Giannis Antetokounmpo put his money in 50 banks until Bucks owner helped him invest

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo had more banks than letters in his name before Avenue Capital Group founder Marc Lasry stepped in.

The National Basketball Association’s two-time most-valuable player had accounts open at 50 different banks, with each of them holding up to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage limit. That shocked Lasry, who co-owns the Milwaukee team.

“I spend a lot of time with them explaining where they should invest,” he said of his players on Thursday at the Bloomberg Wealth Summit in New York. “I’m like, Giannis, you can’t be having accounts at 50 different banks. Let me tell you something, if JPMorgan goes under, your little dinky banks are going to go under too. Let me explain what you should buy, you should buy U.S. Treasuries, you should buy this.”

Antetokounmpo, 27, is nicknamed the “Greek Freak” because he was born in Greece and shows freakish athletic ability on the court. The country faced a sovereign-debt crisis in the early 2010s, which strained its banking system and left citizens worried their cash wasn’t safe.

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