Giannis Antetokounmpo Named 2022 NBA All-Star Starter

Giannis Antetokounmpo will be a starter in the NBA’s 2022 All-Star Game for the 6th year in a row. The game will take place in Cleveland on February 20th.

The Greek Freak took home All-Star MVP honors last year with 35 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. The ASG’s starting lineup is decided 50% by fans’ popular votes and 25% by NBA players and media members. LeBron James and Kevin Durant were the top voted for their respective conferences and will be captaining the two all-star teams.

Antetokounmpo is now tied with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most all-star appearances from a bucks player in the history of the franchise. 

The Bucks star’s fellow starters will be Stephen Curry (Golden State), DeMar DeRozan (Chicago), Kevin Durant (Brooklyn), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia), LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers), Nikola Jokić (Denver), Ja Morant (Memphis), Andrew Wiggins (Golden State) and Trae Young (Atlanta).

Antetokounmpo is going strong into 2022 after a huge 2021. The Greek star topped off last year as the cover story for GQ’s 2021 Men of the Year issue.

Giannis Antetokounmpo named athlete of the year 2021 by GQ

Antetokounmpo was named the athlete of the year in the popular men’s fashion magazine’s annual round-up of inspiring male cultural figures. Antetokoumpo spoke to the magazine about the child he recently had with partner Mariah Riddlesprigger, as well as the unbelievable story of his journey from Greek immigrant to NBA superstar.

The article also chronicles Antetokounmpo’s blockbuster NBA Championship, where the star took home the trophy for the Bucks and minted himself as a living NBA legend.

Antetokounmpo suffered through a gruesome knee injury in order to deliver the title for the Bucks, who had not won an NBA Championship in 40 years.

The 27-year-old star also said that the pressures of the championship games as well as the lingering grief he felt for his father who died in 2017 had a profound effect on him, but that the birth of his children have helped him deal with the complex emotions:

“I had to break down the barriers I was talking about and be by myself, cry, and realize, ‘I got to fucking help myself,’ ” Antetokounmpo said in an interview with GQ, while holding his newborn child in his arms. “This guy, he’s like, ‘Sometimes, being persistent and stubborn? Sometimes it fucks you up.’ ”

“I think he’s genuinely like: ‘Okay, I have reached the pinnacle. The next challenge is, let’s repeat.’ But what happens if you do repeat? What’s the next challenge? What is that next barrier? When you think about it from a basketball perspective, by the age of 26, this kid has accomplished everything,” Antetokounmpo’s manager, Alex Saratsis said to GQ. “So sometimes you’re going to have to manufacture what those challenges are.”