Giannis makes ailing Greek teen’s dream come true
For more than a year, 15-year old Dimitris Zamanis passed the hours in the hospital in his home country of Greece watching NBA games, especially the Milwaukee Bucks and his national hero, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The toll from aplastic anemia, a condition where the body stops producing enough red blood cells, left Zamanis tired and even took him away from playing the game of basketball that he loves so much.
But on Tuesday afternoon, Zamanis was in Milwaukee, sinking his own shots right next to the Greek Freak himself.
The once-in-a-lifetime alliance was provided by Make-A-Wish Wisconsin, which teamed up with the Bucks to fly Zamanis, his brother and his mother, Haroula, from their home in Trikala, Greece, to Milwaukee to meet Antetokounmpo and see him play in person.
And Giannis was the gracious and charming host.
The day began with Antetokounmpo giving Zamanis shooting tips, with Giannis speaking in Greek and English while putting up jumpers with Tony Snell in the Bucks’ morning shootaround at the downtown Sports Science Center.
The two of them even teamed up to re-enact what looked like Giannis’ jawdropping dunk over Tim Hardaway Jr. that went viral during a game last week.
“It’s definitely the best day of my life,” said Zamanis.
Tuesday night, the Zamanis family had court-side seats for the Bucks’ game against Atlanta at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, where Antetokounmpo also asked Zamanis to rebound for him during warm-ups.
“I was about to cry, because his dream came true,” said Haroula. “He loves and admires Giannis. I’m thrilled his wish came true. We had really hard and difficult times.”
The Bucks gave Zamanis a jersey and a duffel bag stuffed with all kinds of gear, including a winter hat, and Jason Terry also gave him a pair of shoes.
“Oh these are way too big for me!” laughed Zamanis.
It was a nice break from all the medical treatment since his diagnosis.
“He is getting better day by day and this is the most important,” said Haroula.
Dimitris was pretty nervous to meet Antetokounmpo, of course, so Giannis put everyone at ease right away. He immediately thanked Dimitris and his family for coming to Milwaukee.
“He’s humble and (said) ‘I wish you the best,’ ” said Haroula. “He’s a good boy, we love him.”
“He said he would take a picture of me from Make-a-Wish and put it next to his bed, so that was funny, I will definitely remember that,” said Dimitris.
“I’m pretty excited. I’ve always wanted to watch an NBA game. He’s the most popular athlete in Greece. Everybody loves him. He’s a great guy, he’s humble.”
At first, Zamanis said he didn’t want to ask for anything from Make-A-Wish; he wanted other children to get their wishes instead. But then the family was told they could meet Giannis, and the biggest surprise to them was the trip to Wisconsin to do it.
“It was a difficult year,” said Zamanis. “It will be great remembering all this stuff.”