Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo was 'ready' to retire in 2020

In a piece from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sports columnist Lori Nickel this week, the scribe revealed that Antetokounmpo — who has become of the league's biggest mental health advocates — faced a bevy of reasons as to why he almost stopped playing after six-plus standout seasons, but before he led the Bucks to the 2021 NBA title.

As Nickel reports, the 28-year-old and his family created the Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation (CAFF) in 2022, named after the two-time MVP's father, who died in 2017. CAFF is "in the simplest of terms" the Antetokounmpo's "promise to help others with a hand up."

"It’s not a public relations stunt. It’s not a ploy for popularity. CAFF will help widows and refugees, young men and women, disaster victims and the oppressed, from Milwaukee to Greece to Nigeria," Nickel wrote. "But one of the biggest causes right now is a partnership with Antidote Health, which is in the middle of providing free mental health services to Milwaukee residents through the end of April."

According to the report, Antetokounmpo was in the hotel at Walt Disney World in Orlando during the 2020 NBA "Bubble" when an older woman with three children (presumably her grandkids according to the "Greek Freak") stopped him and asked the kids "'Hey guys, you know who that is?' ... She turned and was like: 'That's the best player in the world.'"

"Yeah, it’s good to hear that, but that’s a lot of pressure," Antetokounmpo told Nickel.

The seven-time All-Star told the columnist that while people assume he's handling the pressure well due to his personality, the task is "hard," before revealing his thoughts of retirement in 2020.

Aside from the early stages of the pandemic, Nickel notes the "resumption of play in the Orlando 'bubble,' the public mandates, the empty arenas" and the "social justice protests" as added stressors.

Nickel describes Antetokounmpo as a "global icon, league ambassador and franchise darling" and indicates that in addition to the "unexpected" passing of his father and "exhausting" dedication of becoming the MVP, he also faced pressure from his home country (Greece) needing him for the national team and his endorsement obligations.

"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," the former Defensive Player of the Year said.

Antetokounmpo signed a five-year, $228M supermax contract extension in December 2020.

"But. I don't care about that. I care about joy. I’m a joyful person," he said. "My father didn’t have nothing; he had us. He was 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."

Antetokounmpo and the top-seeded Bucks open up their first-round playoff series on Sunday against the No. 8 seed, which will be either the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat or Toronto Raptors.