Shadowing Practice: Asking One Of The Richest NBA Players How He Got Rich! - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
I'm about to interview one of the most famous athletes in the entire world, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
507 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
I'm about to interview one of the most famous athletes in the entire world, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
2
But what makes Giannis different is not too long ago, he was broke.
3
He was selling watches and DVDs on the streets of Greece.
4
And now he's an NBA champion and he's one of the highest paid,
5
one of the richest athletes alive.
6
What was the most amount of money you made in a single year?
7
I don't know if I want to share that.
8
How many millions you made?
9
Oh man, 120 million?
10
In a single year?
11
Yeah.
12
So guys, I just did something insane.
13
I just flew out to Milwaukee to spend the day with Giannis
14
and figure out how he transformed his life and what it takes to actually become great at the highest level.
15
So with that being said, let's go meet Giannis.
16
All right, you guys, we are right now on the way to go meet up with an interview, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
17
But look, I want to put it in perspective for you how this thing even happened in the first place.
18
So I noticed over a year ago,
19
Giannis commented on one of our TikToks where I interviewed a billionaire out in Palm Beach.
20
And I did what I always do.
21
I shot that cold DM.
22
So I DMed him and I went for about a year without a response from him.
23
Well, then I noticed a couple months ago around February,
24
we got followed by the man himself on Instagram.
25
Now, look, Giannis has 16 million followers on Instagram and he only follows about 200 people.
26
We're one of those people.
27
And so he said, let's make it happen.
28
Maybe in the offseason, here we are.
29
Let's go figure out how Giannis got rich and became one of the greatest athletes alive.
30
What's going on, man?
31
How you doing?
32
Good to meet you, man.
33
How you doing?
34
Yeah, man.
35
It's good to see you, man.
36
You want to go inside and eat something while you're doing this?
37
Let's do it, man.
38
100%.
39
Whatever you want.
40
That's perfect, my man.
41
Yeah, let's do it.
42
Let's do it.
43
I wrote some things on my notes that I want to say.
44
Absolutely, man, for sure.
45
Let's do it.
46
I think it will help the next athletes.
47
100%, man.
48
How are you?
49
Good.
50
You should go downstairs, right?
51
That's perfect.
52
Thank you, my friend.
53
So real quick, I want to let the people know,
54
because we're filming some behind the scenes stuff as well.
55
This is one of your businesses.
56
So yeah, this is one of my businesses.
57
Avli, I think they have a lot of restaurants.
58
I think one in New York,
59
one in Chicago, one in LA.
60
So they reached out to me.
61
They said that they want to open a restaurant here in Milwaukee because I'm Greek.
62
And I was like, oh, lovely.
63
You know, I'll be able to,
64
after games, like come eat here,
65
enjoy Mediterranean cuisine, and have a little bit of privacy and stuff.
66
Because I had a meeting in here prior to this interview.
67
It's been good.
68
Like, I've been doing what I love to do,
69
enjoying good food, and at the same time,
70
like making a little bit of money.
71
I went to Greece for the first time last summer.
72
Really?
73
I loved it, man.
74
Where did you go?
75
Santorini, Athens, and Mykonos.
76
But you're originally from Greece.
77
Yes.
78
And where are you from in Greece,
79
for the people that don't know?
80
I was born and raised in Athens.
81
I was there until 18.
82
My parents came from Nigeria in 1991.
83
They had my older brother, Thanasis.
84
I wish he was here because he's so business savvy too.
85
2013, I got drafted.
86
I came here in Milwaukee.
87
I've been here for 13 years with the team and hopefully many more.
88
But you didn't grow up with a lot of money.
89
I don't know, man.
90
People don't know.
91
When I was like, I stopped around 16, 17 years old.
92
Like I used to sell stuff in the street.
93
Like I used to sell CDs, glasses, watches, DVDs.
94
I'm not that book smart.
95
I'm street smart.
96
I'm life smart, right? life have made me who I am today, right?
97
Which I'm very proud of the person that I am because I've created so many opportunities for others to create a safe,
98
sustainable life for them.
99
And now by doing this interview,
100
hopefully I can like inspire the next generation of athletes of like things
101
that they should watch out and how to use the platform
102
and how to take care of their money and how to like invest their money,
103
you know, and things to do.
104
No, no, no, man.
105
Well, cool, man.
106
Well, take a seat, man.
107
You were selling DVDs on the streets of Greece when you moved to America, right?
108
You got drafted.
109
What was your biggest driving factor?
110
At first, I was seeing how my mom and dad was feeling my suffering and how much they were sacrificing for me.
111
They left their parents behind,
112
left their brothers behind to chase a better life.
113
They couldn't get a job because any job they got,
114
people would take advantage of them.
115
Because once you're illegal, people can treat you any way they want.
116
So they work every day hard.
117
I come to the house and they will have a little bit of food.
118
My mom and dad will say, you guys eat.
119
But I saw that for every day of my life.
120
Once you see that, you develop this work ethic.
121
I was like, okay, I gotta make it.
122
Not just because I love basketball,
123
not because of me, but I gotta make it for them too, right?
124
So at 14, Adidas approached me.
125
He was like, hey, would you want to sign with us?
126
I was like, yeah, what?
127
Yeah.
128
And they said, okay, we'll give you 5,000.
129
I said, what, 5,000 euros?
130
Yes.
131
At that time, I was making $300 per month in my team.
132
So to you, that was a lot of money.
133
Oh my God, what?
134
Come on.
135
They said, come.
136
I was like, please.
137
Like, my older brother was better player than me at the time.
138
I was like, you guys mind if you sign my brother too?
139
He was like, yeah, we'll sign you for $5,000 too.
140
So we go to the office.
141
I talked to my mom.
142
I said, mom, come with me.
143
And we went to the office, to the headquarters.
144
And then they brought the paper.
145
This is when I realized,
146
like, the business side of things.
147
They put the paper right here.
148
They said, yeah, I said, the coupon for $5,000.
149
I was like, what is my brother's contract?
150
He was like, no, you sign yours first,
151
and then your brother will sign his.
152
I said, no, no, no,
153
no, that's not what you guys told me.
154
You guys said that I'm gonna sign, he's gonna sign.
155
Like, yeah, he'll sign, but you sign yours first, then.
156
I said, no, brother.
157
My mom was right there,
158
no, brother, I can't sign.
159
My mom was like, it's 5,000.
160
I said, mom, no. Then we move on,
161
I'm in the car with my agent,
162
maybe the next day, and a lady from Nike told me.
163
He said, hey, Yanis, would you like to come with Nike?
164
I said, yes.
165
I said, how much money would you offer?
166
He's like, we'll offer you 5,000.
167
I said, my brother's on the card.
168
Would you offer the $5,000 too?
169
He said, yes.
170
I said, OK, I'll come with Nike.
171
Yes, that's how Nike got me.
172
You said something there, though,
173
I want to ask you about real quick.
174
You mentioned that when you were in that room with Adidas,
175
and you had that $5,000 offer on the line,
176
which is more money than you had really ever seen before,
177
you were willing to walk away because they weren't really true about what they were initially offering,
178
which was you wanted your brother to get that deal as well.
179
Can you talk to that young athlete,
180
that young creative, that young artist that is on the brink of being taken advantage of, per se?
181
How did you have that same power to be able to walk away from that?
182
I knew what I was worth.
183
But at the same time,
184
I was lucky enough to be very selfless because I was doing things for other people.
185
Like if it was just for me,
186
if I was being selfish,
187
I was like, yeah, I'll sign that paper.
188
Yeah, my brother will sign whenever it is.
189
But I wasn't that person.
190
One of the biggest pet peeves is when people are inconsiderate of other people's feelings,
191
space, time, energy.
192
God blessed me and I was lucky enough to be selfless,
193
to always put other people first for my own needs.
194
I will say, when a player,
195
when an athlete starts playing,
196
so he doesn't know about financial literacy.
197
money, invest his money, none of that at that age.
198
When you come at 18 in the NBA, this site works.
199
People provide you your lawyer,
200
your agent and your financial advice.
201
You come in and it's like,
202
oh yeah, these are your people.
203
These are the people you gotta trust.
204
These are the people that are going to handle everything in your life.
205
What does that do?
206
That doesn't allow you to learn.
207
And if you don't learn,
208
you will always need them.
209
You will always say, oh, what is this?
210
I don't understand this.
211
This is X, Y, and Z.
212
Okay.
213
You have to educate yourself.
214
Slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly.
215
The advice I will give young athletes or anybody that's getting the space
216
that he doesn't really understand there's two things
217
that you can do one don't ever let your lawyer a national advisor agent know one another ever
218
never should never be boys and cool man you know
219
because one they keep one another accountable
220
if they don't know one each other oh
221
that guy is doing xyz wrong oh this guy your lawyer you overlooked
222
that your lawyer can talk about your agent oh in the contract he put x y
223
and z so he can benefit
224
and not you at the same time please read books read
225
that poor dad the psychology of money read books to learn
226
about financial literacy learn how to save your money how to
227
invest your money price is what you pay value is what you get
228
so in everything
229
that you pay for me how i operate in my life
230
i want to see value that's why i buy art i buy watches you know i buy real estate everything
231
that i pay that i put my money in has to return value to me back
232
because at the end of the day when i look at the million dollars
233
if you put a million dollars in the market by the end of the year hopefully
234
if the market goes well but the history i've showed is always returning you 9 to 10%, it's 100,000.
235
So when I give 1 million to a Ferrari Piro Sugway,
236
I'm not giving 1 million,
237
I'm giving 1.1 million because I'm losing the interest and I'm making from that money.
238
The opportunity cost.
239
So this is the habit that I've created in my mind now.
240
So this will never change.
241
There's a lot of people that started from nothing.
242
They say, oh yeah guys, I started from nothing.
243
My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.
244
You know what I'm saying?
245
Like, no way!
246
So, I mean, I started from nothing.
247
No, I didn't start from nothing.
248
Started from minus 100.
249
Yeah.
250
And here I am now,
251
I believe in myself, and believing in God,
252
because when you're last in the race,
253
and all of a sudden you're in the first place in that race,
254
you cannot not believe in God.
255
I trusted Him from the beginning,
256
but trusted in Him until the end.
257
So you know God is real.
258
Oh yes, man.
259
If God was not real,
260
I wouldn't be here today.
261
This is one of your businesses.
262
How many businesses would you say that you own right now?
263
How many partnerships are you involved in?
264
How many businesses do you own?
265
A lot.
266
I'll be honest with you,
267
I can't even keep track.
268
But but I've had this family office without the smarter than me
269
that helped me manage everything that I get involved right
270
so I know I have an incredible platform
271
and I know as myself I have a brand
272
and I view myself as a company
273
so at the same time I don't have time to be able to be involved with everything right
274
so I put CEO CFO manage everything and anything
275
that I get involved with goes through my family office do
276
you think people need a lot of money to start a
277
business in today's world no not really you have to just be Be smart, be savvy.
278
There's a company that we use and we partnered up with.
279
It's called Busy.
280
And pretty much we partnered up with them to give young people,
281
young entrepreneurs access to 50 different businesses that they can start for less than $500.
282
And it helps people start their businesses,
283
form the LLCs, form the S-Corps.
284
It's like an entity structure company.
285
So we use it across all of our businesses
286
and we partnered up with them to show people
287
that you don't need a lot of money to start a business in today's world.
288
You don't.
289
I love it, man.
290
I have a lot of .
291
Yeah, I got some .
292
Let's dig in for a second, man.
293
Guys, I'm literally sitting here with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
294
At his restaurant, one of the 20 businesses that he owns,
295
and I asked him a super important question.
296
I said, do people need a lot of money to start a business in today's world?
297
And he immediately said no. And honestly,
298
after giving all these millionaires,
299
these billionaires, these creators and athletes that turn into business moguls, I completely agree.
300
The biggest thing stopping most people isn't money anymore.
301
It's just not starting.
302
And that's exactly why I tell people to use Busy.
303
Busy makes it insanely easy to turn your actual idea into a real business.
304
They help you set up your LLC or S-Corp for you,
305
and they handle all the paperwork.
306
They help protect your personal assets,
307
and they even help you stay set up the right way for taxes,
308
which is business owners number one expense.
309
So listen, you don't need this crazy lawyer.
310
You don't need to spend months figuring it out.
311
You can literally get your business structured in minutes.
312
And because so many people think they need tons of money to start a business,
313
we partnered with Busy to give you access to something special.
314
A list of 50 businesses that you can start for less than $500.
315
So now you've got both,
316
the business ideas and the platform to actually launch them the right way.
317
So wasting more time, click the link in the description right now to start your business with Busy Today
318
and get access to that list of 50 businesses.
319
Stop waiting to start.
320
Now with that being said,
321
let's get back to the interview.
322
What was the most amount of money that you made in a single year?
323
I probably made, I think one year, 120 million.
324
Did you have any idea growing up that you were gonna make $120 million in a year, man?
325
Did you have any idea growing up?
326
No way, brother.
327
No way.
328
This is beyond my imagination.
329
Sometimes I pitch myself into real as if this is real life.
330
Six years after you retire, people go broke.
331
60% of athletes.
332
Why do so many athletes go broke?
333
I think it's because they cannot maintain their lifestyle.
334
People don't understand like we make so much money while we play and once you retire,
335
the source of income won't be the same and they try to keep the same lifestyle.
336
That cannot be possible.
337
The other thing that people do,
338
young athletes, they focus on the chains,
339
they focus on the cars,
340
they focus so much on this false reality for us lifestyle.
341
Rich is what you see,
342
wealth is what you don't see.
343
Extremely wealth is what you don't see,
344
you haven't spent, they kept investing.
345
That's Gabe right there, y'all.
346
You know that right?
347
You know that they don't teach us in school, right?
348
They don't, they don't man.
349
I find mentors.
350
I find mentors man and people that help me.
351
Now that I know you,
352
I'm going to get you now.
353
You're going to be one of my mentors too.
354
I'm going to ask questions.
355
It doesn't matter if you're a billionaire.
356
You can always learn from everybody.
357
Anything you want to learn.
358
I want you to think about the most successful people that you know.
359
The richest people that you know.
360
The billionaires.
361
The best athletes alive.
362
What's that one trait that they all have in common?
363
They don't negotiate with themselves.
364
When they say they will do something, they will do it.
365
They don't break promises to themselves.
366
They don't break problems.
367
If they say, I'm going to wake up tomorrow and I'm going to go and run five miles,
368
they will do it.
369
And they have incredible habits.
370
I feel like a lot of people,
371
once they make it, they slow down because of set goals that limit themselves.
372
Do you feel like you've made it yet?
373
No, man.
374
No?
375
No, no, no, no. I have so many goals and aspirations that I want to accomplish.
376
All right, let me ask you,
377
are you going to be a billionaire?
378
Yeah.
379
You are.
380
How are you going to become a billionaire?
381
Look, if I don't do nothing and I just keep on investing my money,
382
your money doubles every seven years.
383
Every seven years, you say?
384
Every seven years.
385
Yeah, if you invest in the market,
386
if you see my career earnings and things that I've made off the court.
387
Hey, you made a lot of money throughout your career.
388
Yeah.
389
Even if I don't do nothing,
390
I'll probably be a billionaire while I'm playing.
391
So are you afraid of debt?
392
No, hell no. Why not?
393
No, no, no. That's my friend.
394
I can make more money.
395
In return of investment, it will be way far greater.
396
So it's safe to say that the richest people in the world,
397
they're not afraid to use debt to make their money work for them.
398
No, no, because at the end of the day,
399
if you had debt
400
and you owe the bank hundred million you don't have a
401
problem they have a problem they need their money back man
402
i don't have a problem people don't understand like money makes
403
more money for you than human people can anybody who watches you play basketball you have this incredible mentality
404
when you're on the court what is your self-talk like
405
when you're playing games what do you tell yourself
406
when you're out on that floor man always positive self-talk man your brain doesn't know
407
when you're like joking even
408
if i'm joking with you i told you i'm like hey
409
i'm not a good passer no i'm joking your mind doesn't know
410
that your brain is all it takes like i'm not a good passer
411
so always positive self-talk like things
412
that i say to myself i feel no pain i got
413
this i'm a tough mother i had the conversation with kobe once i made a tweet
414
which usually i don't do i say kobe give me a challenge
415
and he said yanis your challenge with mvp
416
and then i used to carry around this jug of water
417
and in the cap i used to write mvp i see
418
it every day every day the next year i won mvp speak things to existence man
419
because your brain listens to you and once your brain listens to you does everything
420
that it needs to do to make that happen that's powerful right there
421
when you came to america and wanted to play basketball did you have people
422
that doubted you yeah one thousand percent i i remember in
423
draft night people said i didn't belong there i was too
424
weak to play i should go to the development league i should go back to europe
425
but that is good opinion is cheap that's why everybody has one that's why they say
426
that nobody else's thoughts ever paid my bills exactly exactly nobody's
427
not paid anybody bills man how important has family been to your success family is the number one thing Rather,
428
without my family, I wouldn't be the man I am today.
429
The longest relationship you're ever going to have is between your siblings.
430
You're 26, right?
431
24?
432
24. You're going to have an incredible partner,
433
but you're going to meet them around 20s or 30s.
434
You're going to spend the rest of your life with them until 80,
435
let's say 60 years with your brother and sister, man.
436
You meet them at two,
437
at three, at four, at five years old.
438
You guys are going to spend 75,
439
80 if you guys live until 80 or if you live until 100.
440
Together, man.
441
It's the most important relationship in this world.
442
Keep your brothers and sisters like this.
443
Me and my brothers, with one fist.
444
We love one another.
445
We never argue.
446
Even when we argue, same night,
447
we gotta figure it out.
448
Gotta get on the phone call.
449
We gotta meet face to face.
450
We gotta figure it.
451
We gotta hash it out today.
452
There's nothing that lingers ever.
453
Also, at the same time, your wife.
454
Your wife is the most important investment you're ever gonna make in your life.
455
Your wife has the keys to your brain.
456
If she argues with you,
457
she nugs you when you go back home,
458
you know, you're not able to operate.
459
You're not able to do what you do.
460
She has the key to your heart.
461
A man with a broken heart cannot operate, cannot see clear.
462
So you need somebody that becomes part of solution not the problem yes choose wisely
463
because man when your wife
464
or your husband believes in your dream more than you believe in
465
that dream and always pushes you towards that man is like a superpower
466
and that's what my wife is for me how old are you now i'm 31 years old
467
and if me and you died tomorrow
468
and you had one more message to you with the younger generation what would
469
that be people don't remember how much money you make
470
or how many points you score always remember
471
that they they remember how you made them feel
472
so make these people or whoever you interact with make Make them feel special.
473
Take care of your loved ones.
474
Take care of yourself.
475
And everything will tend to work out if you do that, I think.
476
Can I tell you something?
477
Yeah.
478
You have amazing advice, sir.
479
Thank you.
480
Thank you.
481
I'm proud of you, my friend.
482
What you're doing, man, is incredible.
483
See, I've learned so many things from your channel.
484
So many things, man.
485
Keep it up.
486
And what I love about you is how persistent you are.
487
Because I've seen a lot of people say no to you.
488
But you still go up to them and you find a different angle to approach them.
489
And this is why you're going to be very, very good.
490
If you have work ethic and you're persistent,
491
you are going to be successful that's that's a formula for success i'm cheering for you
492
and hopefully we can talk more we're going to be in touch brother thank you
493
so much man i appreciate you man
494
that was awesome hey how you doing sir i'm doing good
495
how are you i was driving downtown saw you over here
496
listening to what you have to say yeah man isn't he fantastic i'm going through a few things
497
and just listening to you really helped me thank you guys
498
that's a wrap on for this video i need you to stop right now like
499
and subscribe for amazing content coming every week to the school of hard knocks
500
but i want to I want to go a step further and give you direct access to my billionaire network.
501
Every single week, I host live calls with the eight,
502
nine, and 10-figure entrepreneurs that I interview on this channel,
503
where you can ask your questions directly to them.
504
So if you want access to the number one entrepreneur community in the world,
505
go down and click the link in the description to join the School of Mentors today.
506
So I can't wait to see you on the inside.
507
With that being said, I'll see you in the next video.
Download App
AI scoring for every sentence you speak
TRENDING
Popular
Why practice speaking with this video?
Engaging in speaking practice through this video featuring Giannis Antetokounmpo offers a unique opportunity for English learners to immerse themselves in a real-life context. Giannis, once struggling financially, shares personal experiences that can inspire and motivate learners to pursue their ambitions while improving their language skills. As he recounts his journey from selling watches and DVDs to becoming an NBA champion, his narrative provides rich content for IELTS speaking practice and helps you gain confidence in your English speaking abilities.
By practicing with this video, you can:
- Enhance your ability to speak about personal narratives and success stories.
- Identify and use common phrases relevant to discussions about wealth and ambition.
- Practice real-life conversation skills as you mimic Giannis’s speech and inflections.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
This video showcases a variety of grammatical structures and expressions that are particularly useful for English learners. Here are a few key structures to note:
- “I don’t know if I want to share that.” - This sentence uses a common conditional structure to express hesitation, which is useful in conversational English.
- “What was the most amount of money you made in a single year?” - The phrasing of this question can be useful for learners focusing on asking about finances and experiences.
- “I just did something insane.” - The use of the adverb "just" emphasizes immediacy and can be a great addition to your vocabulary for expressing recent actions.
- “Let’s make it happen.” - This idiomatic expression encourages taking action, a vital aspect of motivational speaking.
Incorporating these structures into your speech can greatly improve your fluency and help you sound natural while speaking English.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you practice speaking with this video, pay attention to some words that may present pronunciation challenges:
- “Giannis Antetokounmpo” - This name can be difficult to pronounce correctly, but practicing it can enhance your phonetic skills. Break it down into syllables: Gi-an-nis An-te-to-koun-mpo.
- “Million” - This word often blends with preceding words and can sound like "milion." Make sure to articulate every syllable.
- “Broke” - Listen for the concise 'o' sound. It can sometimes be pronounced as "broked" in rapid speech, so practice emphasizing the correct vowel sound.
As you engage with the video content, focus on improving your English pronunciation and utilize techniques like shadowspeak to mimic Giannis’s intonation. This will not only enhance your pronunciation but also prepare you for the IELTS speaking exam, improving your overall communication effectiveness.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
☕ Buy us a coffee
ShadowingEnglish remains 100% free thanks to your support. Server and AI costs are high — your coffee keeps us going! 🙏