Giannis Antetokounmpo's 2013-14 Hoops card, #275, came out October 23, 2013, and Beckett calls it his first rookie card.
Hoops opened Panini's basketball season that year, and Beckett describes it as the closest thing Panini had to a flagship. The set ran to 300 cards, with the 2013 draft class at #261 through #300. Above the base came Glossy, Red and Blue versions, red-backed cards in the jumbo packs, an Artist's Proof, and a Black Artist's Proof of one.
He rises toward the rim in the Bucks' green road uniform, number 34, the ball held behind his head in both hands, against a plain black backdrop. His name runs across the top over MILWAUKEE BUCKS in red, the RC logo sits on a square of hardwood in the corner, and a strip of floorboards runs along the bottom above the NBA HOOPS logo.
Eighteen years old, the ball behind his head, on the way up.
He was eighteen, drafted fifteenth that June out of Filathlitikos, a club in Greece. The nickname, the Greek Freak, came from his size, his speed and his strength.
