players for club side Filathlitikos when, by "pure chance", he discovered Antetokounmpo playing a game of tag with some friends.

"It's a moment where you have flashbacks," Velliniatis told Omnisport. "I had a feeling that something big was going to happen."

Earlier in his life, Velliniatis had left Greece for America himself to play high-school basketball and pursue a career in the NBA. He was not good enough to reach the elite level but something told him Antetokounmpo could be, even if the teenager had barely played basketball at that point.

Yet soccer-mad Antetokounmpo did not see what his mentor could back then.

"My dream was to play in the NBA - I saw a person in front of me who was capable of doing it," Velliniatis explained.

"I thought it was ato find something relatable to convince his prodigy of his greatness - a book about World Cup winner Maradona.

"I went to his house and I bought him a book about Diego Maradona," he said.

"He was still into soccer, he was not yet fully into basketball in his mind. I told him, 'This guy is you. You must stay in this path no matter how hard it becomes'. The coach told me, 'This kid must not be lost'. We wanted to do anything possible."

Soon the penny dropped. Antetokounmpo scored 50 points in one of his final games with Filathlitikos' junior team and it was not long before those in the NBA were paying attention too, with the Milwaukee Bucks making a franchise-altering decision and drafting him with the 15th