Masai Ujiri: Giannis is not Greek, he's Nigerian

[truly]

I think better of Giannis than to believe he's merely Greek when it is convenient for him.

See that a lot in soccer, guys not good enough to make their national team who then go play for their parents country.
And afterwards they'll talk about how much it means to them and how it was a choice from the heart.

Greece literally refused him untill he played in the nba. The whole point of a government is to serve the ppl's interest. If it can't do that, then it should forfeit the right to lesgislate laws

And what did Nigeria do for him before he played in the NBA?

If you say Greece didnt care about him before he played basketball the exact same thing applies to Nigeria.

Anyway Giannis can identify however he wants and Masai has no business talking about it.

[freethedevil]

See that a lot in soccer, guys not good enough to make their national team who then go play for their parents country.
And afterwards they'll talk about how much it means to them and how it was a choice from the heart.

Greece literally refused him untill he played in the nba. The whole point of a government is to serve the ppl's interest. If it can't do that, then it should forfeit the right to lesgislate laws

And what did Nigeria do for him before he played in the NBA?

If you say Greece didnt care about him before he played basketball the exact same thing applies to Nigeria.

Anyway Giannis can identify however he wants and Masai has no business talking about it.

What does any of that have to do with jazz 9 judging players who "rep a country when it's convenient."?

[truly]

Greece literally refused him untill he played in the nba. The whole point of a government is to serve the ppl's interest. If it can't do that, then it should forfeit the right to lesgislate laws

And what did Nigeria do for him before he played in the NBA?

If you say Greece didnt care about him before he played basketball the exact same thing applies to Nigeria.

Anyway Giannis can identify however he wants and Masai has no business talking about it.

What does any of that have to do with jazz 9 judging players who "rep a country when it's convenient."?

I shouldn't have quoted jazz 9.My bad.

I am addresing the point that Greece didnt care about him before he started playing basketball that is made throughout the thread.

[Detective]

Bring him home Masai.

What do you guys think?

Read on Twitter

My brother WinBakerGT6 owning free real estate in the GB and Bucks fans' collective heads.

[will]

Bring him home Masai.

What do you guys think?

Read on Twitter

My brother WinBakerGT6 owning free real estate in the GB and Bucks fans' collective heads.

Masai aka BossMan was ON ONE today during that press conference. Mad entertaining!

[jonjames]

Unfortunately Giannis will never be truly accepted/embraced as 'Greek' by the vast majority of native Greeks if he wasn't the superstar that he is today..jUst like ppl still label or consider Jeremy Lin as a chinese hooper or a taiwanese hooper even though he was born in America. Giannis himself says he's African Nigerian to be specific. His words. End of thread.

[theFireBlanket]

https://theundefeated.com/features/bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-greek-freak-wants-to-go-back-to-his-nigerian-roots/

He embraces both his heritage & the culture that he grew up in. Talks of having American children & hoping they'll visit the places of his childhood.

[Sgt P]

"Nigerian Freak" does not have a very good ring to it.

Christian Okoye got the nickname "Nigerian Nightmare"

Watch on YouTube

[Fresh_Prince12]

Toronto can't even retain their finals MVP stop fantasizing about signing Giannis lmao

Regular season


Post season

Congrats man on finally getting over the hump but calm down a bit with that noise. It was literally our first year without Kidd’s coaching staff(the figurative 100 lb weights around our ankle). Give us atleast two years before you anoint us the new “old” raptors

[theFireBlanket]

[God Squad]

Hes not wrong.

[nostradamus]

Many of you don't have mixed identities and it shows.
This is just the case of when someone in the older generation doesn't identify with where you grew up and claims you for where they grew up, particularly if you're successful. Giannis should take it as a compliment, and we all can just move on.

[JH5]

He is greek.

He might not want to be greek, he might even identify himself as non-greek, and I respect that. Not everyone is forced to like the land he was born in or the country that claims his citizenship. That's understandable. Here in Europe we deal with that kind of feeling quite often, just ask many scottish people, or basque ones.

But he is what his passport says he is.

Nobody says he can't be nigerian too, he is entitled to feel as nigerian as he wants. But saying he's nigerian is one thing, saying he is NOT greek is an entirely different animal. It sounds similar but it ain't, and Ujiri might not understand the nuances when discussing this kind of subject... Or he might have just ignored them.

One of my passports say one thing and my other passport says another. So what am I?

[FJS]

Giannis is what Giannis says he is. He is greek born and has greek nationality but if he feels nigerian he is nigerian... and if he feels greek he is greek.

[GusT15]

Just to put this into another perspective and to look at it under another prism...

Read on Twitter

So Masai who is from Nigeria..and Ramatu from Sierra Leone..live in Canada..and are married...

And Masai's and Ramatu's children are Canadians as Masai said.

The late Charles Antetokounmpo (rest his soul) and Veronika Antetokounmpo were born in Nigeria and moved to Greece in the early 90s..and they had 4 children while living in Athens,Greece.

But Giannis is Nigerian and not Greek like Masai said...

[axeman23]

IDK, it seems sorta low key douchy of someone to not adopt the nationality of a country that granted you a better life.

He is ethnically Nigerian, but his nationality is Greek. Its not like immoral to choose to be referred to as Nigarian, but I know that I would like to verbalize the country that took me in moreso than the one that I just happened to be born into.

That country refused to accept him until recently though and his family endured a lot of racism.

If he wasn’t a 7’ basketball player he’d still be on the streets and the Greek gov’t wouldnt give a damn about him

Let's not act like that's any different to what happens in Nigeria, or many/most other countries in the world. The athletically/genetically gifted get taken care of for a potential quid pro quo down the road, and us "normies" fall through the cracks without the support of friends and family. I would assume if their life was so great in Nigeria, his parents would've just stayed there, no?

[Stannis]

Giannis is as Greek as much as Olajuwon is American

[GusT15]

Giannis is as Greek as much as Olajuwon is American

Giannis is as Greek as he feels like and neither your opinion friend or Masai Ujiri's opinion is going to change that.

(Also great comparison between Giannis and Hakeem.Giannis hadn't travelled outside of Greece till he was 18 and Hakeem hadn't travelled outside of Nigeria till he was 18.Awesome analogy! Giannis only spoke Greek and Hakeem only spoke French and Yoruba.The two situations are so very similar!)

Giannis is as American as Olajuwon is American.
FIFY

[LascelleL]

Anyone can look at Giannis and see that he is not Greek. Only difference between Giannis and Black Americans is he knows where he comes from.

Ok so now we're at the point where every black person living in Greece is not considered Greek?

It's all racial nationality and that's it? That's messed up.

You're either a part of the country where you live or you're not. If you're born in America for instance, you're American. That's what the law says and if you don't want to be American, you can leave and go some other place. But the idea that race supersedes everything else is honestly racist.

The irony in saying That this is America and then claiming race doesn't supercede anything in the same sentence.

As if Black people aren't gunned down by Police everyday. Like Masai Ujiri wasn't just accosted by a Cop who then Lied on him

God Damn. Y'all looking foolish

Sent from my SM-N950W using RealGM mobile app

[Hoopz Afrik]

....and he identifies as Nigerian first and foremost but he still loves his Greek nationality from what I've seen. His last name is middle name is Ugo (Igbo) and his last name is Adeotkumbo (Yoruba). Aint nothing Greek about that at all.lol. Greek Freak just had a nice ring to it and it caught on quicker.

The tricky thing about being an African athlete abroad, primarily European soccer which is really bad, is that media tends on to only refers to your African lineage when you are underperforming. Romelu Lukaku pointed it out when he said the Belgium media would refer to him as a Belgian striker when he has great performances and would refer to him as the Belgian striker of Congolese descent when he had terrible performances.