Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo nearly walked away from the NBA in 2020, he revealed to Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Antetokounmpo, who was just months removed from signing the largest contract extension in the history of the NBA at the time for five years and $228 million, went so far as to tell the front office that he was thinking about retiring.
“Mental health – it’s big for me,” he told Nickel. “Everybody—no matter where I am— everybody is watching me. I don’t think I have the time to turn it off… be myself… kind of just be me. In 2020, I was ready to walk away from the game. I had that conversation—yes—with the front office. And, you know, very normally, everybody is looking at me like I was crazy. ‘You just signed the largest contract in NBA history and you want to walk away from the game and all that money?’”
Antetokounmpo explained that he was feeling the weight of his rapid ascent to stardom, coupled with the personal effects that a worldwide pandemic and social justice issues had on him. How Antetokounmpo was feeling pushed him into talking to a therapist to improve his mental health.
“I don’t care about the [money],” he continued. I care about joy. I’m a joyful person. My father didn’t have nothing; he had us. He as the richest person on earth because he had his kids. He had the beautiful family ; he had nothing. This—to me—doesn’t mean nothing. … And if, my mind, and if I, am not in a good place? How can I leave my family? You know, I can’t leave my family. So, you know, that’s when I realize maybe I need to talk to somebody.
“I gave it a chance. I started talking with someone. Somebody helped put me in a place, again, to appreciate all the things I have, that comes with being who I am. To be OK with myself. To—no matter what the outcome is of the game—understand that I can’t control that. I can only control my effort. How hard I work. How I make people feel around me. How I try to, hopefully, inspire people from what I do. Then I started watching a lot of documentaries of Michael Phelps, Naomi Osaka. I watched Breaking Point. And then I see a lot of people are dealing with this.”
Antetokounmpo’s experience with a therapist led to the purpose of his foundation, the “Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation” that was founded to honor his late father.
The mission of the CAFF is to “help refugees and immigrants, with support to improve living conditions and open pathways for self-sufficiency; to help the youth, closing persistent opportunity gaps facing youth around the world; to enhance the world of sport, empowering players to expand possibilities for themselves and their communities; and to assist with living necessities, like food and shelter, meeting basic needs that make these achievements possible.”
Mental health nearly led to Antetokounmpo walking away from a sport that he loved, and now it’s a very important part of his foundation.
“I feel like a lot of people deal with it, but they’re not willing to talk about it,” he said. “They’re not willing to improve, because this stigma is behind it. … The moment I started talking about it, I improved as a basketball player. Because I am OK with the outcome. I am OK with myself. I can leave everything on the court and go back to my family. And I talked to Kevin Love and told him how he inspired me to open up and helped me to kind of better myself and he was literally tearing up when I was telling him that. He never imagined he would be the one to kind of help me figure out a way to cope with all this. And then I tried to help as many people as I can.”
