May 7, 2022; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) reacts after scorring during the third quarter against the Boston Celtics during game three of the second round for the 2022 NBA playoffs at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Giannis Antetokounmpo appears in a comical Fortnite teaser discussing how to pronounce his name
As a recent matter of fact, Giannis has been starring in Fortnite’s trailer and discussing how to pronounce his name. Giannis Antetokounmpo, a phenomenal 24-year-old power forward for the Milwaukee Bucks, is a wonder for many reasons, including his impossibly long stride, his invincibility in transition, and the fact that he is still at his peak despite being a leading MVP contender and three-time All-Star. However, there is something more about him that the sports media is unsure how to handle.
During TNT’s coverage of the 2019 All-Star Game draft, Kenny Smith challenged his Inside the NBA co-host Shaquille O’Neal to pronounce Giannis name. LeBron James and Antetokounmpo joined the broadcast to choose the teams for the game on February 17. “Giannis Ante-ka-noon-po,” Shaq bit the bullet.
It wasn’t right, Antetokounmpo informed him while smiling broadly tired. The other hosts made fun of it, with Ernie Johnson calling it “sort of in the ballpark” and Charles Barkley calling Shaq’s effort “good enough.” More discussion on the pronunciation emerged after that.
Antetokounmpo, who was raised in Athens by Nigerian immigrants, is probably accustomed to this at this point. The Milwaukee Bucks asked the rookie’s teammates to dare a guess in a brief Media Day video they aired in 2013, but the results were devastating.
A few years later, Fox Sports Wisconsin conducted a comparable experiment with Bucks supporters, who just slightly outperformed the controlled experiment, in the middle of the star’s breakthrough season.
In his own media appearances, he alternates between them. It’s surprising to know that so many people have put so little effort to pronounce Giannis’ name properly since there are so many different ways to accomplish it.