By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Interviewed by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Lori Nickel, Giannis Antetokounmpo talked about different topics related to mental health and everything that goes around it, by also revealing he was close to retiring from the game of basketball in 2020.
“Mental health is big for me. Everybody – no matter where I am – everybody is watching me. I don’t think I have the time to turn it off. Be me. Kind of just… be me. As much as people say I’m handling it well because that’s my personality… It’s hard. In 2020, I was ready to walk away from the game. I had that conversation, with the front office. I’m a very stubborn human being: if something doesn’t make me happy, I don’t do it. I don’t want to do it. I’m just going to stay home, stay with my kids, stay with my family and try to be happy. I don’t care”, he revealed.
He went on to explain it. “And this was right when I signed the largest contract in NBA history. And, you know, very normally, everybody is looking at me like I was crazy. “You just signed the largest contract in NBA history and you want to walk away from the game and all that money…?” But I don’t care about that. I care about joy. I’m a joyful person. My father didn’t have anything; he had us. He was the richest person on earth because he had his kids. He had a beautiful family; he had nothing. This doesn’t mean nothing to me”, The Greek Freak added about the potentiality of leaving the NBA this early.
“I was in Orlando. I was walking through the hotel and there were three little kids. We were in this hotel that was five minutes away from Disney World. This lady was probably with her grandkids. She was like 55, 60 – she was my mom’s age. And the kids were younger, like 5, 6, 7. And she said, ‘Hey guys, you know who that is?’ No, they had no idea; they were excited to go to Disney World. She turned and was like: “That’s the best player in the world”. Yeah, it’s good to hear that, but that’s a lot of pressure. Going through that… in order for you to be the best, you have to play like the best. You have to practice like the best. You got to carry yourself like the best. Which is not easy”, he told an anecdote.
Finally, he talked about how he and his family want to help kids with education through the Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation. “Obviously I think a lot of people are dealing with things throughout their life. I think I have a great team around me, that helps me; and obviously a lot of people in my family. I have people that want to help. I want to make sure that we are literally impacting people’s life. I don’t want to have this platform and just use it to raise money and not really impact people’s life. That’s not who I am and you have to make sure that people understand that”, he said.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images