Can the Bucks keep Giannis Antetokumpo in Milwaukee?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Whenever an NBA superstar is approaching free agency, especially if they're in a small-market
00:07city, the rumblings of them heading to a glamour market begin.
00:11For more on that, I'm joined by Steve Rushin, who has today's daily cover story on Giannis
00:15Antetokounmpo.
00:16And Steve, there's something that stood out to me about your piece, which is Giannis'
00:19younger brother saying, I didn't know anything about Milwaukee, but I know I didn't want
00:24to go when Giannis was drafted.
00:26Nevertheless, the family has developed a connection with the city?
00:30Absolutely.
00:31You know, he was, seven years ago, he was 11 years old when his brother told him he'd
00:37been drafted by the Bucs, we're moving to Milwaukee.
00:40He didn't know where that was.
00:41He didn't know what that was.
00:42And our younger brother showed up in middle school and had a difficult time adjusting,
00:47he told me.
00:48But the family was really embraced by the city.
00:51The Bucs owner at that time was Herb Cole.
00:53He is the son of immigrants.
00:55And he said Giannis' story was very much like his and, you know, kind of part of the
01:00American dream.
01:01The family has adjusted beautifully.
01:03Younger brother Costa was in high school when they came to the U.S. and is now in the Lakers
01:08organization.
01:09Alex is just graduating from Dominican high school in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.
01:15Thanasis, Giannis' older brother, is his teammate on the Bucs.
01:18And Giannis seems to be doing pretty well himself with the Bucs.
01:22You know, it's interesting, you know, they come from Greece and you said the immigrant
01:25story and everything.
01:26But some of the things that will be surprising to them, including the grocery stores in the
01:30Milwaukee area.
01:33Both Thanasis and Alex said to me that they were astonished by the size and variety of
01:39the grocery stores.
01:40And I saw Alex play on the road in a high school game down in Kenosha.
01:46And I passed a dozen gigantic grocery stores and kind of saw them in a new light myself
01:52past the massive fulfillment center there by the side of the interstate.
01:57And I tried to look at, you know, what these guys saw when they when Alex first came to
02:01Milwaukee, when Giannis first came to Milwaukee, Giannis famously talked about the smoothies
02:05they have in America.
02:07And the grocery store is also equally impressive.
02:10We don't have those in Athens, they told me.
02:12Yeah, that smoothie story was everywhere, right?
02:14And it gives you a little insight into Giannis's personality, which is very endearing and allows
02:20him to be embraced pretty much anywhere.
02:23Yeah, coach Budenholz, Mike Budenholz, his first adjective he cites when he talks about
02:28Giannis is his humility.
02:30He's the best player in the team, best player in the league by many assessments.
02:34And yet he comes to work every day at practice trying to get better year to year and day
02:38to day.
02:39And, you know, it's the same off the court where he doesn't he's not obsessed with the
02:44trappings of the NBA life.
02:46He is obsessed with improving every day, as his father, Charles, his late father, Charles,
02:52always said that he and his brothers always stay hungry but never be greedy.
02:57And I think that's been Giannis's philosophy for the last seven years.
03:01Yeah, I noticed that personally, after the All-Star game, I was trying to get guys to
03:04stop in the hallway.
03:05Giannis is the one guy who took some time to talk to me.
03:08Appreciate you taking the time today.