The story of Giannis Antetokounmpo is the perfect example of emerging from rags to riches. Be it his personal life or his professional career, this man grew from dust. The son of Nigerian immigrants never had it easy during his childhood, but his parents still raised him and all his brothers so well that they could together become NBA-good.

People keep questioning why Michael Jordan was picked third overall. But one must also ponder why Giannis was picked #15 (same as Kawhi Leonard in 2011) in 2013. How come 14 teams failed to acknowledge the ceiling for the Greek Freak? Today, however, around 10+ teams in the league are eagerly waiting for a Giannis free agency. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo completed 7 years with the NBA/Bucks

The Greek Freak played his debut game in the NBA on October 30, 2013 against the New York Knicks. In that game, Giannis came off the bench and gave just 5 minutes into the play, to score only one point that came off a free throw. The Bucks lost the game 83-90 to Carmelo Anthony’s knicks. 

Giannis shared an Instagram video to mark and celebrate his 7 years in the league. He captioned it, “2013 feels like yesterday [smiley]”.

Giannis was just 18 years and 311 days old when he made his debut. Interestingly, Khris Middleton was in the squad on his first game. Khris did not have a good game either, and the Bucks lost.

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The curve for the Greek Freak and his Bucks only went up

In his rookie year, unlike other legends in the game, Giannis was not very noticeable. He averaged 6.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists that year. While the Bucks failed miserably to make any mark by losing the regular season 20-62 (29th position). If that was not enough, they were 2-13 in the opening 15 games. 

Fast forward to today, the Bucks have finished at #1 on the eastern conference table twice (2019 & 2020). Giannis Antetokounmpo won back-to-back MVP awards while also winning the DPOY 2020. He averaged a career-high 29.5 pts, 13.6 rebs, 1 steal, and 1 block at 55.3% from the field in 2019-20. He is the most ‘in-demand’ future free-agent in case he declines the Supermax extension. 

With all this, one thing is sure, his prime is yet to come.