【Candy Apples Archives】

The Candy Apples Archivesyoung man who not so long ago sold watches and sunglasses on the sidewalks of Greece to help support his Nigerian immigrant family just signed a $100 million deal.

Hardly more than three years back, Giannis Antetokounmpo was a hoop dreamer half a world away from the glittering arenas of the NBA and unknown to most of its fans. Now he's a budding star, one of the league's most beloved players and newly minted with a four-year, $100 million contract extension at just 21 years old.

It's a hell of a story.

---

You May Also Like

---

---

SEE ALSO: NFL star Patrick Willis is thriving in retirement as a Silicon Valley tech worker

Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks agreed to his massive contract extension onMonday following the 6-foot-11 forward's third season with the team. The 15th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft averaged 16.9 points, 7.7 rebounds. 4.3 assists and 1.4 blocks per game last year.

But it's what came before that makes Antetokounmpo's current success all the more special.

'Sometimes, our fridge was empty'

Antetokounmpo flew a Greek flag at the 2013 NBA Draft. Credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images

In 2013, just after the Bucks picked Antetokounmpo in the NBA Draft, far-right Greek politician Nikolaos Michaloliakos compared him to a "chimpanzee" and said his parents should be put in an immigrant detention center.

Antetokounmpo's basketball success was celebrated elsewhere in Greek society. But the ugly comments from Michaloliakos, the leader of the Golden Dawn party, underscored his family's challenging journey. As Greece's economic troubles deepened, so too did anti-immigrant sentiment in many corners.

Antetokounmpo's parents immigrated to Athens from Nigeria in 1991 in search of a better life. Giannis, who has four brothers, would be born three years later.

But life was difficult in Greece as well. Giannis sometimes sold watches and sunglasses on the streets of Athens to help the family's finances, he told The New York Timesin 2013.

"Sometimes, our fridge was empty," he said. "Some days, we didn’t sell the stuff and we didn’t have money to feed ourselves."

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Greece anymore. Credit: Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images

But damn, the kid could play ball. By age 18, Giannis had grown into a 6-foot-9 player with the agility and skill of one much smaller. Even playing in Greece's second division, word of his talent and potential spread enough to make him an NBA prospect.

“He’s on the right track," one scout told the Times in 2013.

That was putting it mildly.

Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

'I just play the game. I don't care about the scouts.'

Antetokounmpo soars for a slam last season. Credit: Mike McGinnis/Getty Images

Antetokounmpo began endearing himself to NBA fans from his very first interview as a Milwaukee Buck, speaking with Craig Sager minutes after he was picked in the 2013 Draft.

The mysterious rookie had none of the practiced cool that characterizes many American draft picks who've been hyped and coddled since they were pre-teens. Antetokounmpo was wide-eyed and earnest as he told Sager of his past and future in a high-pitched voice with a thick accent. Sager asked Antetokounmpo when he felt he'd become a bona fide NBA prospect.

"I don't really know," the teenager answered with a smile and a shrug. "I just play the game. I don't care about the scouts. I get to the NBA, just like that."

Antetokounmpo was seen as a long-term project, but exceeded expectations in his first season by making the NBA's All-Rookie second-team. In one of his first NBA games, he blocked Kevin Durant, the Oklahoma City Thunder star he'd told Sager on draft day was one of this favorite players.

By the time Antetokounmpo posted a now-legendary tweet about smoothies midway through his rookie season, the basketball world was smitten with the rookie on and off the court.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The Legend of Giannis only grew when his family moved to Milwaukee to be with him. He told Fox Sports Wisconsin about his mother's cooking and the rice and chicken dish that he loved in particular.

"I'm going to eat it after the game," the rookie said in his rookie season. "I'm going to be tired."

But while his humor tickled the more whimsical sensibilities of basketball fans, Antetokounmpo was making more hardcore hoop-heads drool with what he did on the court.

'It's a dream come true'

Antetokounpo is introduced before a Bucks home game last season. Credit: Mike McGinnis/Getty Images

You only need to search the #Giannis hashtag on Vine to get a sense of why he was deemed worthy of a $100 million deal heading into his fourth season.

Picture Stretch Armstrong, crossed with a pogo stick, crossed with a Harlem Globetrotter -- that's more or less the psychedelic fever dream that is Giannis Antetokounmpo on a basketball court. Basketball fans now call him "The Greek Freak," a name he's fully earned with his play.

Here's Antetokounmpo passing the ball to himselfoff the backboard then scoring.

Here's Antetokounmpo setting up a teammate for an easy shot, then slamming home that teammate's miss with those Stretch Armstrong limbs of his.

Here's Antetokounmpo wrapping his arm around a defenderto facilitate a teammate's easy score.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Antetokounmpo's dizzying skill-set is exemplified in those passes. At the end of last season, with the playoffs out of reach, Bucks coach Jason Kidd began experimentally playing the 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo, who has the height of a center, at point guard.

The results were exhilarating for Bucks fans, and terrifying for the rest of the league. In the team's final 26 games last season, Antetokounmpo registered five triple doubles, two more than any Bucks player had ever registered in a full season, according to Fox Sports Wisconsin. He averaged 18.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.9 blocks per game -- eye-popping numbers for any NBA player, let alone a 21-year-old who not long ago was playing in Greece's second division.

But those days -- like the days of wondering whether the family fridge would be full or empty -- are now a world away.

"It's a wonderful feeling. I can't describe how excited I feel, you know," Antetokounmpo told Sager on draft day in 2013. "It's a dream come true."