To many, Giannis Antetokounmpo might have ascended into superstardom out of nowhere, but for some, his ascension could be seen from a mile away.
Let’s hop back in the time machine to June 27, 2013.
Just weeks after Masai Ujiri was hired as the executive vice president and general manager of the Toronto Raptors, his first major order of business was orchestrating the team’s 2013 NBA Draft plan. Ujiri, whose Raptors didn’t own a first-round pick in 2013, had long been rumored to have had his sights on a then-18-year-old Greek prospect by the name of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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Over the years, numerous reports substantiated those rumors but in 2020, a Raptors documentary unearthed never-before-seen footage from the team’s war room during the 2013 Draft, detailing the lengths to which Ujiri was willing to go.
“The kid we want to pick – we don’t feel like there are many kids in 2015 that will be at his level after two years,” Ujiri said of parting ways with a future pick to move up in the draft to select Antetokounmpo.
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In the video, Raptors brass speaks of Giannis by name, while attempts to acquire the 12th and 14th overall picks get denied. Antetokounmpo, of course, would end up going 15th to the Milwaukee Bucks, showing just how close Ujiri was to getting his guy.
Eight years later, Antetokounmpo has become everything Ujiri envisioned him being and more.
Just as Antetokounmpo has risen into a realm of all-time greatness as a multi-time MVP winner, Defensive Player of the Year and NBA champion, Ujiri has grown to be revered as one of the most powerful executives in all of North American professional sports, not just basketball.
Amazingly enough, they each transcended into this next realm around the same time.
Many would consider the 2018-19 NBA campaign as Ujiri’s magnum opus up to this point of his career as an executive. It’s a season in which his swing-for-the-fences move to acquire Kawhi Leonard eventually led to the first-ever title run in Raptors franchise history.
That same season, Giannis entered the conversation as a top-three player in the NBA, ultimately resulting in him taking home MVP hardware for the first time.
Naturally, their paths crossed that very year, as Antetokounmpo’s Bucks met the Raptors in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals.
While the two stood in each other’s way with respect to attaining the ultimate goal (albeit in very different capacities), the underlying theme to the competition between the two was a relationship that extends much further beyond basketball.
“Masai helped me and my family during the years that I’ve been in the league,” Antetokounmpo said ahead of the series. “He’s an unbelievable guy, a great GM, built a great team and after this series is over, if he wants to golf or something, we can definitely do that,” he quipped at the end.
Connection deeper than basketball
For an understanding of the deep connection between the two, look no further than their Nigerian roots.
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Ujiri, who was born in England to Nigerian parents, was raised in Nigeria before leaving to attend high school in the United States. Ujiri is one of the first NBA scouts to have watched Antetokounmpo, who was born in Athens, Greece to Nigerian parents. And while we’ve all come to know Giannis as “The Greek Freak,” Ujiri has reminded people in the past that the superstar is also Nigerian.
The connection caused many to believe that Antetokounmpo would find his way to the Raptors organization as a free agent in 2021, but instead, he spent the Summer of 2021 delivering one of the greatest NBA Finals performances of all-time en route to his first-ever championship.
After Antetokounmpo’s historic showing in the Finals, Ujiri spoke about the performance during a September appearance on Citizen TV in Kenya.
“Incredibly proud,” Ujiri said when asked how Giannis’ performance made him feel. “And he’s a proud African. I know Greece is where he grew up but I’ve had the honor to be close to Giannis and his family – incredible family, incredible kid and works so hard.”
Each time the Raptors face the Bucks, the relationship with Antetokounmpo and Ujiri will undoubtedly be a topic of discussion, and rightly so.
The familial aspect of it all is what makes the dynamic so special.
That’s what the game is all about.
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