This special moment between a young fan and basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo might just bring a tear to your eye.
Giannis "The Greek Freak" Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks has plenty of fans. But perhaps none are quite as devoted as 11-year-old Lily, who loves Giannis so much that she's been making artwork inspired by him for two years. Lily has kept a folder full of the artwork, just in case she ever got a chance to meet her idol.
Recently, Lily's dream finally came true.
Lily and her dad, Pete Stauffer, traveled for an hour to attend an autograph signing with Giannis. They waited in line for six hours, artwork folder in hand. Then Lily finally approached Giannis and handed over the artwork, and man, the wait was totally worth it. Spoiler alert: Lily burst into tears, and so has everyone who's seen the video.
If only everyone could have such a sweet, encouraging moment with their idols!
This is Giannis Antetokounmpo, also known as the Greek Freak. He's currently a forward with the Milwaukee Bucks.
And THIS is Giannis' biggest fan, 11-year-old Lily. Lily has admired Giannis for years, and she's made a lot of artwork inspired by him.
Lily's father, Pete Stauffer, explained on YouTube that Lily had been saving the artwork in a folder, hoping to one day deliver it to the Greek Freak.
So imagine Lily's excitement when her dad informed her that Giannis would be at an autograph signing in the area the next day.
Lily knew they had to attend — and that she had to bring her artwork.
On autograph day, she and her dad waited in line for six hours to meet Giannis.
While waiting, Lily was nervous and didn't know what she'd say when she finally met her idol. Her dad encouraged her to just explain the artwork.
After six hours in line, Lily wasn't even sure if she really WOULD get to actually meet him. But finally her turn came, and she approached the table and handed the folder of artwork to Giannis.
"OK, I’ve been working on this a very long time, and now I can finally give it to you," she told him.
Giannis got up from the table to give Lily a hug. He took the folder of artwork from her and looked through every piece.
"Thank you so much. This is amazing," he said. "You did all of this?"
Lily looked overwhelmed, and then she burst into tears. You probably would, too, if you finally met your idol and he called your artwork "amazing" and gave you a hug!!!
Lily's dad tweeted his gratitude to Giannis, and he uploaded a video to YouTube of the special moment. Basketball fans love Giannis even more now.
Lily told Today that she started crying when she finally saw Giannis in person because she'd been dreaming of this moment for so long.
"I was astonished. I didn't know that he would like it that much and then actually enjoy it," she said.
She says he's her favorite player because he's "such a great guy."
"He keeps on giving and giving, so I wanted to give him something back in return because I wanted to show him how much I appreciate him," she said.
She gave him four pieces of art along with one note.
"It was pretty awesome," she said.
A great guy, indeed. You can see the full video here.
