According to a recent book, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s poverty prompted him to share a pair of basketball trainers with his elder brother when he was younger.

 

 

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The athlete’s parents could not afford to buy two pairs of shoes, so he had to wait for his sibling Thanasis to complete playing before he could wear his size 15 trainers.

The seven-member family was struggling to make finances meet, and Giannis’ constant hunger led to a fall during a workout.

His life now is very different from his modest beginnings as the greatest player on the Milwaukee Bucks, whom he assisted in winning their first NBA championship since 1971 in May.

A new book titled Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP, penned by Mirin Fader, was released on Tuesday. It chronicles the story of a youngster who goes from poverty to prosperity.

Only basketball greats like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James have won the MVP award two years in a row before Giannis Antetokounmpo, a forward for the Milwaukee Bucks, reached his present age of 26.

Giannis, a Nigerian immigrant’s child, was raised in abject poverty in Greece, where his family could hardly buy food.

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Three years after his parents’ immigration to Greece, Giannis (shown in the centre with his mother and brother) was helping his mother Veronica sell purses on the street by the time he was six years old.

The Milwaukee Bucks selected Giannis in the fifteenth round of the draft, selecting him ahead of the Atlanta Hawks who had intended to select him shortly after.

After being selected, Giannis’s biggest obstacle was getting used to his new teammates, who mistreated their 19-year-old rookie.

But it was hard for him to even exercise because he was missing meals and not getting enough nutrients.

Fader claims that during one session, Giannis was so weak that he “could not go on any more” and eventually passed out, at which point he began “gasping for air.”

After the incident, his teammates continued to feed him, only to learn later that he had not eaten anything during the day.

Giannis’ brother Thanasis used to give him a pair of trainers after his game so he could play right away.

However, the family’s low socioeconomic status wasn’t the only obstacle they had to overcome in society.

Giannis’s younger brother Alex claimed that as Black people growing up in a country where White people predominated, they were frequently made to feel like “outsiders.”

This was especially true in terms of Giannis’ colour, as onlookers called him “blackie” and urged him to “go back to your country.”

A player on Giannis’ squad who was born in Pakistan, Rahman Rana, recalled: “People really treated him badly.”

As citizens, we were treated as second-class citizens.

Giannis had to share a pair of trainers with his elder brother Thanasis when he was growing up, so Giannis could play basketball immediately after. Giannis had four siblings.

Giannis and his family were seen as second-class citizens in Greece, according to a former teammate. The family is currently benefiting from his achievements.

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The book revealed that the family always felt like ‘outsiders’ while growing up black in a mostly white country. Pictured: Giannis and his mother in Athens

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A boy is the child of Giannis and his partner Mariah (shown). They announced in May that they were expecting their second child.

Since he was not allowed to travel by plane or play for the Greek first division without Greek citizenship, he was forced to play in the semi-pro second league.

By 2012, Giannis had found representation through an agency, but the doctor was shocked to see that during a physical test, Giannis’s liver resembled that of a chronic intoxicated person.

The doctor advised Giannis to start eating more and giving his body nourishing meals in order to release the strain from his body.

Rumour had it that 16-year-old Giannis was a bright but immature young man, and NBA scouts soon learned about him.

They took limousines to the dark and musty arena in Zografou, where dozens of NBA scouts were seated, clipboards in hand.

Due to US interest, the Greek government was under intense pressure to award Giannis citizenship so that he might potentially travel to the US.

Fader viciously asserts that they didn’t speed up the procedure until Giannis attracted attention from basketball teams and his family got in touch with the Nigerian embassy in Greece.

Giannis eventually received a passport in May 2013, but the NBA draft was still very much in the air.

It was only until US professional leagues began showing interest in Giannis, that the Greek government finally gave him citizenship and a passport