When you’re Kristen Lappas, the daughter of longtime Villanova coach Steve Lappas, your childhood is pretty much spent on the road with the Wildcats.

That includes flying to Hawaii at age 7 or 8 and playing Marco Polo in the pool with Kerry Kittles, Alvin Williams, and Jason Lawson.

After each trip, Lappas wrote a short story that included interviews with the players.

It started her down a filmmaking path that led to her newest documentary, “Giannis: The Marvelous Journey,” premiering today on Amazon Prime, writes Matt Breen for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The documentary looks at Giannis Anttokounmpo, a Greek-Nigerian basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Lappas’ family roots are Greek. Her grandfather’s immigrant journey to America and her love of basketball connected her to Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo’s family emigrated from Nigeria to Greece before the Milwaukee Bucks chose him in the 2013 NBA draft.

“Greeks feel a sense of pride when another Greek is doing something amazing,” she said.

 Lappas met Anttokounmpo in 2019, and they stayed in touch.

When the production company Words and Pictures wanted a movie about Antetokounmpo, they tapped Lappas to make it.

Find out more about Kristen Lappas’ involvement in telling the inspirational immigrant story of Giannis Anttokounmpo in The Philadelphia Inquirer.