Giannis Antetokounmpo Reveals Why He Chose a New Jersey Number With the Miami Heat
· Yahoo Sports
With a move to South Beach, Giannis Antetokounmpo is embracing his new life. While the trade from the Milwaukee Bucks ended on a messy note, the 13-year run still holds a lot of emotional bearing for the two-time MVP. It’s the reason why the Greek Freak has changed his threads to #7.
“I wore 34 because my mom was born in 1963. My dad was born in 1964,” Antetokounmpo said during the introductory press conference with the Miami Heat. “So I took the three and the four. And if you add three and four, it equals seven. And my mom was born on April 7th. That’s why the reason I changed my number, but the reason that I really changed my number is because I feel like, you know, 34 holds so much weight and has so much history, and out of respect to the organization that drafted me and I played for, for 13 years, I decided to leave that number there and try to start a new chapter.
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“Hopefully, I can leave my mark here in Miami and make number seven as legendary as number 34. But it’s almost like kind of having a closure for me mentally and emotionally, just to have a closure from that, that number, because it meant a lot to me. And number seven looks good. It’s fresh, it’s clean. I saw some kids wearing it in the street. So I’m excited to create more moments with that number.”
Just like how Giannis Antetokounmpo is being respectful towards his former franchise, the Bucks have done the same. Jake Weinbach reported that the franchise will retire the #34 and intend to put it up on their rafters. Even their GM called it a “hard” decision, but expects the ten-time All-Star to hit the ground running in Miami.
“I’ve said to Miami a couple of times, he’s going to have an unbelievable season for them,” Jon Horst said. “[They’ve] got an incredibly motivated, healthy, focused Giannis Antetokounmpo that I think is going to have an unbelievable season and seasons, for that matter.”
The 31-year-old previously released an emotional farewell video, and even his wife posted a message for the place they called home for thirteen years. The change in number shouldn’t be a problem for the Heat fans.
In the past, they have seen greats like LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Shaquille O’Neal, among others, change their jersey numbers before coming to Miami. But there was a small hiccup due to this change.
Ten days ago, the fans had already purchased the #34 version of Giannis Antetokounmpo. But soon reports emerged that the Greek Freak will change his number, causing confusion. But the franchise sorted it out rather quickly.
“All Giannis jersey orders and personalized ‘ANTETOKOUNMPO’ No. 34 jerseys will be fulfilled with the new No. 7,” a spokesperson for the Heat confirmed. “If fans purchased a Giannis jersey in-store, they’ll be able to exchange it for the new No. 7.”
The change means Giannis Antetokounmpo will be the 14th player to wear the number #7. Most recently used last season by Kel’el Ware, other notable names include Lamar Odom, Anfernee Hardaway, Shawn Marion, Jermaine O’Neal, Goran Dragić, and Kyle Lowry.
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