NBA Star, Giannis Antetokounmpo Says He Will Visit Nigeria Soon

For the past two decades, we’ve seen Nigerian basketballers go on to make a name for themselves in the NBA. With the league now more diverse than ever before, no player wears their Nigerianness on their sleeve more than Giannis Antetokounmpo.

While some fans wrongly think that Antetokounmpo is just Greek – given that he was born in Greece – the star has come out to say that he’s one hundred percent Nigerian. In fact, he’s making plans to visit the country either this summer or next summer.

Antetokounmpo confirmed this while speaking about his Nigerian roots with The Undefeated. Although he grew up in Greece, he described his upbringing as “straight-up Nigerian”. His mom even spoke Igbo to him and his brothers, although he still struggles to speak and understand it.

Actually, this and other things surrounding his roots are the main reasons why the 24-year-old wants to visit Nigeria ASAP. In his own words:

“I want to see where my family comes from, where my mom was raised, see my family, see where my dad was raised. That is very important. I hope my kids can do the same thing for me.”

With records that strongly suggest he’s the front-runner for the 2019 NBA MVP award, we couldn’t think of a better time for the gifted Antetokounmpo to make this long overdue trip. We hope it happens sooner rather than later.