Now entering his eighth season in the NBA, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has emerged as the best player in the league after coming off of a campaign that saw him win the Most Valuable Player and the Defensive Player of the Year awards. 

But seven years ago, when he entered the league as an 18-year-old who grew up in Athens, Greece, his former Bucks teammates and coaches described him as a player who had a child-like innocence and a desire to be better. As told to Jayson Jenks of The Athletic, Giannis' former teammates and coaches with Milwaukee described their experienced with a young Greek immigrant after he was selected by the team with the 15th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. 

According to assistant coach Josh Oppenheimer, Antetokounmpo had a childlike exuberance and innocence to him, while assistant video coordinator Ross Geiger recalled how much he loved Dave & Buster’s.

“So, Dave & Buster’s. First of all, he would get a sugar high off a Coke or a lemonade. He’d be running around like all the other kids, bumping into kids at times. I was like, “Calm down, we’ll get to the machines.”

Former Bucks teammate Chris Wright even compared him to the Disney character Bambi, with which the eventual two-time MVP apparently wasn’t familiar.

Wright: When I first got there, some of the players were talking and one of the coaches said, “Yo, where’s Bambi?” I was like, “Who is Bambi?”

Oppenheimer: He was arms and legs and hands and desire. But that was it.

Wright: We start practicing and Giannis is out there just clumsy. Ah, that must be Bambi.

Geiger: He was like Bambi that year.

But former teammate Caron Butler and the others already saw the determination that would lay the groundwork for his current dominance in the NBA. 

Butler: He wasn’t discouraged by anything.

Wright: Him in the weight room, bro, was so funny. Every time he’d do a couple curls, he would look in the mirror and flex.

Geiger: Trying to see if he was making gains.

Wright: He struggled doing pull-ups, probably because his arms are so long. One day, he knocked out a full set, and he was like, “Greek Freak, baby!” He was yelling and flexing in the mirror. It was hilarious, man.

And it was evident that even then, while others didn’t yet see him becoming a force in the NBA, the Greek Freak already saw himself as that, and never lost belief in himself. 

Oppenheimer: And he had unreal belief in himself — to the point that his rookie year it probably rubbed some veterans the wrong way. He thought he was going to be the guy. He always said that to me: “I’m going to be the man.”

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks return with the 2020-21 NBA season set to start on Dec. 22.