The Giannis Effect: Milwaukee Bucks superstar has had a unifying impact on city, state and beyond in his 10 seasons
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Mike Wohlitz traveled to Africa for his job with a global events company and was surprised to see so many Giannis Antetokounmpo jerseys while there.
“First in the Ethiopian airport and then again in Zambia,” the Milwaukee native said.
Brianna Miller works at Froedtert Community Hospital in Oak Creek, where employees are encouraged to buy home-team sports clothing like t-shirts and scrubs from the hospital’s online storefront.
“A lot of people enjoy wearing Giannis and No. 34 apparel specifically because of him as a person. People fell in love with Giannis’ story when he was first drafted,” Miller said.
Teacher Amy Waldoch plans many of the spirit days in her Menomonee Falls school and noticed highly unusual behavior in kids wearing the No. 34 jersey.
“Boys would wear Giannis jerseys, and they thought they were so cool in them,” Waldoch said. “They would be so careful to not get them dirty.”
From the aspiring student journalist in Beijing who is a dedicated Giannis fan to the taxi driver in Split, Croatia, who knew Milwaukee was north of Chicago because he is a Giannis fan, something special has been happening in Brew City in the last decade since Antetokounmpo landed with the Milwaukee Bucks.
It’s the Giannis Effect.
With every drive and dunk, biceps flex and shoe giveaway, and every share from his social media, this 28-year-old Greek has expanded basketball fandom and touched lives.
The Giannis Effect is about the credibility that Antetokounmpo gave Wisconsin when he decided to stay with the Bucks on a five-year last contract extension in 2020.
The Giannis Effect is the validity he bestowed upon Brew City when he thrust the "Milwaukee" on the front of his jersey in front of cameras toward the end of his career-high, 55-point night on Jan. 3.
The Giannis Effect means that somehow people seek and still find so much relatability in someone most of them will never meet since he is an elite athlete with unimaginable wealth (yet Giannis still can't believe the high cost of diapers).
Milwaukee adopted Giannis, first as an anonymous teenager, then as a budding phenomenon, and now as a leader and young father of two sons.
There's an economic impact, of course, with the presence of Giannis – the $50 million pumped into the city in the championship year in 2021 one example – but there's a societal shift with him sharing in the Wisconsin State Fair and trick or treat on Halloween.
The Giannis Effect means Milwaukee finally can outgrow the dull beer and Cheesehead identity.
The Giannis Effect means we no longer need to hibernate in the gray, cold winter months between the Packers and Brewers seasons.
The Giannis Effect gives us the man, and his "be humble, keep working" mantra, to root for.
Luck did play a role first.
Antetokounmpo has won two regular-season MVPs, played through a severe leg injury and willed the Bucks to their first NBA title in 50 years in 2021 in one of the greatest stories in all of Wisconsin pro sports. The man who in his charming Greek accent tells the worst jokes on the planet – in contrast to his savage tree-chopping approach to the rim – has helped boost the Bucks' image and the openings of Fiserv Forum (2018), the surrounding Deer District (2017) and the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Sports Science Center (2017). The timing couldn’t have been better.
And we have benefited, at a time when no one can agree on anything.
“People are watching Bucks games – they care about the Bucks winning; they don't care about their social views, their political views or economic background,” longtime Bucks teammate Pat Connaughton said. “They care about the Milwaukee Bucks winning and coming together and rooting for their team."
Sports helps pull people together
Sports is a common denominator for many people. You may not know your neighbor well or like everyone at the holiday family table, but in this state the Vikings and the Bears are pathetic and Giannis is a joy to follow. It’s a connection. And we need connections.
“You see it everywhere. There are murals of him in the restaurant; pictures everywhere,” Bucks rookie AJ Green said. “People are always rocking his jersey. People talk about him. He’s created that togetherness around basketball and around the Bucks. And the city. There’s an excitement for what this team can do and what he can do.”
But here’s a tough question: Has he united us by making Milwaukee look more attractive? Because it would not be entirely unintentional.
“We’ve always been about that,” said Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Giannis’ older brother and Bucks teammate, referring to all four brothers who play pro basketball. “Born and raised in Greece, of African descent, raised in Europe. Me, Kostas, Alex – we’ve played all over the world. Everywhere, internationally. We’ve tried to excel in the U.S., where it’s multicultural.”
Milwaukee was ready for Giannis because he was earnest in his work and curious about us, and our favorite places to go and things to do. That mutual respect only grew in In 2020, when the Antetokounmpos and the Bucks threw their support behind the causes in which they believe. They marched for Black Lives Matter. Giannis wore “Equality” on the back of his jersey in the bubble in Orlando.
“Besides all the beautiful buildings that are going up, you can see the community outreach,” said longtime teammate Khris Middleton, who also has been in Milwaukee for the last decade. “The Bucks are doing a better job of that, trying to make our city better, our community better.
“And then throughout the city, you see more and more paintings, murals that have gone up over buildings. Bucks flags over people’s apartment windows. When we first got here, we didn’t see much of that. You wouldn’t see the license plates. The decals on cars.”
Connaughton, who is also a partner in a local real estate investor, said Giannis’ presence here – with the NBA championship in 2021, the new arena and the ownership group – have aligned interest in the growth of Milwaukee.
“People are moving to Milwaukee,” Connaughton said. “People are continuing to try to invest back into the city of Milwaukee and I do think Giannis is a big part of that.
“I think that's a really cool impact that sport has on us. I've kind of preached it for a long time: the power of sports can move the world, and in great ways.”
If that’s true, this is the standard:
“He’s creating an image of what Milwaukee is about.
“Working hard,” Green said. “Being about the work.
“And trying to get better. That’s the image he’s created.”
Trying to reach the star
There’s always a cluster of fans waiting for Giannis after games. When that doesn’t work for them, fans will try to get to him by going through those close to him.
"People ask for things of Giannis when they know you're his teammate, all the time,” Connaughton said. “Where I feel most for Giannis: I can blend in and go to the mall. It's a little bit harder for me to do it here in Milwaukee than maybe in Detroit, but I can do it, you know?
“Giannis can't do that. So when things are asked of me with Giannis I try to vet them myself; I care about him on a human level more than a basketball player, more than – it sounds bad - using him for somebody who's trying to leverage me, to get to him.”
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer is in the same boat.
"I get my fair share of requests for a Giannis jersey here, or signature,” Budenholzer said. “But I think I've maybe fended those off for long enough that they don't come as often as you would think.”
Giannis does get some space here at home. Middleton feels like the Bucks are “all on the same level, the whole team,” when they are out in public in Milwaukee. “We’ll go to the same place and we’ll have the same amount of people screaming our name trying to get our picture or our autograph,” he said.
But people flock to Giannis everywhere else, at the road games, and when he travels.
“Giannis is Jordan and Pippen combined in one,” Middleton said. “So many people barely get a glimpse of this guy – because he’s not from here. So, it’s more of a rare sighting to see him: two-time MVP, one of the best players who has ever played this game.”
.@Giannis_An34 and family at State Fair! Just happen to run into him. Glad he’s got security around him people are really excited. pic.twitter.com/LRUL5yO9QP
— Lori Nickel (@LoriNickel) August 9, 2021
The hometown global citizen
Giannis and the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James were the captains for the East and West all-star teams, determined by fan vote. Giannis has become one of the most sought-after personalities in the NBA. Consider these facts provided by the NBA.
Giannis-related social media content has generated more than 289 million views on NBA social media assets so far this season, fifth-most among all players.
Giannis ranks seventh among current NBA players in Instagram followers (14.2 million).
The Bucks are the fifth-most watched team (linear TV) globally this season to date.
In terms of NBA League Pass ‘Team Pass’ sales, the Bucks rank 11th globally and seventh in Europe (first in Greece).
Giannis jersey ranking by region:
U.S. – 3rd
Mexico – 2nd
Brazil – 3rd
Europe – 3rd
Africa – 3rd
Asia Pacific - 3rd
More:Giannis Antetokounmpo's one-of-a-kind game is as tough on officials as it is on opponents
“Giannis is a player that leagues dream about,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “He loves the game and plays with enormous joy and passion. He is such a global citizen – he has a unique way of connecting people from everywhere.
“People see that in him. And when you have global reach through digital media, the difference in population, let’s just say between Chicago and Milwaukee, becomes almost irrelevant on a global basis. What fans then look to, on a global basis, is a combination of the success of the team, the style of basketball they play and the personalities of the players.”
Antetokounmpo's big kid personality always comes through, whether he's in Milwaukee or in Abu Dhabi.
“I’ve seen other teams that even have won championships but haven’t developed that same sort of enthusiastic support in their community,” Silver said. “It starts with the players, there’s no question, and Giannis in particular, by him having such a winning personality, him embracing the community in Milwaukee.
“He’s not just stopping by in Milwaukee as part of his career – he embraces the community, whether he’s in local restaurants, around town, his family with him. Fans are smart. They appreciate that. They recognize this is not just the city that happened to draft him. He chose to embrace Milwaukee. And he also chose to re-sign in Milwaukee.
"That was never a certainty.
“He would’ve made the superstar money wherever he chose to go, but the Bucks presented to him this clear pathway to continuing to build on his already successful career. That is what, to me, is what makes this entire situation so special.”
After the Bucks won the NBA title in July 2021, Visit Milwaukee estimated the economic impact of the playoff run at $56 million.
“We can all agree that Bucks wouldn’t have won the 2021 championship without Giannis, and Milwaukee wouldn’t have benefited from the $56 million-plus in economic impact that the postseason run generated without him,” said Claire Koenig, communications director for Visit Milwaukee.
“We know that interest in visiting Milwaukee spiked during the 2021 playoffs, because we saw a massive spike in web traffic to visitmilwaukee.org, nearly three times the traffic we experienced for July of the year prior.”
If there’s any downside, it’s this: The Bucks reached a ticket price ceiling, and ticket prices were actually scaled back just a month ago. And one local teacher said this about their hometown team spirit day: “Honestly Bucks day was the least worn spirit day by kids and when I talked to families it often sounded like because Bucks spirit wear was more expensive than our Badger, Packer, Brewer days.”
Still, the Bucks fan growth is noticeably positive.
“When I first got here, it was kind of like, 'Mmm, they’re not really into basketball. Everyone is Packer fans,' ” Middleton said. “But over the years, we started to see more people come to the games. More excitement in the city. We’ve seen the buzz, the energy, build each and every year.”
Staying humble
With Giannis’ popularity will come some perks and privileges for all of us, and, just for him. At least for now, that doesn’t seem to be an issue. The Giannis Effect hasn’t ruined the locker room or team chemistry.
"This is a players' league,” Budenholzer said. “Hopefully your superstar has some humility, so if you don't have humility, and you're not humble, when you're around that guy, you stick out. Or, when you're around a group that's humble, and you're not humble, you don't fit.
“Hopefully it's been a good fit for all of us. His humility, the whole group's humility, it's just part of who we are.”
That’s the No. 1 question I have always gotten from friends, family and fans. Is Giannis humble? That's not the question about Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Braun...
Giannis talks about humility so much in his interviews that it must be something that he values. It hasn't changed. Early years, successful years, outstanding years, he's always, always talking about staying in the work that keeps him hungry and humble.
“His story is very unique,” Budenholzer said. “He came here from very, very, very humble beginnings.
“To come here and be so young and really, grow up here, in this type of city where the people are just incredible – just good people that care about you and want good for you – just that pride they have in him and to be honest he has in representing Milwaukee. It’s grown.
“He loves the city and this city loves him.”
Jim Owczarski of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Message Lori Nickel on Twitter at @LoriNickel, Instagram at @bylorinickel or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChinUpLoriNickel
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo has unifying effect on Milwaukee
