The Milwaukee Bucks Logo Over the Decades: How Many Times Did They Change It and Why?

The Milwaukee Bucks are one of the oldest franchises that are still based out of their original city. They do not have a lot of title wins to boast about, but they surely have a rich history. They picked legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as overall first in 1969, and that led to a 1971 title win and a 1974 EC finals win.

Once The Big ‘A’ left the squad, they again picked up in 1979 and played 11 consecutive playoffs. The 52-seasons old franchise has given many other greats to the league. Sidney Moncrief, Marques Johnson, Bob Dandridge, Michael Redd, and Ray Allen are a few notable names. 

How many times have they changed their logos, and why?

All-in-all, they’ve done this re-branding four times in the past five decades. Have a look at the timeline-

The Primary Logo (1968-93)

This was perhaps the most unique logo they ever presented. It showcased a 2-D animation of a smiling Buck wearing a sweatshirt. The sweater had the letter ‘B’ stitched over it to obviously represent the Bucks. Also, it reflected contentment & skills with the Buck spinning a basketball with a cent percent ease. Most of the aforementioned greats played under this logo.

The New Era (1993-06)

As the times changed, so did the logo. The Bucks marked their 25th anniversary with a change in its design. They now came up with a more aggressive work with a more real-looking Buck staring ahead. The designers used an 8-point white-tail male beer with an inverted pyramid in the background. 

A Little Tweak (2006-15)

This time around, they did not touch the buck, but changed everything else. The colors hunter green and silver stayed, whereas purple was replaced by red. Also, the font style (and the box inscribing it) of the BUCKS word was tweaked to a bolder style. This proved to be one of the worst eras in Bucks’ history, with three first-round losses and no better performances.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ latest up-gradation to own the future

The franchise got its new ownership group in 2014 when the franchise got sold to Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry for a reported $550 million. The Bucks were 15-67 in 2014, and hence they needed some change. They now also had a future great in Giannis Antetokounmpo by their side.

The new logo came up a year later in 2015, and the fans accepted it with open arms. The Buck now was angrier, and the logo was less colorful. It showcased an urgency and a more dominant way of approaching the play. The Buck now had 12 antlers and not 8. It hid an imaginary basketball in the negative space too. Moreover, Buck had the letter ‘M’ on its chest to show love for the city. 

The minimalist colors of Good land green, cream city cream, and great lakes blue complemented and blended very well. This, and a better front office-led to the team finishing on table-top in 2019 and 2020. 

They’re yet to win another title, but it seems near.