The Milwaukee Bucks started life in the NBA like so many other expansion franchises: losing. The Bucks’ extremely poor record in their inaugural season (1968-69), however, resulted in a first pick in the 1969 draft, landing the fledgling team a young man named Lew Alcindor. Alcindor’s effect was immediately transformative, lifting the Bucks to a 2nd-place in the regular season and appearance in the 1970 Eastern Conference Finals. The following season, they were NBA Champions just three years after joining the league. Following the victory, Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the name under which he would become known as one of the greatest NBA players of all time. The Bucks would not reach those heights again for four decades, going through some years as fairly solid playoff contenders and many more years as easy targets for the league’s big guns. Things finally began to swing the Bucks’ way again in 2013 when they selected Giannis Antetokounpo (lovingly nicknamed the “Greek Freak”) and began to build a strong team around the big talented Greek forward. In the five seasons since 2018, the Bucks have finished 1st in the Eastern conference in the regular season three times, winning the franchise’s second NBA Championship in 2021. After witnessing a disappointing First Round exit in 2023 at the hands of the Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks fans will be expecting much more from their team as they charge hard into the 2023-2024 season.