Milwaukee Bucks: The franchise’s forgotten Hall of Famers
By Adam McGee
The Milwaukee Bucks have a strange relationship with the Hall of Fame, as the majority of the their Springfield inductees may not immediately come to mind as great Bucks in their own right.
If you were asked to name the 11 former Milwaukee Bucks players who’ve been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame, how do you think you’d do?
Sure, you’d get Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson, but who would you pick next?
The Bucks have retired eight jerseys in their history to date, but only three of that grouping have had the honor of being enshrined in Springfield. Outside of Abdul-Jabbar and Robertson, Bob Lanier is the only Bucks’ jersey retiree to also have a place in the Hall of Fame, and perhaps that’s fitting considering the career profile of the other eight players.
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Lanier joined the Bucks in the latter stages of his career and offered the kind of steady inside, veteran presence that Milwaukee needed to kick on and compete at the top of the East, but it’s fair to say his best years came during his time with the Detroit Pistons.
As a Piston, Lanier made seven of his eight total All-Star appearances, while also claiming that showcase game’s MVP honors in 1974. There’s no doubting Lanier’s sizeable impact with the Bucks, but his legacy was sealed long before that in Detroit.
Legacies being sealed long before (or after) a stint with the Bucks is certainly a common theme among the franchise’s Hall of Fame inductees, making Abdul-Jabbar, Robertson, and even Lanier, notable exceptions.
Considering Robertson and Lanier’s advanced years when they landed in Milwaukee, it’s fair to say Ray Allen will join Abdul-Jabbar as just the second Hall of Famer to have spent his prime with the Bucks, when he’s inducted on Friday.
As a result, Milwaukee has a history of forgotten Hall of Famers, not for the considerable and impressive careers they compiled over the years, but instead for their brief and generally unmemorable stays with the Bucks.
Let’s take a closer look at exactly who makes up this illustrious group of history makers who hardly left their mark in their playing days in Milwaukee.