‘Giannis: The Marvelous Journey’ is a straightforward documentary about the NBA’s “Greek Freak”

The Prime Video documentary is the latest in many fawning nonfiction films about modern athletes, but this one is better than most.

I’m of two minds about Giannis: The Marvelous Journey, a new documentary about NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo. 

On the one hand, it’s an example of a trend that I’m on record as finding unsavory: It’s a mostly fawning documentary about a great modern-day athlete, in which the athlete himself seems to have had some degree of control. 

 Plus, the story of Giannis and his family is pretty well-known as it is, and was even already told in a streaming movie, Rise, a fictionalized treatment that arrived on Disney+ less than two years ago (Rise was more in the genre of Inspirational Sports Movie). And besides- Giannis is only 29 years old and has a lot of basketball left to play. Why make this documentary mid-career, rather than closer to the end? 

All that said, Giannis: The Marvelous Journey is very enjoyable. The story may be familiar, but the film tells it very well and focuses on interesting aspects of it- specifically, what it was like for him to adjust to America, and his decision to continue to play in Milwaukee. Also, it probably helps that Giannis isn’t an especially controversial figure, and it’s not like he’s using his documentary to shine up his reputation after a series of scandals. 

The film was directed by Kristin Lappas, whose father, Steve, was the basketball coach of Villanova in the ‘90s. Neither Giannis nor any member of his family is listed as a producer, although they did all cooperate with the project. 

The story of Giannis Antetokounmpo and his family is fairly well-known to even casual basketball fans. He was born in Greece in 1994, the son of Nigerian immigrants who did not have legal work status, and he had no citizenship of any country until shortly before he was drafted to the NBA. 

He soon emerged as a legit NBA prospect, albeit not a sure thing, and was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 15th pick of the 2013 NBA Draft. He was chosen after such luminaries as Anthony Bennett, Otto Porter, Jr., Cody Zeller, Alex Len, and Nerlens Noel. 

So this 18-year-old who had never left Greece before found himself in the American Midwest, a part of the country where there aren’t exactly a lot of 6’11’ Nigerian-Greek-Americans. This led to a famous incident in which Giannis took money out of an ATM to send home, was left with not enough for a cab, and ended up hitching a ride with a pair of fans (one of whom was the aunt of my old friend, the baseball writer Aaron Gleeman.) 

Giannis was soon joined in Wisconsin by his family, and three of his brothers are also professional basketball players. 

In the 100-minute film, Antetokounmpo is drafted to Milwaukee at about the 30-minute mark, and the film spends much of its running time showing how he got used to the multiple changes: From Greece to America, to relative squalor to riches, and from obscurity to international fame. 

There was also some tragedy — Giannis’ father’s death, in 2017, from a sudden heart attack — as well as joy, from the superstar’s marriage and children, the Bucks’ championship in 2021, and his signing of a “supermax” contract. 

This is somewhat key to the film: Despite rumors that he could jump to a “bigger” franchise, in a bigger city, like the Lakers or Warriors, Giannis has chosen to remain in Milwaukee. 

As anyone who followed Kevin Garnett’s Minnesota career knows, there is often a great deal of pressure on NBA players to ditch their small markets and go to other teams, whether it’s somewhere with better weather, more impressive nightlife, or a better shot at a ring. But Giannis, perhaps remembering how Milwaukee welcomed him, has chosen to stick around, and even drew Damien Lillard — after years of rumors that he would leave Portland — to join him in Wisconsin. 

Giannis: The Marvelous Journey may be part of a somewhat tiresome genre, but at least it’s one of the better examples of it. But if a lot of interesting stuff happens in the next decade of his career, the filmmakers might have wished they had waited a bit.