Yorgos Lanthimos played in a higher tier Greek League than Giannis Antetokounmpo

Just a PSA that Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos played a higher level (Greek) basketball than the Greek Freak ever did.

In case it needs stating: This is just for fun! No one really thinks Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos is or has ever been a better basketball player than Giannis Antetokounmpo.

That being said, Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos played in a higher level Greek basketball league than Giannis ever did. How wild is that?

Giannis began his basketball career in 2011, when he joined the senior men’s team of Filathlitikos in Greece’s third-tier semi-pro league during the 2011-12 season. Then, the prodigious Giannis made it up to the second-tier level, Greek A2 League. Nice one, Giannis. Then, before the season was over, the 18-year-old signed a four-year deal with Spanish club CAI Zaragoza with the intention to start at the end of the 2012-13 season. But Giannis would never go to Spain, he moved to Milwaukee instead when he was drafted 15th overall by the Bucks in the 2013 NBA Draft. The point of all this is Giannis never played in Greek basketball’s highest league (because he went to the world’s highest league, but who cares).

You know who did? The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos. The less said about Lanthimos’ basketball career, the better. Not because he was bad, per say, but because he was basically a scab. He joined Pagrati BC, who were then in the first-tier Greek Basketball League, during the 1991-92 season when the players went on strike, according to EuroHoops.net. He played in three games and averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds before “moving on to study cinematography and the arts.”

His father, Antonis Lanthimos, played for Pagrati in the ’60s and ’70s, as well as the Greek national team, before becoming a coach. That’s not really relevant to any of this, but still kind of fun.

Also fun? This photo.

Lanthimos, in the years since his brief basketball career, has been nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film (Dogtooth), Best Original Screenplay (The Lobster) and now Best Picture and Best Director, (The Favourite). He’s also responsible for 2017 critical darling, The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Lanthimos is 6-foot, which is tall for a director and not for a basketball player.

Hopefully one day, Lanthimos, who has proven himself adept at directing very tall men, will give us a deeply weird basketball-ish movie. Or play in the Celebrity All-Star game. Either would be acceptable.