Did Giannis Antetokounmpo once and for all prove his greatness? After a couple of disappointing Playoff exits, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are finally in a situation to win the NBA c­hampionship. The “Greek Freak” failed to repeat the most prestigious individual awards this season but as he has stated many times, it’s all about winning the championship ring for him.­­­

The Bucks, and maybe the Los Angeles Clippers, are the only teams who were predicted to go this deep in the Playoffs. Giannis will lead his team in the Eastern Conference finals against the Atlanta Hawks who are the “Cinderella story” of these Playoffs. The Hawks shocked the NBA world with their victory against the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers and showed that they are a team that is not backing down from anybody.

Anyway, it seems like the Bucks have an easy step ahead of them in the hope to reach the NBA finals. It is the series and the year when Giannis simply has to prove that he can lead his team to the promised land.

The “Greek Freak” won back-to-back MVP trophies and became only the third player in the history of the NBA, alongside Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, to win the MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year award in the same year. His individual stats and accomplishments put him in a company with the All-time greats, but what he is missing to really become one of them, is the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Everything looks like Giannis has all he needs to take the Bucks to their second NBA championship after exactly 50 years since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson went all the way. Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday are both playing an amazing year and together with Brook Lopez bring the veteran presence for the Bucks. Coach Mike Budenholzer has put all the pieces together so Giannis can benefit from the Bucks’ style of play.

So everything is set for the player with the highest contract in the history of the league to take his team to the throne. If he fails to do so, there will be no excuses. To make things even worse, there will not be a better chance to do that.

Many are criticizing Giannis’ shooting skills, especially his free-throw routine and percentage and are questioning his readiness to take Milwaukee to the top.

But the 26-year-old has been through a lot in his life and at the end of the day, he beat all the odds to even get there.

Giannis wasn’t projected to be a superstar when he was selected 15th overall in the first round of the 2013 NBA draft by the Bucks. He was coming from a lower league in Greece and didn’t have any professional experience. Still, he managed to quickly develop into one of the best players in the league and he will not settle for anything less than greatness simply because he has that in his genes.

Born in Nigeria, Charles and Veronica Adetokunbo (yes, their last name originally is Adetokunbo, Antetokounmpo became Giannis’ surname after it was spelled that way on his Greek passport) moved from Lagos to Greece in 1991 in hopes of a better future for themselves and their family. The Adetokunbos’ oldest son, Francis, was left behind in Lagos to be raised by his grandparents. Charles, Giannis’ dad, worked as a handyman and his wife Veronica as a babysitter in their struggle to make ends meet. The Adetokunbos had four more sons, all born in Greece, including Giannis.

The future NBA star grew up in Greek culture, learning the language, going to school, and eventually starting to play basketball at age 7. Shortly after he was joined by his younger brothers Thanasis, who is also on the Bucks’ roster, and Kostas who now plays for the Lakers. The three immigrants kids grew up dreaming to become basketball stars while they were also working to help their parents provide for them.

So what were the odds that an ordinary Nigerian kid who moved to Greece with his parents just to live a normal life will one day be in a situation to win an NBA championship? Probably no one would ever put his money on it. But Giannis did. He put everything he has from an early age to make it to the big league. Now when the ultimate goal is within his reach, putting your money on him is a safe bet.