Book details Giannis’ rise
Mirin Fader’s book recounts Giannis Antetokounmpo’s life from his struggles to survive to his rise to NBA MVP.
The thing about championship title runs is they seem to end abruptly – for the fans.
After waiting half a century for Milwaukee to claim its second NBA championship, the Bucks won Game 6 of the Finals on July 20 against Phoenix and bid adieu 36 hours later with a parade. Then they scattered to their own private lives – rightfully so, especially with the truncated pandemic-affected offseason.
If you want to keep the fun going, read Mirin Fader's book, “Giannis. The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP,” which comes out Aug. 10.
From Giannis Antetokounmpo's daily survival stories with his immigrant family, to those who never accepted him as Greek, to the diamond in the rough find in the NBA draft and a coach who influenced his formative years in Milwaukee, Fader pulls stories from more than 200 interview subjects to illustrate the unique history of this engaging global superstar.
Even if you think you know Antetokounmpo's life story pretty well, this book is rich with revealing details – like the fact less than two years before he was an NBA millionaire, he and his family were evicted, again, and scrambling to find a new home, again.
“We have a tendency to look at athletes and just treat them as athletes and not as human beings and people,” Fader said. “Everything that I try to do in my work is to show the humanity of someone and their journey, and I hope that people leave the book feeling just the ut
most respect and appreciation for what Giannis has endured in his life as a human being.”
There were numerous examples of this and here are just a few that stood out: the racism Antetokounmpo faced in Greece; the ache that Atlanta still feels over getting beat by the Bucks in the 2013 draft; and the huge influence of Jason Kidd on Antetokounmpo's career.
It wasn't just the political group Golden Dawn that didn't accept Antetokounmpo, the son of parents born in Nigeria who emigrated to Greece. Pockets of the Greece population did not either. Antetokounmpo heard this when his Greek basketball team, Filathlitikos, faced Trikala, and fans started making monkey noises.
“It wasn't something new,” one source told Fader. “He was used to it.”
It didn't improve when Antetokounmpo moved to the United States and succeeded in the NBA:
“In 2017 Giannis's childhood court in Sepolia, the one with his mural painted across the surface, was vandalized with fascist and Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn symbols: a circle inscribed with a cross, painted in white over the portrait of Giannis's face. It was large enough to be seen through the fence surrounding the court. The vandalism may have been in part triggered by Giannis's decision not to play for the Greek national team earlier that summer in the 2017 EuroBasket tournament because of a knee injury.”
Antetokounmpo wasn't even given the courtesy of the proper pronunciation of his name by his own countrymen, according to the book.
“Adonis Georgiadis, who currently serves as the country's minister of development and vice president of the New Democracy party, and who is one of the country's most powerful rightwing politicians, spoke sarcastically about Giannis on TV in 2018, deliberately mispronouncing his name:
“Akenotoumbo, Akenotoumbo . . . Doesn't he play as a Greek? Don't they say he is Greek? He has Greek nationality. The guy was born somewhere in Africa.”
Atlanta Hawks still burned
But there are light moments in the book, too.
One of the little treats of “Giannis” are the references to several characters and teams who ended up being a big part of the Bucks playoff story in 2021. One example: Milwaukee beat Atlanta in the Eastern Conference finals this year. And back in 2013, the Hawks really wanted Giannis.
Milwaukee had nothing to lose by scouting Antetokounmpo and the thengeneral manager was willing to take a chance:
“John Hammond's (and the Bucks') philosophy was 'We're the Milwaukee Bucks. We're not going to sign the next LeBron. Stars aren't going to try to come to Milwaukee. Every once in a while, we're just going to have to get lucky. And, at some point, we're going to have to take a swing at the draft.'
“Word had spread since scout Kornél Dávid had visited, as other scouts alerted other teams.
“Twenty-eight representatives from NBA teams showed up, many of them GMs: Danny Ainge, president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics; Daryl Morey of the Houston Rockets; Danny Ferry of the Atlanta Hawks; Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder; and Masai Ujiri of the Denver Nuggets. Filathlitikos didn't have room for all of them at first. The coaches brought out chairs but still didn't have enough; they had to go buy extra chairs.
“Giannis and Thanasis were granted a 'special exemption' and received citizenship papers on May 9, 2013. In the process, Greek officials changed their last name from Adetokunbo to Antetokounmpo, a more traditional, Greeksounding name.
“The Bucks were all in on drafting him, but other teams weren't as convinced. Some felt the pick was too risky, like the (Phoenix) Suns, picking at number 5."
The Bucks got Antetokounmpo with the 15th pick.
“The Hawks were not laughing. They were deeply disappointed. Angry. Someone in the Hawks draft room threw a large plant. A beverage also flew through the air. The sadness lingered with Ferry. 'For a while,' Ferry says. Still does. 'How do you not feel that way when you watch this kid play?' ”
And then there's former Bucks coach Jason Kidd. He recognized Giannis for the talent, for being the best player on the team. Kidd may have played mental games, but he drew the best out of Giannis. Instead of telling him what to do, Kidd usually asked the tough questions and pushed the topics that forced Antetokounmpo to figure out what he was supposed to do.
While Mike Budenholzer coached Antetokounmpo to his two MVP seasons and the 2021 championship, Fader makes it clear that Kidd's influence on Giannis' versatility, channeled energy, toughness and discovery of his confidence were critical to his development. Basketball fans will be drawn to the relationship.
The author
Fader got the idea for the book two years ago when she was writing a story about the youngest brother, Alex, and had rare access to Giannis' mother, Veronica, and four of the five Antetokounmpo brothers. She was mesmerized by the relationship Giannis had with his brothers. After the Alex story ran in Bleacher Report, Fader saw an opportunity to write a book on Giannis.
Fader is a former Division III basketball player who graduated in 2013. She's based in Los Angeles and is a Lakers fan. This is her first book – and it did have its challenges beyond working through the language barriers of her Greek-speaking sources.
“I was supposed to go to Greece,” Fader said. “I felt like the childhood part was so critical. I was just so bummed that I couldn't go to Greece, because of the pandemic I had to cancel my plans.
“So I hired a researcher from the ground in Sepolia and he would send me photos and videos and that's how I was able to recreate some of those details.
“And you know, Giannis' childhood is so unexplored. But I was like, well I can't get to Milwaukee on page 300 (of the book). I had to cut, because there was so much there; you couldn't go more than four chapters (on his childhood). So, organizing it was really tough because so much happens to him, even before he gets to America.”
Fader worked like crazy to get this book. Her one interview with Giannis was for about 20 minutes in 2019 for the Bleacher Report story, when she spent the day with Giannis and his family at his home and in the Bucks facility. That's rare access.
“That's when I talked with Veronica as well, and Kostas and Alex,” Fader said. “I only went to Milwaukee's game, the Thunder game in February 2020. I was just like, I really need to get over there, I don't know what's going to happen with COVID.”
After that, Fader relied on subsequent interviews with Thanasis and Kostas before branching out with a wide net of sources from Giannis' inner and outer circles of life.
“So it was really like, honestly, a lot of just my hustle,” Fader said.
Take the time to savor this book; forget the paces of social media posts and the barrage of distractions out there. Close the door on the noise and settle in. If you're not a hoop head, read the basketball parts anyway; if you like Xs and Os, slow down and read the man's story.
Fader does a good job of setting so many scenes, of Giannis' painful loneliness without his family when he was a rookie, of the dark years of the organization. It's only by reading about them that the growth can be appreciated:
“There were so few fans walking around the city wearing team gear at the time that marketing staffers, in hopes of luring fans to games, would walk around the city and hand out wooden tokens that could be redeemed at the Bradley Center. 'I'm proud of and embarrassed by this at the same time,' says Theodore Loehrke, former Bucks senior vice president and chief revenue officer. 'That's how dire the state of Bucks fandom was at the time.'”
But set your expectations accordingly. Fader finished the book March 1 and the publisher made final edits at the end of April, a month before Milwaukee began its title run, so it would be ready for release Aug. 10. There are no details about the championship.
But after eight years in the NBA, Fader's book is thoughtful, welcome and timely. Giannis' own personal story is woven in with the Bucks transformation, and in the center of it all is the skinny, private, protective kid from Greece, fighting for his survival, his family and then finally, his own success.
For more information
Boswell will host a virtual event with Fader at 7 p.m. Aug 10. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/ register/WN_N4xbT6yYSUialanSEtrS4g
Order your book from Boswell here: https://www.boswellbooks.com/ book/9780306924125
Or visit https://mirinfader.com/ book/