Giannis Antetokounmpo has expressed his desire to play for the Greek national team for many more years. The national team superstar was selected in the top five at the recent EuroBasket.

The “Greek Freak” spoke to ESPN as part of a short film screening and talked about his participation in the EuroBasket along with his brothers Thanasis and Kostas. “It was one of the best years of my life. I played with my brothers in the national team and saw how they work and could give them advice, play with and against them, share a dressing room. I was happy when they fired. I don’t take it for granted, and if I could relive it again in the next 10 years of my career, what we will see if it happens, I would like to do it,” said the Greek superstar.

The 28-year-old basketball player also mentioned his origins: “People only call me ‘Greek freak’, not ‘Nigerian freak.’ But the world needs to understand that I am not only Greek or Nigerian. At first my parents felt strange. You can’t choose a nickname, but I can tell the world that I was born and raised in Greece, but I also know a thing or two about Nigeria. I am not one thing. I teach my children Greek and Nigerian culture. That’s what my parents did and that’s what I do. It’s good that I can share my story and let people know where I come from. In Greece, they told me that I wasn’t Greek enough. I know who I am. It bothered me when I was little. I was told that I was not Greek enough, that I was Nigerian. I don’t have that kind of skin. They told me to go back to my Nigerian friends.

On a move he made in 2019 against the Lakers and LeBron James: “It wasn’t an attack on LeBron. My name Antetokumbō means “the crown returned from abroad”. I’ve been wearing this all my life. I am a prince in my village. I am not kidding. My father was not a king in his village, but he was in charge of religious affairs. They took the land from their parents and took care of it. But don’t let King LeBron get mad and deprive me of 50 points in our next game.”