- Home court: Fiserv Forum
- G.M: Jon Horst
- Coach: Mike Budenholzer
- Star: F Giannis Antetokounmpo
- 2021 Season: 51-31, lost to Celtics in Eastern Conference semifinals in seven games
- NBA Titles – 2071, 2021
- Greatest Player – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Factoid: Injury records on NBA mascots are hard to come by, but Bucks mascots Banjo was lost for the second half of the 2008-09 season when he tore his ACL after slipping through a hoop while attempting a skit during All-Star Weekend in Phoenix.
Sometimes the deck just seemed too stacked for small-market teams. They don’t have the revenue streams that NBA franchises such as the Knicks, Lakers and Bulls have.
The Milwaukee Bucks should be held up as a shining example for small-market teams. After winning the NBA title in 1971, with arguably the greatest center in history, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Bucks won their second crown with a player who will be remembered as one of the greatest forwards of all time, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Small market Milwaukee? Consider this: The Bucks have as many NBA titles as the Knicks.
But it’s what happened before that second title that really should have endeared the Bucks to any NBA fan who values competitiveness and parity. The Bucks resigned Giannis to a five-year, $221 million deal.
That’s right. Giannis did not take his talents to a big media market. He stayed with the team that drafted him with the 15th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. He stayed with the city that embraced him and Giannis embraced Cream City back.
Anyone who didn’t feel at least the forming of a knot in the throat at the scene in Fiserv Forum when the Bucks won it in 2021 needs to have an ultrasound of the chest to make sure there’s still a beating heart at work.
If it wasn’t the tears that streamed down Giannis’ face, or the sobs that racked his body, or the teammates, family, friends and fans that he hugged, it was the sight of him sitting in a baseline folding chair, trying to take it all in.
There wasn’t enough beer in Milwaukee to celebrate the Bucks and the NBA, which was also a winner on this night. Because Giannis could have made it anywhere, but he made it Milwaukee.