Giannis Antetokounmpo appears to be familiar with the quote, “The odds will always favor the man with a plan.”
The Milwaukee Bucks star spoke to reporters on Monday and revealed his funny backup plan in case he ever goes broke — selling autographed basketball cards of his teammates.
“BP [Bobby Portis] — he’s going to sign this, this is going to be worth a lot one day — and Donte [DiVincenzo],” said Antetokounmpo showing off the cards in his possession to reporters. “I’m looking for Pat [Connaughton’s] and Grayson [Allen’s]. Yeah if I ever go broke, I’m going to sell them. Just to have a backup plan. Know your parents always told you to have a backup plan? This is my backup plan.”
Of course, it is highly unlikely that Antetokounmpo will ever go broke. He has already made $107 million to this point of his career and is in Year 1 of a separate five-year, $228 million extension with the Bucks. But it never hurts to be prepared for anything.
The sports memorabilia business generates billions of dollars in the United States annually, and sports cards in particular have seen a major resurgence during the pandemic. As such, Antetokounmpo probably has a solid backup plan there (assuming that his political ambitions ultimately fall through).
Photo: Oct 23, 2021; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) warms up before the game against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports
Giannis Antetokounmpo discovered just this week that Oreos and milk make the perfect pair, and his history with the delicious cookie is a story worth sharing.
On Tuesday night, Giannis tweeted that he was just given the idea to dunk his Oreos in milk. He called the combination a “game changer” and said he’s upset his girlfriend didn’t tell him about it sooner. The two-time MVP was asked on Wednesday if Oreos would be on his Thanksgiving menu, and he spent two minutes talking about the snack.
Antetokounmpo said he always craved Oreos when he was a kid, but he never had money to buy them. When he got to the NBA and could afford them, he “ate them for like a month straight — no dinner, no lunch, no nothing.” He got sick of them, but the enthusiasm returned when he was filming a commercial this week and some kids told him to dunk his Oreos in milk.
Giannis came to the U.S. less than 10 years ago, so he’s still learning about American culture. If he was that big of a fan of Oreos before, it’s amazing he didn’t know about dunking them in milk. Better late than never.
Photo: Oct 23, 2021; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) warms up before the game against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been playing basketball in the United States for more than eight years now, but he is still learning plenty about American culture. For example, the Greek Freak just recently found out that an Oreo is milk’s favorite cookie.
Giannis sent a hilarious tweet on Tuesday night about how he was just given the idea to dunk his Oreos in milk. He called the combination a “game changer” and said he’s upset his girlfriend didn’t tell him sooner.
That reminded a lot of people of when Antetokounmpo discovered smoothies years ago.
Giannis and his girlfriend, Mariah Riddlesprigger, have two sons together. They’ve been together for quite some time, so there’s no excuse for Mariah, who is American, to not have shared this information with Giannis.
We know Giannis loves him some old fashioned American delicacies. He proved that with his famous drive-thru video after the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA championship earlier this year. Hopefully he doesn’t eat too many Oreos, but it will be tough now that he knows about the milk-dunking trick.
Photo: Oct 23, 2021; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) warms up before the game against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports
One quote from Giannis Antetokounmpo has left Milwaukee Bucks fans concerned.
Antetokounmpo was named GQ’s Athlete of the Year. The magazine published their feature on the cover athlete on Tuesday and even teased one quote that’s giving Bucks fans some pause.
GQ talked about the way Antetokounmpo loves challenges, and the Bucks star said that his next challenge might be elsewhere.
“I just love challenges. What’s the next challenge? The next challenge might not be here. Me and my family chose to stay in this city that we all love and has taken care of us—for now. In two years, that might change. I’m being totally honest with you,” Antetokounmpo said.
Antetokounmpo reassured Milwaukee when he signed a 5-year, $228 million contract extension with the team in Dec. 2020. But this quote signifies Antetokounmpo might not be with the Bucks forever.
Antetokounmpo’s agent Alex Saratsis tried to put the quote in context.
“I don’t think it’s, ‘I’m thinking about leaving the Bucks,’ ” Saratsis told me. “But I think he’s genuinely like: ‘Okay, I have reached the pinnacle. The next challenge is, let’s repeat.’ But what happens if you do repeat? What’s the next challenge? What is that next barrier? When you think about it from a basketball perspective, by the age of 26, this kid has accomplished everything,” Saratsis told GQ. “So sometimes you’re going to have to manufacture what those challenges are.”
This sounds a little similar to LeBron James’ reasoning for leaving Cleveland the second time around. James’ goal was to bring the Cavs a championship. After doing that, his next challenge was trying to win a title with the Lakers.
Maybe Antetokounmpo will head down that path eventually. For now, he has given Milwaukee eight-plus seasons, two MVPs and a championship. It’s hard to complain about all he delivered for the team and city.
Photo: Apr 29, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) warms up before the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Monday turned out to be a banner day for the “Giannis 2024” crowd.
The 2021 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks visited President Joe Biden at the White House, leaving star player Giannis Antetokounmpo feeling quite inspired. While on the White House lawn, the reigning Finals MVP joked about running for office himself someday. Check out the video.
“I’m running for office,” said Antetokounmpo. “Put this on my TikTok. I’m running for office, 2024.
“They’re going to take it seriously,” he added. “I’m running for office though. I’m going to be the most handsome president ever.”
The afternoon also saw Antetokounmpo give a moving speech on going from poverty in Greece as a kid to now visiting the White House as a champion.
Unfortunately for Antetokounmpo’s political ambitions though, he would be ineligible to run for president in 2024 for multiple reasons. Antetokounmpo is still only 26 and is also a non-United States native. But he could always pull an Arnold Schwarzenegger and run for governor. In fact, the Bucks’ home state of Wisconsin only requires that a gubernatorial candidate be a United States citizen, a qualified voter in the state, and at least 18 years old.
Antetokounmpo is a beloved local star, and his patriotism is also unrivaled. Thus, in addition to pitying anyone who has to match up against him on the court, we would also pity anyone who has to match up against him in a general election.
Harry Styles can proudly say that he has a 6-foot-11 NBA MVP as a fan.
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo tweeted Wednesday that he went to Styles’ concert, saying it was “99% women and me.” Antetokounmpo added that he was “a big fan” and called Styles “a great performer.”
A fellow concertgoer also caught video of Antetokounmpo having a great time during the show.
We are glad that Antetokounmpo was sitting down in the video. Imagine the poor souls who would have had to try to see around that mountain of a man.
We probably shouldn’t be surprised though that Antetokounmpo is a fan of the ex-One Direction member-turned-solo star Styles. He has proven time and time again that he is one of the most interesting players in the NBA.
Photo: Apr 29, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) warms up before the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Giannis Antetokounmpo is now an NBA champion and Finals MVP, but he still is not taking himself too seriously.
The Bucks tweeted a video on Tuesday of Antetokounmpo having a funny conversation with the social media staffers. In the video, Antetokounmpo hilariously roasted himself over his shooting ability.
“Yоu guys pоst my dunks, my threes,” Antetokounmpo told the staffers. “When I make a three, make it lооk gооd. Post it frоm diffеrent anglеs, you know what I’m saying? Like post it from this angle, from this angle, sо it lооks like I madе four of thеm. Sо peоple can think I can shооt nоw.”
Antetokounmpo’s shooting ability is really the only weakness in his entire game. He shot 30.3 percent from deep last season and is only a 28.7 percent career three-point shooter. Opponents are more than willing to seal off the paint and sag off Antetokounmpo in the hopes that he launches a jumper.
But Antetokounmpo is quietly becoming a very effective midrange jump shooter, especially out of post-up situations as we saw in this year’s Finals against Phoenix. He has remained humble through it all though and still does not mind poking fun at himself every now and then.
As a 6-foot-11 NBA champion and local rock star, Giannis Antetokounmpo does not exactly get a lot of privacy these days. Fortunately for him, he has found a funny strategy for going unnoticed that seems to work wonders.
The Milwaukee Bucks star revealed this week that he likes to go grocery shopping late at night to avoid being seen. Antetokounmpo also tweeted a hilarious selfie with the caption, “Nobody recognises me!!”
The strategy was not quite foolproof though. A fan tracked down Antetokounmpo at the store, and the two posed for a quick selfie.
Antetokounmpo might be the most famous person in the entire state of Wisconsin right now, especially after delivering the Bucks their first title since 1971. He does seem to enjoy the fanfare at times. But Antetokounmpo still has to buy his milk and paper towels every week just like the rest of us.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the NBA MVP in 2020 for the second time and topped that with an NBA title and Finals MVP Award in 2021.
Despite his ascension, the modest Antetokounmpo still doesn’t believe he’s the best player in basketball. In fact, the five-time All-Star doesn’t even believe he’s in the top five or six.
Antetokounmpo credits LeBron James for being not only the best player in the NBA, but in the world. There’s a solid list after that and then, Antetokounmpo says, he might fit in with the tier 2 guys.
“I like being a hunter. I am not the best player in the world. I am telling you, I am not! KD, LeBron, Kawhi, Luka, Curry, AD might be. I am not. I am still hunting the All-Time greats. LeBron is still the best player in the world,” Antetokounmpo said on Friday, via Harris Stavrou of SPORT24.
James has long been considered the league’s best player but there’s an argument to be made that’s no longer the case.
Antetokounmpo or Luka Doncic are the future of the NBA and in due time — perhaps even this upcoming season — they will become the face of the “best player” debate.
Fresh off winning an NBA title, Giannis Antetokounmpo is offering a glimpse into his mentality that might make Michael Jordan smile.
The Milwaukee Bucks star spoke this week on Greek station COSMOTE TV and kept it real about why he does not train with other NBA stars.
“I can’t be fake. I am Giannis,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s why I don’t train with other players. I don’t want to be buddy with them. If we do this and then drink a coffee with them, can I go in the court and use my elbow against them? Can I block or dunk on them? I can’t cause I am authentic.
“If I love someone, I love him also on the court,” the reigning Finals MVP added. “I’m fully aware of that and don’t want to put myself in this position.”
It is common practice these days for top stars like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kawhi Leonard to train with rivals from other teams during the summer. In fact, one might even see three or four of them training together at the same time. The practice has drawn a lot of criticism from retired NBA players, who see today’s generation as too “buddy buddy.”
As for Antetokounmpo, he has always stayed true to himself no matter how great a player he has become. Training as a lone wolf is part of that for him.
