As the Milwaukee Bucks face a pivotal Game 4 against the Boston Celtics in Beantown on Monday night, where a win would put them in the driver’s seat to make their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2001, the NBA reminds us just how far the Bucks’ biggest star has come.
In a series entitled “Origin Stories,” where the stars of these NBA playoffs are framed as superheroes, we’re given a look at where their stories begin, and Giannis Antetokoumpo has perhaps the the most fascinating journey in the league. Hailing from Greece, Antetokoumpo’s story beings at the age of 12, when he began playing basketball for the first time. The footage of a young Greek Freak in the video above is stunning, a kid that was all legs and arms and seemingly without a pound of actual muscle on his body. Even in his first few season in Milwaukee, Antetokoumpo looked skinnier than Kevin Durant.
The transformation Antetokoumpo’s body has undergone, especially over the past few seasons, is remarkable, and it’s helped turn him in the superhero we see leaping defenders in the a single bound throughout these playoffs.
“I want to go down as one of the best players to ever play the game,” Antetokoumpo says in the video. With a realistic shot at the NBA Finals and a possible MVP trophy to follow, the Greek Freak is well on his way.
