The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and play at Fiserv Forum. Former U.S. Senator Herb Kohl was the long-time owner of the team, but on April 16, 2014, a group led by billionaire hedge fund managers Wes Edens and Marc Lasry agreed to purchase a majority interest in the team from Kohl, a sale which was approved by the owners of the NBA and its Board of Governors one month later on May 16. The team is managed by Jon Horst, the team's former director of basketball operations, who took over from John Hammond.
Oscar Palmer Robertson, nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played point guard and was a 12-time All-Star, 11-time member of the All-NBA Team, and one-time winner of the MVP award in 14 seasons. In 1962, he became the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season. In the 1970–71 NBA season, he was a key player on the team that brought the Bucks their first NBA title. His playing career, especially during high school and college, was plagued by racism.
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association (ABA) for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did not join the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1976 ABA–NBA merger. The downtown Louisville Convention Center was the Colonels' venue for their first three seasons before moving to Freedom Hall for the remaining seasons, beginning with the 1970–71 schedule.
Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. was an American professional basketball player. He played center for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lanier was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.
Salvatore Leonard Bando was an American former professional baseball player and general manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1966 to 1981, most prominently as the team captain for the Oakland Athletics dynasty that won three consecutive World Series championships between 1972 and 1974.
Guy William Rodgers was an American professional basketball player born in Philadelphia. He spent twelve years (1958–1970) in the NBA, and was one of the league's best playmakers in the early to mid-1960s. Rodgers led the NBA in assists twice, and placed second six times. Rodgers was inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
George F. McGinnis was an American professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers, earning third-team All-American honors in 1971, before starting his pro career in the ABA with the Indiana Pacers. A three-time ABA All-Star with the Pacers, McGinnis was named the ABA Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1975 and won two ABA championships with the team. He was a three-time NBA All-Star with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was named to the ABA All-Time Team and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The 1969–70 NBA season was the 24th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the New York Knicks winning the NBA Championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals.
Brian Joseph Winters is an American former basketball player and coach.
The 1974 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1973–74 National Basketball Association (NBA) season. The Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics defeated the Western Conference champion Milwaukee Bucks 4 games to 3 to win the NBA championship. This would mark the last time the Celtics won a playoff game 7 on the road until 2022, when they defeated the Miami Heat in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Miami.
The 1969 NBA draft was the 23rd annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 7 and May 7, 1969, before the 1969–70 season. In this draft, fourteen NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be eligible for selection until his college class graduated.
Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Bridgeman played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for twelve years from 1975 until 1987, beginning with the Milwaukee Bucks. Bridgeman is the current owner of Ebony and Jet magazines. Despite never making more than $350,000 a season during his NBA career, Bridgeman has a net worth of over $600 million, making him one of the wealthiest former athletes in the world.
Kevin Michael Grevey is a retired American professional basketball player. A 6'5" swingman, the left-handed Grevey played for the Washington Bullets from 1975 to 1983 and the Milwaukee Bucks from 1983 to 1985. He worked as a Talent Scout with the Los Angeles Lakers for nineteen seasons and is now a scout with the Charlotte Hornets and a color commentator for various college basketball games, including on national radio with Westwood One.
The 1970–71 Milwaukee Bucks season was the third season for the Bucks. Milwaukee posted a 66–16 record in only its third year of existence, and its second since drafting Lew Alcindor. A key part of this championship season was the acquisition of Oscar Robertson. Other role players on the Bucks included players such as Bob Dandridge, Jon McGlocklin, power forward Greg Smith & key reserves such as Lucius Allen, Bob Boozer and Dick Cunningham completing the nucleus. This season included a 20-game winning streak, the NBA's longest at the time, and still ranked fifth all-time. The Bucks became the first team from the Midwest Division to win the NBA title; it would be 23 years before the Houston Rockets would do the same.
Jim Paschke is an American retired sportscaster. Paschke has handled play-by-play duties for a wide array of sports at all levels, but is most recognized for his work as the Milwaukee Brewers television announcer, Big Ten football announcer, and was most recently the television voice of the Milwaukee Bucks (1986–2021).
The 1968 NBA expansion draft was the fourth expansion draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 6, 1968, so that the newly founded Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns could acquire players for the upcoming 1968–69 season. Milwaukee and Phoenix had been awarded the expansion teams on January 22, 1968. In an NBA expansion draft, new NBA teams are allowed to acquire players from the previously established teams in the league. Not all players on a given team are available during an expansion draft, since each team can protect a certain number of players from being selected. In this draft, each of the twelve other NBA teams had protected seven players from their roster. After each round, where each the Suns and the Bucks had selected one player, the existing teams added another player to their protected list. The draft continued until both teams had selected eighteen unprotected players each, while the existing teams had lost three players each.
The 1968–69 Phoenix Suns season was the inaugural season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. Head coach Red Kerr led the franchise to its first win in their debut game, over the Seattle SuperSonics. The Suns lost more games in their initial season than in any year since, and did not have a winning record against any other team. They played all their home games in the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Eddie Doucette is a former television and radio sportscaster and currently the president of Doucette Promotions Inc.
This page details the all-time statistics, records, and other achievements pertaining to the Milwaukee Bucks.
