Giannis Antetokounmpo and his team the Milwaukee Bucks visited the White House on Monday to commemorate their 2020-21 NBA championship season.
Ahead of their meeting with US President Joe Biden, Giannis shared a video on social media where he is practicing meeting the President:
"Mister president, how you doing, mister president?" Antetokounmpo said in the video clip he posted on Instagram. "Thank you for having us in Washington D.C."
The video, captioned "Practicing our introductions" with a laughing face emoji, gathered more than 220,000 likes within a day of its release.
Antetokounmpo took to the podium where he addressed President Biden, the media and guests:
"Believing in your dreams, you can accomplish great things in life...I'm in the White House - this is awesome!!" he enthused during his speech.
Giannis’ older brother, Thanasis, also a Bucks member, was with him at the White house Monday.
The two brothers were beaten to an NBA title by their younger brother Kostas, member of the 2020 champion Los Angeles Lakers, although his role in the team was limited. Kostas is now playing for French club Villeurbane.
Antetokounmpo helped the Bucks end a 50-year drought, bringing home an NBA championship for the first time since Lew Alcindor (the Hall of Famer who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after converting to Islam) and Oscar Robertson led the team to the 1971 title.
Biden spoke of Antetokounmpo’s humble upbringing, being born in Greece to Nigerian immigrants before he came to fame in the NBA.
The Milwaukee Bucks are the first team since 2016 to celebrate their championship at the White House.
"We're very excited, very appreciative of the invite," Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said on Saturday. "We know it's an honor and special, and we're looking forward to visiting the White House."
The Cleveland Cavaliers, led by LeBron James, visited the White House and celebrated their NBA championship with President Obama while he was still in office in 2016.
But since that Cleveland Cavaliers trip, no NBA title team have made the trek to D.C.
