Building the Milwaukee Bucks: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and the Rapid Rise of an NBA Franchise, 1968-1975

In three short years, the Milwaukee Bucks went from merely an idea to NBA champions. What started as a quest by Marvin Fishman and eventually Wesley Pavalon to get Milwaukee back in the big leagues became something bigger than they could have imagined. They attracted a hard-working coach in Larry Costello, a pioneer in Wayne Embry and some of the biggest talents in the game of basketball with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson. The pieces fell into place for a franchise that asserted themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the NBA. This work covers the unique formation of the NBA franchise that helped restore the image of the city of Milwaukee amid civil unrest and the departure of Major League Baseball as well as why Abdul-Jabbar never found comfort being the face of the Bucks while living in Milwaukee.

Jordan Treske has written and podcasted about the Milwaukee Bucks for a decade. He’s a co-host of the Win in 6 podcast alongside Adam McGee. You can find his work as part of the Gyro Step Podcast Network where they cover the Bucks, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Green Bay Packers as part of the Blue Wire Network. Jordan lives in Milwaukee.