Giannis Antetokounmpo has cemented himself as one of the best players in NBA history. But getting to where the Milwaukee Bucks star is today was no easy task, and his story will be told in the new Disney+ film Rise. Disney+ released the trailer for Rise this week and also announced the film will start streaming on June 24.
“After emigrating from Nigeria to Greece, Charles and Vera Antetokounmpo (Dayo Okeniyi and Yetide Badaki, respectively) struggled to survive and provide for their five children, while living under the daily threat of deportation, the official synopsis states. “With their oldest son still in Nigeria with relatives, the couple were desperate to obtain Greek citizenship but found themselves undermined by a system that blocked them at every turn. When they weren’t selling items to tourists on the streets of Athens with the rest of the family, the brothers — Giannis (Uche Agada) and Thanasis (Ral Agada) — would play basketball with a local youth team. Latecomers to the sport, they discovered their great abilities on the basketball court and worked hard to become world-class athletes, along with brother, Kostas (Jaden Osimuwa).”
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Antetokounmpo would go on to be drafted No. 15 overall in the 2013 NBA and became an All-Star for the first time since 2017. After that, the 27-year-old would go on to be a superstar, winning the MVP award in 2019 and 2020, being named Defensive Player of the Year in 2020 and leading the Bucks to an NBA championship last year. And despite being in the prime of his career, Antetokounmpo was recently selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
“I can’t be fake. I am Giannis. But calling me MVP, calling me champ, calling me the best player in the world, is something that might hold me back,” Antetokounmpo told Eurohoops.Net last year. ” And I don’t want anything holding me back. I want to look forward and be better. That’s why I don’t train with other players. I don’t want to be buddy with them.
Antetokounmpo has a brother that plays in the NBA. Thanasis, 29, was selected by the New York Knicks in the second round and joined the Bucks in 2019. Their other brother, Kostas. 24, was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round in 2018 and spent time with the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers, and is now with the French team LDLC ASVEL. All three brothers won NBA Championships as Thanasis won a title with Antetokounmpo last year and Kostas won a title with the Lakers in 2020.
