Jim Owczarski| Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Thanasis Antetokounmpo was going to get a lift in with his younger brother Giannis during a Milwaukee Bucks road trip last season, but detoured briefly for a thought exercise, clutching a notepad from his hotel room. He wanted to be sure he remembered to hit key elements of a burgeoning family business — Ante Inc.
It is part of what the family hopes is the legacy they are longest remembered for. Yes, they want to create multi-generational wealth, but within that is a mindfulness of service — such as donations to Milwaukee Public Schools, grants for mental health resources, the building of basketball courts in Greece and a community center in Nigeria.
The company oversees every business they are involved in, such as the AntetokounBros store in downtown Milwaukee and sports teams like the Milwaukee Brewers. It also provides an outlet for discussion on investment opportunities and financial literacy, while also allowing people to invest in publicly traded equity funds.
The energy crackles off Thanasis as he taps his pen on the notepad.
“You want to maximize your potential as a person,” he said of why he and his brothers started the umbrella company. “I really believe in that. On the court, off the court, if God gives you a blessing or gives you a certain talent or a certain ability, we believe in working hard to maximize that opportunity that’s given to you.”
Ante, Inc. is the name of the company co-founded by the basketball playing Antetokounmpos. Giannis is the chairman, with Thanasis, Kostas and Alex serving as its board. Dylan Wondra is its president and chief executive officer and there are a few other staffers, but it’s a purposefully lean operation — the brothers truly run the show.
“I want these people to understand I don’t work for them and they don’t work for me, it’s a partnership and we’re building something greater than us,” Giannis said. “And I hope they can share the same values and have the same vision of making this great. So that’s why we started Ante, Inc.”
Why the Antetokounmpos started Ante Inc.
In early 2020, Giannis was atop the basketball world.
The reigning league MVP was on his way to winning a second in a row, but on March 6 he severely injured his left knee in Los Angeles. Five days later, the NBA season was suspended due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Confined to his home, Antetokounmpo was faced with basketball mortality at 25 years old. A supermax contract extension was supposed to be forthcoming, but what if this was it? He was being paid handsomely to endorse products as an NBA superstar — but what if he no longer was one?
Like so many people across the world, an aspect of control was stripped from him.
He began to realize that to not depend on an NBA salary or basketball-related income, he had to depend on others. To trust others. To freely cede control he so tightly clung to.
“You have to depend on people,” he said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel. “Even if you want to do something, create something of your own, you have depend on people to get that. Which, that is the very, very hard part of how I grew up.”
The Antetokounmpos story is well known. But it’s vital to remember how their upbringing shaped and wired the family.
“It’s just because we’ve lived a certain life that let us see the world differently,” Thanasis told the Journal Sentinel. “I had to go out there and make ten dollars and make it $100. It’s the same thing. You give me a hundred thousand and I’ll make it a million. So we kind of see the world differently. In a business type of way but in a street-hustle kind of way as well and somewhere in-between.”
Giannis was also a new father in 2020 as basketball returned and the world slowly reopened, he faced a truth about himself.
“Fast forward years later, 2021, yeah, I felt myself I was the same kid,” he acknowledged. “I realized that in order to build something that’s bigger than you, greater than you, that can be here after you’re done, that can become a source of income for you, that you can be involved with a lot of smarter people and in a lot of other businesses, you have to give up that control. You have to. You have to let go.”
That is what kick-started the creation of Ante, Inc.
What began as Giannis experimenting with day stock trading apps quickly developed into a passion. Naturally, his brothers dove in with him.
The family formally introduced Ante Inc. in June of 2023. On paper, it appeared to come together quickly — just a couple of summers. But Giannis admits it couldn’t have happened sooner. He wasn’t ready, mature enough to balance basketball and these ventures.
“It’s also a responsibility now,” he said. “You have people that work with you, try to share the same vision with you and those people have families now. You’re creating jobs. Those people are taking care of their family. At 23 I don’t know if I could handle that. I’m happy I did it when I was 27, 26.”
Ask questions and listen
Giannis looked off into the distance, transporting himself back to a specific moment in time. It was 2013 in Greece. You could almost see his home country in the collecting moisture in his deep brown eyes. In that moment, he was a teenager again. His father, Charles, beside him.
Teenage Giannis was nervous, unsure. He knew his life was going to change at the NBA draft. He also knew he was going alone. His father comforted him. Adult Giannis smiled, gripping his phone — the one with his fiancée and children as his lock screen.
“OK, always listen. Always listen. Don’t talk much. Always listen,” Charles told him.
“Yes dad, I’m always going to listen. Don’t worry. I’m going to do my best,” his son replied.
This advice helped Giannis navigate a new playing field in the family business. There was no Eurostepping around a legal team or spinning around acquisition details. Though he’s much wiser than that teenager, he still had a learning curve to make up.
Plato accounted for Socrates saying, “I know that I know nothing,” and that was how the Antetokounmpos approached these off-court endeavors. They made the time to meet people, even if meant creating a more hectic summer schedule. They listened, even if it meant it cut into family time. They asked questions. They were intentional in seeking partnerships, and mentors.
“This basketball allowed me to use the platform that I have to have access to people that I would never have had access to,” Giannis said in a later interview. “I’ve been to places that I cannot speak about, because you sign an NDA, that I would never have been. I’ve talked to CEOs, I’ve talked to billionaires, African billionaires, European billionaires, U.S. billionaires, Asian billionaires, just because ‘that’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and he has a great story, he's a great humble guy and he’s here to listen and learn and to educate himself to start something of his own.’”
Along with being willing mentees, the brothers soaked up knowledge – from Thanasis taking college courses on negotiating to bending the ear of the people of anyone and everyone they felt could help.
“These people have been doing what you’re interested in, or what you want to do or what you want to invest in, the same way (I’ve) been playing basketball for 10, 12 years, they’ve been doing this,” Thanasis said. “They haven’t been doing it for 10 years — they’ve been doing it for probably 30, 40 (years). So we’ve had the luxury of having great people around us, great partners, great mentors. That definitely helps.”
Basketball remains top priority for Antetokounmpos
In a sleeveless Bucks T-shirt, team shorts and ice taped to his knees following a workout last season, Giannis settled into a chair. He was ready to talk business, but his occasional fiddling with the ice packs was an in-the-moment reminder that the main thing must remain the main thing: Basketball is top priority.
“This is real: Running all these businesses, it’s very important, but you know what is even more important to get this going — me personally — my physio,” Giannis said. “My physio might be the most important person right now to me. Because the more I take care of this body, this business, the more wealth I can create and the more I can use that wealth to allocate it to businesses and create more wealth. But the real money maker is this shoulder, is this knee. This is how I’m here. This is how I’m here talking to you. I cannot forget this. Because I feel like sometimes in this position people forget – they’re like I want to be a businessman — they forget. No, no, no. I have I front of me 10 more years of basketball.”
Just before Alex headed overseas to continue his career in Montenegro, the 23-year-old and youngest of the brothers admitted it’s been a whirlwind to learn this much about business and off-court management while trying to find footing in basketball.
“We’re blessed to have an unbelievable team that is able to take care of stuff for us when we need to maintain that balance and be able to focus on our day job — obviously none of this stuff would be possible would have the opportunity to be on the table if it wasn’t for basketball,” Alex told the Journal Sentinel.
“So we take that very seriously. We focus on that during the season but at the end of the day you realize that you have to keep building upon your legacy. That is on and off the court. We’ve all, these past few years, kicked that in. Since there’s five of us (including oldest brother Francis), it’s pretty easy to maintain that balance to be honest. We know when it’s time to focus on our day jobs and when it’s time to kind of engage these conversations as a collective.”
He chuckled.
“And it’s a little bit of common sense. If Kostas is in the final four of the EuroLeague, I’m not going to call him talking about a business opportunity. We all have over the years realized how to deal with the whole thing.”
Yet when the off-court business expands, invariably the ink bleeds into the pages in-season. Alex acknowledged as much, and he wondered how his older brothers balance their time.
Giannis said they try to set up company movements in the summer, so when training camp begins he is not bothered. Trusted proxy decision makers handle the inevitable items that come up once the season begins, but he said he spends as little time as he can — typically a monthly report – on it.
“It’s the hardest thing ever,” Thanasis said of working that balance. “Especially when it comes to people who are very goal-oriented and driven, it’s so hard. It’s so hard. When I say it’s all connected, you do this for your family and your legacy and who you are as a person and as a man and what you bring to the able and what you’re going to be remembered for when you’re not here, what your kids are going to remember you for, and at the same time you get penalized for it. You get penalized for it when you travel so much and you do all these things. It’s the best thing ever and it’s unfortunate at the same time.
“Time management, it’s crucial.”
Giannis had to be the face of Ante, Inc.
Even though the four brothers are all professional basketball players, much of this is possible because Giannis is a global superstar.
He’s turned the stereotype that athletes must play in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago on its head, as companies often come to Milwaukee to shoot commercials. He rendered the phrase “market size” meaningless when it comes to earning power for a basketball player.
But those advantages means he’s the one who must be on magazine covers, the first image on a website, the one doing press tours and the name quoted in press releases. He is the visage of Ante, Inc.
He squirms a bit in his chair over this.
“It’s different. It is,” he said. “I’ll very, very, very honest with you – I don’t like that aspect of it. I’ve never liked it.”
Don’t be mistaken – he likes having commercials – but typically they are commitments outside of his basketball orbit. Which invariably means it eats into his private time. So, it’s not always been easy, dating back to his rookie year when Bucks staff had to cajole him into making appearances.
But it’s all part of the larger picture for a larger company.
He laughed, counting the three times he’s worn a suit over the years to that point (three). The photo shoot for the launch of the production company Improbable Media was for one them.
“Sometimes you have to do things like that,” he said.
Building a legacy beyond basketball
Giannis said he felt he was able to be taken advantage of early in his career – and the system of how young players are funneled toward pre-selected advisors bothers him — so the brothers wanted to make sure financial literacy was a core principle of their company.
They created a program called “Build Your Legacy,” where they can be a resource for those hoping to learn how to better protect and manage their money. They also teamed with Calamos Investments to create the Calamos Antetokounmpo Global Sustainable Equities ETF (SROI) and the Calamos Antetokounmpo Sustainable Equities Mutual Fund (SROIX) and that the public can invest in.
“We’ll be able to provide people that want to get involved that access to invest their money in real estate, private equity, the U.S. market, international market and all the things,” Giannis said. “And also be able to do their taxes, seek legal advice, they can also do that. And also the most important thing, to have something that is straightforward, to be able to call somebody.”
Beyond the financial benefits Ante, Inc. can create for them, the brothers insist that when they buy into a company that creates product or provides a service, they build in a charitable aspect.
“Always,” Thanasis said. “And it’s always going to be. It’s a bad thing to say business-wise but I never want to work with a company that doesn’t want to give back. Who wants to do that?”
His face crumpled into incredulity.
“That’s now how the universe works. If you know how the universe works you know it’s…
His trademark smile returned along with a laugh, and he motioned his arms in a circle.
“… It’s coming, it’s going, it’s a circle.”
The family created an AntetokounBros Academy in 2019, which includes workshops on anti-bullying and healthcare and nutritional help for low-income families and young refugees. Ready water and protein bars were distributed to Milwaukee Public Schools in 2020 and in 2022 Antidote Health provided mental health services to the uninsured.
“I see how basketball has changed our lives and how we try, with the influence we have now for other kids, do the same thing for them,” Kostas told the Journal Sentinel. “Not just for basketball, with any type of sport really, or anything you want to pursue if you really put your mind to it, put your heart to it, it can happen.”
Separate from Ante Inc., the family also created the Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation (CAFF), in 2022 which fundraises for social programs in the United States, Greece and Nigeria to support refugees, education, youth, widows and provide basic necessities. Thanasis insisted that no matter what they do, it cannot be solely for their own gain.
“What’s going to be left from us, what kind of legacy are you trying to build here?” Giannis asked. “My father did not have nothing. Literally. Zero money. You can see on my social media page, ‘I am my father’s legacy.’ That’s what he left behind. I cannot come now like OK, I’m fortunate enough to be able to have a good income from what I do and get myself involved and just grab the cash and I’m out. No.
“I always want to leave something behind. I always want to be able to touch people, to better their life, to close gaps as much as I can. I look at myself in the mirror and I say, did you do anything to be able to improve somebody’s life, to improve the community that you’re a part of, to leave something behind more than just you scored 64 points? And if I’m able to tell myself yes, I’m happy.”
