Giant mural in downtown Milwaukee celebrates Antetokounmpo

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo is featured in a mural that may give the two-time NBA MVP a larger-than-life presence over downtown Milwaukee all 12 months lengthy.

The mural is 53½ ft excessive and 56½ ft broad, overlaying the facet of a three-story constructing. It exhibits the again of Antetokounmpo in a Milwaukee Bucks jersey together with his arms on his hips.

Mauricio Ramirez, who produced the mural, signed his work Friday, a number of hours earlier than Antetokounmpo led the Bucks into Sport 6 of their Japanese Convention semifinal with the Boston Celtics.

Ramirez, who makes a speciality of murals and has a number of items on show round Milwaukee, stated he had thought for years about producing one thing to honor Antetokounmpo. The 6-foot-11 ahead led the Bucks to their first NBA championship in a half-century final 12 months, scoring 50 factors within the title-clinching Sport 6 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

“I believed it will be superior to do a correct Giannis mural, not one within the alley, not one on the facet of a comfort retailer,” Ramirez stated. “We needed to do one the place we gave him good visibility, as a result of he gave the town of Milwaukee visibility.”

Dan Nelson Jr., a longtime Bucks season-ticket holder and the proprietor of the 600 East constructing on Milwaukee’s Wisconsin Avenue, granted permission to have the mural go on the facet of that construction. Ramirez started engaged on it April 25.

Lots of of followers gathered for a ceremony celebrating the mural’s completion, with lots of them posing for selfies in entrance of it.

Antetokounmpo wasn’t on the occasion as he ready for Sport 6, however he has stated how a lot he appreciates the mural’s existence.

“It’s superb,” Antetokounmpo stated after a latest playoff sport. “While you play basketball, you by no means count on issues like that to occur. You simply play basketball since you love the sport and also you benefit from the sport. I really feel like when you dedicate your self to the workforce and to the town, individuals really feel that. They recognize it, and issues like that occur.”

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson attended Friday’s ceremony and stated the mural was “a brand new reminder of who we’re as a metropolis and nation” and confirmed how “the American dream is alive and nicely.”

Antetokounmpo grew up amid poverty in Greece earlier than coming to Milwaukee because the fifteenth choose within the 2013 draft and growing into one of many sport’s high gamers. He signed a supermax extension with the Bucks in December 2020 fairly than turning into an unrestricted free agent on the finish of the 2020-21 season.

Seven months after signing that extension, Antetokounmpo was named MVP of the NBA Finals after main the Bucks to a championship.

“He was proud to do it the onerous approach,” Johnson stated. “That’s how we do it in cities like Milwaukee.”

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