Giannis Antetokounmpo has accomplished a lot on the basketball court, most notably earning an NBA championship and two NBA MVP honors throughout a 10-year career.

During the offseason, the 29-year-old Milwaukee Bucks forward accomplished a lifetime dream by traveling to Nigeria, the home of his mother, Veronica, and late father, Charles. His parents relocated from Lagos, Nigeria, to Athens, Greece, in 1991 to pursue employment prospects. In Nigeria, “it was very hard to get a job,” Charles Antetokounmpo told NPR in 2013. He died of a heart attack at the age of 54 in 2017.

When the parents immigrated to Greece, they left their firstborn son, Francis, with his grandparents. What’s the reason? “This is going to take us to a greater place in the future,” said his mother, Veronica, in 2022. “Then this is where we are today. “We are truly amazing.”

Older brother Thanasis also plays with the Bucks, having been a member of the team that won the NBA 2021 title alongside Giannis, while younger brother Alex presently plays for the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks’ NBA G League affiliate. Another brother, Kostas, who won an NBA championship with the Lakers in 2020, is currently playing basketball in Greece.

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A new documentary, “Ugo,” made in collaboration with WhatsApp, documents the NBA star’s visit to Nigeria in August, accompanied by his mother. The title of the 31-minute short refers to Antetokounmpo’s Nigerian birth name. Rick Famuyiwa (“The Mandalorian”) directed the documentary, which is accessible for free global streaming on YouTube.

The film follows Antetokounmpo meeting family and immersing himself in the scene meeting kids on the basketball court and soccer pitch, dancing, dining, and meeting cousins, uncles, aunts and other relatives. “A lot of people know that I represent the Greek national team, and they call me ‘The Greek Freak,’ but they’ve never seen this side of me,” he told USA TODAY. “My parents are Nigerian. When I was growing up … it was a Nigerian household. I grew up in Nigerian culture.”

Having his mother along made the trip special, Antetokounmpo says. She was “a great storyteller,” he said, relating “everything about the things that they experienced and how hard (his parents’) journey was, from Nigeria going to Greece and how their life was.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo has a spicy time in Nigeria

When it came time to feast, Antetokounmpo thought he was prepared for Nigerian food, but he got a surprise at a family gathering. A well-known chef was preparing the food – semolina fufu, jollof rice and pepper soup – and he chimed in, “Pepper soup? Yeah, I eat pepper soup all the time.”

Now, Antetokounmpo admits his mom made it mildly spicy for him and others including Bucks coaches. But at the family gathering in Nigeria he noticed some of the documentary crew trying the food and “they are all wheezing because of the spices,” he said.

But because his relatives are there, Antetokounmpo knew he couldn’t back down. “I can’t be soft. I’m a very competitive guy,” he said. “I cannot be like, ‘I cannot handle this.’ So I’m eating the pepper soup and I’m sweating.”

When asked if he likes it, “I’m like, ‘Yeah,’ but I’m telling my mom, ‘Mama, I need some milk’.”

Even after the visit ended, there were highlights. On the return trip, Antetokounmpo and his mother were awaiting the flight back to Europe and she recalled the initial trip she and her husband made from Nigeria. “You know thirty something years ago, when I was sitting in this airport, I was young,” she told him. “I had no idea where I was going. I just wanted something better for you guys.”

She told him she felt “blessed … with this opportunity to be able to come and dance with my brothers and sisters (and) see my relatives that you (got to) meet for the first time.”

“That’s probably one of the best moments ever in my life, for your mom or your parents to appreciate (what you have done). It was very very, very, very humbling,” said Antetokounmpo, who says he has been keeping up with relatives using WhatsApp.