Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t need an introduction. You may not know though that there are five Antetokounmpo brothers.
Ranging from 17 to 31 years old the brothers grew up in the Athens neighborhood of Sepolia where their parents Charles and Veronica Adetokunbo had immigrated from Nigeria.
Life wasn’t always easy for the family. Giannis, his older brother Thanasis and their parents would sell DVDs and CDs on the streets just to make ends meet.
They’d walk five miles to their nearest basketball gym, sharing a single pair of shoes and sometimes having to stay there for the night.
“I didn’t choose basketball. Thanasis chose basketball.”
Despite their early struggles, Giannis will soon become eligible for a supermax contract extension later this year and the Bucks would be insane not to offer him the five-year $247 million they’re able to.
“I didn’t choose basketball. Thanasis chose basketball.”, Giannis told SLAM. The brothers saw basketball as a way out of their hardship and without a doubt have achieved just that.
Giannis has shared most of the spotlight following being drafted by the Bucks in 2013, but the other brothers are also extremely talented. Let’s take a look at the journey of Thanasis.
“Imagine if we played on the same team and the gym is packed with 20,000 people”
Thanasis Antetokounmpo was selected by the Delaware 87ers with the 9th pick of the 2013 NBA Development League Draft.
He was then selected with the 51st pick of the 2014 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks and played three seasons with the Westchester Knicks.
In 2016 Thanasis played three years in Europe playing in Andorra and Panathinaikos, and become the MVP of the 2018 Greek All-Star Game and winning consecutive Greek League championships.
The Bucks signed Thanasis in 2019 and reunited him with younger brother Giannis. He’s fourth on the Bucks depth chart at power forward behind behind his brother Giannis, Ersan İlyasova and Marvin Williams.
Last month Thanasis made his first career NBA start alongside his brother, forming ’The Antetokounmbros’ duo against the Denver Nuggets.
He hit two-from-three from the field to finish with 4 points and a steal in five minutes of game time.
“Think about if you’re like 14 years old, right? And you’re in your room and you’re talking with your brother like, ‘Imagine if we played on the same team and the gym is packed with 20,000 people and we pass the ball to each other and we score…he stops and passes me the ball and I score, then I realize that it just happened so it’s surreal.”
Thanasis also has a few moves off the court as well. “First of all, I’m a dancer too, hey I’ve got moves,” he explains as he caught up with famous French dancer Salif Gueye in Paris.
It’ll be interesting to see if Thanasis Antetokounmpo can translate some of those dance moves into further minutes on the court for the Bucks. Even if he doesn’t, his presence surely will keep Giannis happy. Important to keep in mind with contract talks coming up