The Wisconsin Herd, the Milwaukee Bucks G League affiliate, were crowned Eastern Conference champs for the 2019-20 season by the G League Monday afternoon.
In any other year, the Wisconsin Herd would have had the chance to contend for a G League title and cement their worst-to-first turnaround.
Of course, this isn’t any other year, but the Herd were still recognized for their incredibly successful run during the 2019-20 season. On Monday afternoon, the G League crowned the Herd the Eastern Conference champions and the Salt Lake City Stars the champions of the Western Conference in lieu of being able to finish out the year in any traditional sense.
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The Herd had finished the season with the best record in the G League at 33-10 and this is just the latest honor in a long line of them for the Bucks G League affiliate.
G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim provided a statement on the achievements for both the Herd and the Stars while commenting on their exemplary play this season, respectively:
"“The Wisconsin Herd and Salt Lake City Stars are exceptional organizations and well deserving of this recognition,” said NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim. “Both teams played with purpose throughout the season to earn their spots at the top of the NBA G League.”"
The fun wrinkle to both the Herd and the Stars being crowned champions in their respective conferences is that the G League have pledged a $10,000 donation to organizations or a cause for both the Herd and the Stars’ choosing. For the Herd, that means $10,000 will be going to the National Urban League.
As much as the sting of not being able to compete for a G League championship is an all-too-present feeling for the Herd all these months later, being able to give back to the community as the Herd and the Bucks as a whole have increasingly done over recent years is a nice consolation prize.
With what we’ve seen over the last week, between Bucks two-way player Frank Mason III being named G League MVP or Mason, Jaylen Adams and Jemerrio Jones landing on the All-NBA G League teams for the 2019-20 campaign, the Herd’s success has been thoroughly recognized by the G League.
It may not come close to the chance of being able to compete for a title as the Herd were in prime position to do this season, but any honor will go toward them being able to savor a dream season that ended all too prematurely.