Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA Champion

by Mirin Fader

Overview

The story of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s extraordinary rise from poverty in Athens, Greece, to superstardom in America with the Milwaukee Bucks—becoming one of the most transcendent players in history and an NBA Champion—from award-winning basketball reporter and feature writer at The Ringer Mirin Fader. Now in paperback with a new Epilogue.
 
As the face of the NBA’s new world order, Giannis Antetokounmpo has overcome unfathomable obstacles to become a symbol of hope for people all over the world; the personification of the American Dream. But his backstory remains largely untold. Fader unearths new information about the childhood that shaped “The Greek Freak”—from sleeping side by side with his brothers to selling trinkets on the street with his family to the racism he experienced. Antetokounmpo grew up in an era when Golden Dawn, Greece’s far-right, anti-immigrant party, patrolled his neighborhood, and his status as an illegal immigrant largely prevented him from playing for the country’s top clubs, making his NBA rise all the more improbable. Fader tells a deeply human story of how an unknown, skinny, Black Greek teen, who played in the country’s lowest pro division and was seen as a draft gamble, transformed his body and his game into MVP material.

Antetokounmpo’s story has been framed as a feel-good narrative in which everyone has embraced him—watching him grow up, sign a five-year supermax contract extension worth $228 million, and lead the underdog Bucks to the NBA Championship in 2021. Giannis reveals a more nuanced story: how lonely and isolated he felt, adjusting to America and the NBA early in his career; the complexity of grappling with his Black and Greek identities; how he is so hard on himself and his shortcomings—a drive that fuels him every day; and the responsibility he feels to be a nurturing role model for his younger brothers. Fader illustrates a more vulnerable star than most people know, a person who has evolved triumphantly into all of his roles: father, brother, son, teammate, and global icon.

**Instant New York Times Bestseller, Los Angeles Times Bestseller, Wall Street Journal Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, Publishers Weekly Bestseller**

**Mirin Fader Selected as the 2021 Sports Media Author of the Year by The Big Lead**

**The Sports Librarian’s Best of 2022 – Sports Books**

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306924118
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	04/12/2022
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	93,239
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Mirin Fader is a senior staff writer for The Ringer. She wrote for Bleacher Report from 2017 to 2020. Her work has been honored by the Pro Writers Basketball Association, the Associated Press Sports Editors, the U.S. Writers Basketball Association, the Football Writers Association of America, and the Los Angeles Press Club. She was named a Top Women in Media in the "Up and Comer" category in 2019, and her work has been featured in the "Best American Sports Writing" series. Fader has profiled some of the NBA's biggest stars, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, Brandon Ingram, and LaMelo Ball, but she focuses more on the person rather than the player. Her approach is that she writes about people who happen to play sports, telling the backstories that shape some of our most complex, most dominant, heroes.

Table of Contents

Prologue xv

Chapter 1 Hunger 1

Chapter 2 Dreaming 21

Chapter 3 Stateless 49

Chapter 4 Found 73

Chapter 5 America 106

Chapter 6 Lonely 138

Chapter 7 Hope 157

Chapter 8 Reunited 178

Chapter 9 Mean 195

Chapter 10 Star 222

Chapter 11 Loss 246

Chapter 12 Identity 262

Chapter 13 Freak 275

Chapter 14 MVP 294

Chapter 15 Home 311

Epilogue 323

Acknowledgments 335

Notes 339

Index 383

Editorial Reviews

Giannis…captures an endearing portrait of Antetokounmpo by using his family as its primary through-line as he made his way to the N.B.A. and the United States. The framing makes for a more compelling journey than what would normally be expected of a parade of tough coaches, on-court rivals and personal uncertainty.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Mirin Fader gives readers a gorgeous portrayal of one of the most unique talents to ever play professional basketball. But Giannis is more than just the comprehensive story of a once-in-a-generation athlete. It is the story of how American promise intersects with iron will, and heartwarming vulnerability.”—Jemele Hill, host of "Jemele Hill Is Unbothered"

“For years, I have admired Mirin Fader’s ability to tell a long-form journalism story. I’m happy (and unsurprised) to say her skillset has translated over perfectly to books. This book is engaging, smart, and unputdownable.”—Shea Serrano

“Around the time that the Greek Freak was busting out in the NBA, Mirin Fader was doing the same thing in her line of work. In a journalism world that had become more and more about opinions, Fader decided that she would be a storyteller, and she invariably spins her tales with vividness and clarity, fueled by endless curiosity.”—Jack McCallum, author of Dream Team

“Mirin Fader traces an upbringing marked by deep family ties, extreme poverty, racism, and xenophobia. Like its subject, this biography is serious, engaging, and, more than anything, inspiring.”—Ben Golliver, author of Bubbleball

“Giannis the basketball player is almost too good to be true—and so is his story, told here with vivid writing and meticulous reporting. Mirin Fader’s portrait of the young superstar is as graceful, understated, and powerful as Giannis himself. A superb biography.”—Jonathan Eig, author of Ali and Luckiest Man

“We think we know everything about modern-day superstars. We’re sure we know everything about modern-day superstars. Then along comes Mirin Fader with this nuanced, detailed, revealing portrait of a man who has lived one hundred lives in twenty-six years. A fantastic read that proves most dreams go unaccomplished without toil, despair, grit, and an unyielding quest to soar.”—Jeff Pearlman, author of Three Ring Circus and Showtime

“The stories. My goodness, the stories. Mirin Fader’s ability to find and tell the most illustrative and humanizing tales really shines through. A player this great deserves his story to be told like this."—Marcus Thompson, author of Golden and KD

“[Mirin Fader] wrote the book on Giannis… at the moment that he is transmogrifying into an all-time great.”—David Shoemaker, The Press Box

“[Fader’s] biggest skill is her accumulation of details through deep reporting — that’s when she’s in her bag, as basketball fans like to say. Some of these details might seem trivial (the smell in an intern’s car after a trip to upstate Wisconsin to fetch a goldendoodle puppy for Giannis’s girlfriend), but they transport the reader to a place and time. The vividness of the stories she tells, the memories she’s able to pull out of people, unmask facets of Giannis’s playful and endearing personality. Though we see him on television as the king of the court, the book reveals a humble soul shaped by his upbringing.”—Washington Post

“Fader is a gifted writer who shares vivid details about Antetokounmpo…the book is dotted with the Greek star’s humility and good humor that has made him one of the NBA’s most endearing stars.”—The Los Angeles Times

“Eye-opening….Over the course of 400 pages, Fader manages to pull at the threads of Antetokounmpo’s Horatio Alger-esque tale to reveal a deeply human story that is as forged by politics as it is by sport….Fader has done something pretty remarkable….The depth of Fader’s Giannis – using basketball as just one of many lenses to view its subject – [creates] a work that feels complete, even while only being the beginning of the story.”—Milwaukee Mag

“A new name must be entered into the conversation of the great sports biographers…there’s enough detail, stories, and nuance to make these pages breeze by without wondering ‘When are we getting to the good stuff?’ It's all good stuff….The book is simply terrific, and it’s one that readers don’t have to be fans of basketball to enjoy."—Plainview Herald

“[A] masterpiece...the epitome of great sportswriting....Fader’s book is reminiscent of a David Halberstam masterpiece, as she uses her hundreds of interviews to paint as complete a picture of Antetokounmpo’s still young life as there is.”—The Chattanoogan

From the Publisher

06/28/2021

Fader, a staff writer for the Ringer, makes good use of her access to NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and his family in her debut, an inspiring rags-to-riches account. In 1991, Antetokounmpo’s Nigerian parents left their native country for better opportunities in Greece, where Antetokounmpo was born a few years later. As a six-year-old, Antetokounmpo accompanied his mother selling trinkets on the streets, but the money was never enough, and his family was frequently evicted from their homes. At age 13, Antetokounmpo’s life took a turn when Athens basketball coach Spiros Velliniatis clocked the long-limbed teen running around the neighborhood and offered to find his parents work if Antetokounmpo joined his team. Once on the court, Antetokounmpo began to attract international attention and, in 2013, was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks—a gamble by the team that paid off when Giannis became the league’s MVP in 2019 and 2020. Fader never loses sight of how Antetokounmpo continued to put his family’s needs first, helping his mother, father, and brothers move to the U.S. in 2014 and purchasing the “ten-thousand-square-foot mansion” that he shares with them today. This captivating portrait of a sincere, diligent, and humble talent serves as a refreshing antidote to the often-depressing stories of those who become corrupted by success. Agent: Anthony Mattero, Creative Artists. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

08/01/2021

The astounding story of Giannis Antetokounmpo (b. 1994), the Greek NBA megastar, has been well-documented, but never with as much detail as in this new biography. Fader, a staff writer for The Ringer, has written the comprehensive account of the athlete's journey to becoming the highly versatile MVP he is today. Watching the 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo slash and Euro-step his way through NBA defenses in 2021, it's easy to forget that as a teen he despised basketball and instead harbored dreams of soccer stardom. Giannis and his three brothers (two of whom have joined him in the NBA) were raised in Athens by Nigerian immigrants and came of age in a Greece experiencing economic collapse and the rise of ultra-nationalism. This account captures Antetokounmpo the man and basketball player, but it's not just a story of unlikely stardom: it also tells an immigration story spanning three continents, as well as a story about what basketball means to a small city like Milwaukee. VERDICT Though the narrative is occasionally slowed by an overabundance of detail, the depth of Fader's research and the uniqueness of Antetokounmpo's story make this a compelling read. Basketball fans will love it all, especially with Giannis becoming a star player for the Milwaukee Bucks.—Colin Chappell, Anne Arundel Cty. P.L., MD

Library Journal

2021-08-23
Inspiring biography of the NBA superstar known as the Greek Freak.

Giannis Antetokounmpo (b. 1994) grew up desperately poor, the son of a Nigerian soccer player who might have played in Germany had he not suffered a career-ending injury and wound up in Greece instead. It’s a nice touch, then, that Fader—herself a former collegiate basketball player—opens her narrative with a view of family life inside Giannis’ 10,000-odd-square-foot home outside Milwaukee. As the author shows, his path to those opulent surroundings was improbable. He wanted to play soccer but was recruited to play basketball. He wasn’t particularly good at first: “Giannis couldn’t dribble. Didn’t understand basketball. His hands seemed to be ahead of his feet. He’d trip over himself. The ball would trickle off his knee. He’d carry the ball.” What made the difference was an indomitable work ethic, humility, and a generosity of spirit that kept him from hogging the ball and the glory. An NBA scout noted these qualities even as he observed that Giannis “had incredible length but also that he was uncoordinated.” Even so, he pushed for Giannis’ recruitment, and in time the Milwaukee Bucks drafted him—a deal made all the more complicated by the fact that Giannis was undocumented and did not have a Greek passport. The youngest player in the draft, Giannis was a quick study. Early on, Grantland founder Bill Simmons summed up his potential: “Seeing the Greek Freak in person is like seeing Young Scottie Pippen crossed with Young Kevin Durant crossed with an octopus. He’s only 20, takes 10 yards per step, plays four positions, has Freddy Krueger arms, might pass the 7-foot mark soon and basically doesn’t have a genetic parallel.” He won the MVP Award twice and, in 2021, he carried the Bucks to the NBA championship for the first time in 50 years. Fader does a good job of relating this rags-to-riches story without cliché, and her commentary on the game is spot-on.

Just the thing for the Bucks fan in the household and an accomplished piece of sportswriting.

Kirkus Reviews