On the October 6th episode of the Old Man & the Three podcast with JJ Redick & Tommy Alter, the comedian, actor, and television host, Hasan Minhaj, had some very flattering words to share about Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Minhaj began a nearly 5-minute rant about Giannis, stating;
“I am buying my son a Giannis jersey as his first jersey exactly because of his attitude.”
Now let’s contextualize that first statement from Hasan.
It’s unlikely that most NBA fans follow Giannis closely enough to understand the weight of this statement. Giannis has a cult following in his home country of Greece, his home state of Wisconsin, and a few pockets of loyal fans throughout the U.S.
But I think it’s safe to say that most casual NBA fans know little more about Giannis than his difficult-to-pronounce (and spell) name and that he has an NBA Championship under his belt.
Those who have followed his career watched his gameplay closely and taken note of his off-court lifestyle to know that Minhaj is very accurate when he identified Giannis’ attitude as something worth celebrating.
Minaj follows up that statement with a laundry list of reasons why Giannis is worth admiring.
Here’s the TLDR;
- Giannis is cheap. From Oreos during press conferences, tweets about how amazing smoothies are, his horrible fashion, and his infamous Chick-fil-A visit after winning the championship. He’s not going out flashing his wealth everywhere.
“He’s a Nike branded athlete but it always looks like he shops at a Nike Outlet.”
- Immigrants are going to run the league. Just look at Joker, Luka, Giannis, Embiid.
- Loyalty to his family. His loyalty to his team and adopted city, teammates, brothers, and especially his loyalty to his wife and child.
Minhaj even lists players with “talent for days” but suggests you would never bet on them.
He says;
“If I’m Charlie Munger, am I betting on these guys? No, because they’re not a guaranteed bet because of their attitude.”
The podcast chose to bleep out those names, but I think we know exactly who Hasan called out.
Watch the full clip here;
We couldn’t agree more with Hasan’s hot take!