NBA History: The best era for each of the 30 franchises

Milwaukee Bucks: 1969-74

The Milwaukee Bucks had only been in existence for a single unimpressive 27-win season before receiving a stimulus package from the NBA. In it was the right to pick first in the 1969 Draft with a consensus top pick who had exuded a level of collegiate dominance the basketball world had never before seen.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — previously known as Lew Alcindor — used his four years at UCLA to become an absolute force inside the paint and was quick to put it to use upon reaching the NBA.

The Bucks would win an extra 29 game on account of Kareem’s presence that landed him Rookie of the Year honors, but they’d bow out in the division finals to the New York Knicks. It was the following season that’s considered the best in franchise history after a blockbuster deal brought Abdul-Jabbar the help he needed.

Oscar Robertson was already an established perennial All-Star by the time he was traded to Milwaukee in April of 1970. He was a 6’5” point guard and the first player to ever average a triple-double across an entire season.

Together, Robertson and Abdul-Jabbar laid waste to the rest of the NBA by leading the Bucks to 66 wins in 1970-71. Milwaukee would lose just two games in the postseason, sweeping the Baltimore Bullets for the first championship in franchise history.

Over the next three years, Kareem won two MVPs and the Bucks made it back to the Finals in 1975, losing a bitter seven-game series to the Boston Celtics. The Big O would retire that offseason and Abdul-Jabbar would issue a trade request the following summer that sent him to LA.

It was a pairing that had dynastic potential but ultimately fell short. Still, Robertson and Kareem are revered in Milwaukee to this day for bringing the Bucks the only NBA championship the city has ever known.