Even many of the best players in the NBA often find it hard to get past Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, NFL star JC Latham believes that he can do what many NBA players cannot – get buckets on ‘The Greek Freak’. Also reminding the Milwaukee Bucks superstar of the pair of sneakers he is owed, Latham claimed that he would earn the shoes by dunking on the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year.
During the 2024 NFL Draft that was recently held, JC Latham was asked an interesting question by The Score – Latham had to name the one NBA player he could “get a bucket on”. After giving it a slight thought, the 7th pick of the draft boldly stated the name, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“Who’s one NBA player you think you could get a bucket on? Right now,” the interviewer asked.
“Giannis,” Latham replied.
Apart from perhaps overestimating his hooping capabilities, the offensive lineman also revealed an interesting story about the Greek Freak. Apparently, the NBA legend promised to give Latham a pair of his shoes. He explained that when Jerome was on the same AAU team as Alex Antetokounmpo, Giannis seemed so impressed by the former, he promised to give him a pair from the ‘Nike Zoom Freak’ line.
“I will get a bucket on Giannis and I met him in seventh grade, he owe me my shoes. It was AAU, right, so I’m hooping in seventh grade and this is the year before [he became] the MVP. He come up to me and he like ‘hey young bull, heard you’ve been doing your thing. Imma get you a pair of shoes. Keep hooping, putting on for Milwaukee’,” JC narrated.
Unfortunately, the two-time NBA MVP hasn’t kept his apparent promise yet. But Latham has an interesting plan to grab the shoes from Antetokounmpo – by dunking on him.
“I need my shoes, I gotta find a way. If I gotta dunk on him to get my shoes, Imma get my shoes,” Latham said.
The Tennessee Titans rookie was a respectable basketball player during his high school days. However, there is little to no realistic chance of him “getting a bucket on” Giannis, much less throwing one down over him.
But Giannis is known for his generosity. On several occasions, the 29-year-old has been seen distributing his signature shoes to his teammates, along with the countless staff members of the Milwaukee Bucks. So, the next time that the two meet, Antetokounmpo will likely just give Latham the sneakers, whether or not he can fulfill what he seems to have prophesized.
Giannis Antetokounmpo distributed his signature shoes to with all Bucks personnel
It is very unlike Giannis Antetokounmpo to not have given JC Latham a pair of his signature shoes that he promised. After all, over the past few years, Antetokounmpo has excitedly shared every new signature sneaker with each teammate and personnel of the Milwaukee Bucks.
At the start of the 2022-2023 season, the NBA champion even hand-delivered multiple boxes of the ‘Nike Zoom Freak 4’ to everybody in the Bucks organization.
The superstar continued this tradition at the start of the 2023-2024 NBA season. Back in October, the forward had a cart full of the latest Nike Zoom Freak 5. And for the second straight year, every individual member of the franchise was fortunate enough to receive a little gift from Giannis.
So, it is rather likely that the 2021 NBA champion will send a pair of shoes across to JC Latham as well. Perhaps, in the future, if Latham is rewarded with his own signature shoe, he could celebrate his success by sending one out to Antetokounmpo.
