Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Most Valuable Player of the Year award last night at the Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, California.
Giannis who is a power forward for Milwaukee and of Nigerian descent gave a very emotional and moving acceptance speech. The basketballer who is popularly known as the ‘Greek Freak’ took time to thank his God, coaches, teammates, brother, father, mother, agents, and countries – Nigeria and Greece.
He even broke down a little bit while he thanked his father, Charles, who had died in 2017 of a heart attack. He said that his father had motivated him and the thoughts of him pushes him to play harder and move forward.
He said “I want to thank my dad. Obviously, you know, he’s not here with me. Two years ago, I had the goal in my head that I’m going to be the best player in the league and I’m going to do whatever it takes to help my team win and I’m going to win the MVP. Every day that I step on the floor, I always think about my dad and that motivates me, that pushes me to play harder and move forward.”
Thanking his mom, he said “I want to thank my amazing mom, She’s my hero. You know when you don’t see the future, if you have a good parent, your parent sees the future for you and she always saw the future in us. she always believed in us, she was always there for us. She is the foundation of this family. You’re my true hero”.
For Giannis, this is just the beginning as his goal is to win the championship.