adjustments in the NBA.
” Look at the previous three games and if the defenses playing those superstars are like this, get ready to face that defense too .”
And I say to him ” what if they change? “
He replied, ”
They don’t change, I’ve done it my whole career and I’ve destroyed them all, defenses don’t change .”
And I’m starting to see it.
And if you look from 2019, from Toronto, I’ve seen everything.
I’ve seen things that other players haven’t seen. Kobe was double-teamed, but they didn’t put a wall on him!
They always put the toughest guy on me, then comes the double-team, then there’s a wall from behind.
I’ve seen everything in my life. I’ve seen box-and-one, which is a four-man zone and one guy chasing me so I don’t get the ball.
Kevin Garnett now.
When you talk to Kevin Garnett, you feel like you can run through a wall, he’s incredible.
Hakim teacher, very relaxed, I don’t know what he was like when he played.
Kobe and Garnett were intense when I spoke to them, they were intense because they had recently retired.
Hakim had been retired for twenty years and was a little more relaxed, but a teacher.
He was awesome and whenever I play in Houston, he always comes and sees me, we still talk a lot about footwork.
Yes, of course I knew that we have the same origin and not only the same origin, the same number, everything, incredible.
I don’t like working with players who are playing right now.
I want to work with young people and with LeBron, for example. I could work with LeBron, but he’s still playing. I’ll see him in a month or two and he’ll be my opponent.
I like working with players who have retired. I think the next one is Carmelo Anthony, I would really like it, for the mid-range, for the face-jump, his game was very effortless, very easy, very relaxed.
What team has pushed you to your limits? I think the 2019 series against the Raptors is the first one that comes to mind. I remember you on the court looking for some oxygen. What other team has pushed you to your limits?
With Toronto I was young. If I was 27, 28, 26 to 30…
It was the first time I was in the top four, it was the first time I had been in such a big game, big stage, big series.
I was young, I was a kid, I was 24 years old.
I remember this series, but it helped me a lot, because that’s where the wall started.
This defense that I see, that has been made for me, started there and I don’t think Nick Nurse thought of it, but Scariolo.
And now you saw with Spain, the same thing again.
Miami is also a team that pushes me to my limits, because they have bodies, they have a culture that never gives up, they work very hard.
I believe that these series and these teams made me better.
It is these teams that have shaped who I am, shaped my character and helped me win the championship in 2021.
I was tougher as a player and as a person and in my mentality and everything.
I see these teams as helping me become who I am, just like Detroit helped Jordan become who he became.
If Detroit didn’t beat him up and there weren’t these Jordan Rules, he wouldn’t improve and he wouldn’t go for the three-peat.
Like me, it’s the same thing for me, okay, I didn’t get six championships, I got one.
Since you mentioned 2021, can you now that several years have passed, take us a little through the process after the injury in Atlanta, what followed until you stepped on the court again?
I came back after six days. I wasn’t 100%, but there was no other choice.
As I say to coach Vasilis who asks me ” are you hurting, are you hurting? “, it doesn’t matter if I’m hurting, I’ll play, what does it matter?
Why are you asking me if I’m in pain? Since I’m going to play, it doesn’t matter at all.
I still have it, it’s been four years and I still feel it.
For people working from home or watching online, you can go watch the moment.
I fell down, hurt my foot, went to the locker room and was walking, Thanasis helped me because my foot was upside down.
I went to the locker room with Thanasis and my leg was normal. They fix it, they do it like this, they tell me mmm…
I was listening to them. ” No, no, ” the doctors, the Americans, were saying. ” No, no, he can’t come back, ” something like that.
What do you mean? Did you want to get back into the match?
I’ll tell you, the GM comes and tells me ” John, finally, you’re not coming in .”
I grab his hand, pull it off me, tell him ” I’ll play! “
I walk outside, go to the goalie and when it was 14, I see Bogdanovic make a three-pointer for +17.
The third period was about to end and I said ” it’s 17, huh? So now I should rest, go back to Milwaukee and beat them there or go fight it out? “.
But they were holding me back, my manager, Alexis Saratsis, was holding me back, the GM was holding me back, the doctors were holding me back, I didn’t understand anything, I wanted to play.
And we get there, I see the three-pointer and I’m like, ” Oh, no, no, okay, let me go back to Milwaukee and rest, put some ice on it, do my treatments, eat well, see my family and get ready for Game 5. “
And I look at my leg as I say this and it’s doubled in size, wet everywhere, I’m like ” oh, what’s wrong with me? “
Anyway, I went home and because I’m very religious, I prayed with my mother, I cried a lot, I told her ” why me, why always me? “.
I was also injured with Miami, the previous year, in the bubble.
And he says to me, ” Because you are who you are and you are my child and I always knew, before you were born, that you would be great.”
I was crying, ” Leave me alone, Mom, leave me alone, Mom .”
He tells me ” no, we’ll pray .”
I prayed, I said, ” Please God, help me, I won’t take this moment for granted, help me come back, play, help my team if possible, if not, I understand .”
This is how it had to be done, this is how things had to be done. And okay, I didn’t stop for the next six days.
I slept two hours, two-three hours a day. I went to the pool and did gymnastics from 6 in the morning until night, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t step on it.
Then, at night, I would hit it, then the next morning I would jog, then I would run a little more.
And then I had a thing over here so my leg wouldn’t bend at all.
What Tim Duncan and Dragic wore, I don’t know if you remember.
I said ” it doesn’t matter, I’ll play, I don’t care “.
They tell me ” if you play, you could get injured much worse and be out for a year, a year and a half, two years “
I don’t care, I’ll play. That helped me keep a very clear mind and when I came in and played in the first match, everyone was nervous and I was still saying it’s good that I’m playing.
So I was in a very different mindset than the others.
The others were stressed, it’s the final, I was saying ” six days ago I could have been out for two years “
And okay, in the first match I came in, I wasn’t 100% and we lost.
In the second match I got a little more confidence. I said ” okay, I can do it and I’m going to do it “.
We lost the match, but I scored 40.
Then in the 3rd match we won, I scored 40 again. The 4th match was very difficult.
Things weren’t going well, but given Giannis’s stats, any other player with 26/18/6 would have crossed the line and been very happy.
In the end, what happened happened. But I really like Game 5, because we played really good basketball, just like the game against Lithuania.
The game against Finland was really great, but the game against Lithuania was even better. We played really good basketball.
Kostas came in and was the X-Factor, Toliopoulos was very nice and aggressive, Samodurov took very nice shots, Papanikolaou was terrible in defense, Sloukas made very good choices, Kalaitzakis was terrible in defense.
I did my job, Thanasis had taken us all together. I liked this match, because this match had people.
I will remember Game 5.
We played really good basketball, Holiday was very aggressive, every choice was right, Middleton found me on every pick-and-roll, he made the shots.
We were down 18 points. We turned it around with three-pointers, the ball was going away too fast, no one was holding it.
Holiday takes the ball from Booker. You go and dunk, you go down and look at the camera. What did you feel in that moment? I think you must have gone to another world in that moment. The feeling must have been extreme.
It was a very nice feeling.
It was a moment that I knew cemented the victory, we locked it in, that’s why I looked at the camera.
I don’t celebrate much, I celebrated a little with my teammates.
The phase was a bit dangerous.
Paul’s foul was harsh. It was dirty, I’m saying it, you don’t have to say it. Your hand got stuck on the backboard too.
It’s a good thing I was able to hold on to the rim a little, because if I hadn’t, I would have been gone.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter, history was written and then, in Game 6, what happened happened.
I haven’t seen the last match, I won’t, I’ll see it when I retire.
I want you to tell me where you were and what you felt the night Luka Doncic was traded.
I was in therapy with a friend of mine, he tells me, ” John, Luka went to the Lakers .”
I say ” what are you saying, since he’s not a free agent, since he’s not free, how is he going to go to the Lakers, don’t bother me, let me watch the game now “.
And he answers me ” no, no, there was an exchange .”
Wait, where did the exchange take place?
He brings me the cell phone and I see that there was an exchange! I was shocked.
I won’t lie to you, I was kidding myself, I’m saying if Doncic was traded, everyone can be traded!
Doncic is one of the best players and last year he took his team to the final.
Get this out of your mind…
Of course it crossed my mind!
But you are not the same.
Yes, we’re not the same. But Luka, he’s Luka Doncic, guys. And in terms of age, he’s 25 years old.
But that’s how I live my life, I don’t take anything for granted.
Excuse me now. Has it ever crossed your mind that you might read your Twitter exchange? I don’t think that’s possible.
Look, I hope it never happens, but I’m still waiting for it.
Because it doesn’t mean that just because you’ve contributed to the team, the team won’t do what’s best for them.
It’s not always the owners themselves.
And when I say the owners, the presidents of the team now, they are not the same as the ones who won the championship, they are different.
And if Giannis doesn’t do it for me, can’t offer it to me, I’ll trade him.
I will do the best for my team and for my investment. Because I have put hundreds of millions into the team.
Surely, if I were flying in the clouds, I would say
“yeah, there’s no way I’m being traded, I’m Giannis Antetokounmpo”
Because I don’t fly in the clouds and I’m very normal, normal, down to earth, I say anything is possible, you never know.
Are you at a point in your career, in your life in particular, where you are more open to hearing another point of view, to thinking about a different possibility? To keep it short, you understand what I mean. Are you at this point in your career?
Now you’re talking about a team?
I’m saying it can change anything in your career.
One thing I want to say is that I like challenges.
I’ve realized that I like living with pressure. Is that good? Is that bad? I don’t know.
If I’m in an environment where there’s no pressure and I don’t believe we can achieve anything great, I don’t want to be there, things just go on.
It doesn’t make me happy anymore, as a person. When you get to 30 and you have four kids and you’re married, I think when you get married, you become more mature.
I want to do what makes me happy, because I believe I deserve it, because I have worked for it.
I want to do what makes me happy, and what makes me happy is winning and feeling like there’s a challenge.
To wake up in the morning and say ”
oh oh oh oh oh, we have to win today, if we don’t win today, what will we hear again? “
I mean, this, this thing.
This year you have a good challenge. The team is flying a little under the radar, but it could develop into a team that will play fun basketball. If you were the GM, how would you build the roster to get 100% from Giannis?
To get the best out of the team and to get the best out of me, I have to be a creator.
I need to feel like I can and do create.
If you look at the last two months of the team, where I had the green light, if I have the ball in my hands and I have that green light to create…
I don’t always have to execute, but I have to feel like I’m creating, that I’m part of the team and not just an executor, that I’m going in, I’m going to score 30, I’m going to get it in the post and I have to score it.
This is how my true self comes out, because that’s what I did at Filathlitikos and that’s what I always wanted to do.
And there were times when I did that in my career, but most of the time I was the executor.
In the last two months when I was more of a team creator, I had a good time.
I think the team did very well during that time.
We definitely don’t have a lot of experience, but we are young, we have legs, fresh legs.
We got a really good big man (Myles Turner). We got a good point guard, Cole Anthony, who I think will be an X-Factor and the surprise of the year.
Yes, there is a chance, definitely.
Slowly moving towards closure, I want to ask you about CAFF, first of all how much you miss your dad, how important this institution is to you and what it does.
I definitely miss my father. Not just me, the whole family.
I definitely know that he is looking down on us and is very proud of what we have accomplished and how we are like children and how we take care of mom.
It was also the first thing Kostas said after Finland, that if dad were here – and I think he was and posted a story about it on his social media – he would be very proud and happier than all of us.
We created a foundation in memory of my father to help people.
I am in this position because they helped me, not only me, but also my family, many institutions where my mother was registered and received fruit creams, diapers
The church helped us a lot.
We would go after school and he would always give us a plate of food before we went to practice.
Without these people we wouldn’t be here. And I’m trying to do the same, I’m trying to create a place, an environment where children and not just children, parents, can come and feel safe.
Because I remember when I went to church, to catechism, not only was I playing, it was also a way out of the house and I wasn’t at home when there was no light, no electricity, no water, I went to catechism and I felt safe.
I learned to play chess, to play board games.
He had a really nice basketball that I was shooting, I was there and I wasn’t on the streets.
If this hadn’t happened and I had grown up in Sepolia, Kolonos, Peristeri, Aigaleo, I might have done much worse things, because I may be low-key, but I am a child who would do everything in my power to help my family, just like so many people would do the same.
Now what would that be? I don’t know, it could be anything, anything
That’s why I want to create a place, an environment, with my family, where people will feel comfortable coming there, getting a plate of food, and playing.
To learn things, to give back to the world, as much as we can.
We have achieved this so far with the Academy that we have created and with many moves that we have made both in Greece and abroad.
And one thing I know is that my father, our father, because it’s not just me, it’s my siblings too, would be very proud of what we’ve done.
You don’t want to talk about your charity work and besides not wanting to advertise it, you don’t want us to talk about it either. And I think that’s enough to explain everything. Last question and I’m closing my papers because I have so many more. Tell me one thing you would do if you were prime minister for a month.
I keep my opinions to myself, but education would be free for everyone, for all children.
Why would someone have a better education? I mean, let’s say I was a very smart kid.
I have a crazy story to tell you. In the 2nd year of high school, I failed a class, History. I’ve never told this story.
Monday in high school, I’ve never stayed in the same class, I was pissed off, sorry for talking like that
My father used to tell me one thing, ” when you leave home you will go to school and after school you will come home before you go to practice, before you go to Triton to play, before you do anything. You will come home, I will see you .”
My father was strict, he had four boys and it had to be that way.
And he did a tremendous job because I’m so proud of my brothers and how they are, how they talk, how they behave, how they take care of their families, their wives.
I am very proud and very lucky to have these brothers, but this wouldn’t have happened if my father hadn’t been the way he was, he did a tremendous job and I wish I could do half the job.
My father used to say, ” I don’t care if you’re a good student, my boy, as long as you don’t have any absences .”
And I was like, ” Please, Dad, don’t worry, I won’t stay .”
Now that I’m older, I’ve realized that he just didn’t want us to get into trouble and be in the streets, on walks, in bad company.
Let’s say he didn’t want his children to get involved, and it’s very difficult for a dad who has come from another country to take care of his children in a foreign country where he doesn’t understand the language very well.
My father knew if it was possible for someone not to love people like us, foreign immigrants, he didn’t want them to corner us and beat us, break our legs, he didn’t know many people who could help him.
Anyway, I didn’t take many absences. I went to school, I was a smart kid.
On Monday of high school, I failed History and I go back home and say ” Dad “… He says ” What happened ?” I say ” Don’t be upset “, he says ” Okay “.
I tell him ” I missed a class “. He says ” Didn’t you study? ” I tell him ” Okay, I played a little basketball, I didn’t study much “.
He says to me, ” So what now, do you have to retake the class ?” I say, ” No, I have to retake it in September .”
Well, beyond all of that, I hope my kids have a better life than I had. What did I do? Second year of high school, I was 13, 14.
I would go and work with my mother because I was so scared, I didn’t want to stay, I didn’t want my father to get angry. I would go and work.
I tell her, ” Mom, because all the kids go to a daycare center behind the school, I want to go there .”
I went and spoke to someone myself and a lady told me it was 75 euros.
Seventy-five euros seemed like 20,000 euros to me then.
And I say, ” When we work together, can I save five euros, five-ten euros at a time, and then in September, can I go there for a week, take two or three lessons with her to pass the class? “
Anyway, I did it. I went, I passed the class, but what did I understand there?
I realized two things.
When I put my ass down and read and tried, I wrote 19 and passed.
And there I realized that if I had the freedom that all children had and didn’t work on the street and could go to a regular school that would help me, I would have a better chance.
Okay, I played basketball.
Many people from my neighborhood are still sending me messages asking me to help them.
What if I were… What if I were prime minister, it doesn’t matter.
I’m in this position I’m in, I can still do it through the foundation that my family and I have built, but this is what I would do.
Everyone should have free education and the best education, so that they can be very successful in Greece or abroad.
There I realized that all the things I’ve accomplished in my life, I achieved through hard work, man, no one gave me anything.
Even that, I went, worked on it myself and then got money and went and gave it away, 13-14 years old.
Will the children go to a Greek school?
Yes, that’s what I want is for them to learn a little bit about now, the culture, the traditions.
