Wes Edens' tenure as Bucks owner has included the team's second NBA Championship in 2021Getty Images
Bucks owner Wes Edens said that the experience of owning the team since 2014 has "surpassed his admittedly high expectations," according to Jim Owczarski of the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. Over the last decade, the Bucks have become "one of the most consistent winners in the NBA." That is "quite the change from Edens’ introduction to Milwaukee on April 16, 2014," a time of "uncertainty regarding the future of the franchise." Bucks F Khris Middleton said Edens "brought a winning culture" and "had his hands on a lot of things." Edens noted the "good fortune ownership had in inheriting Giannis Antetokounmpo and Middleton," but retaining them through multiple contracts -- and "capitalizing on their talents by bringing in players around them -- required a heavy financial commitment." Edens said, "We’re the second- or third-highest payroll in the league and last time I checked Milwaukee is not the second- or third-biggest market in the league." Owczarski noted the Bucks play in Fiserv Forum, which opened in 2018 and is the "second-youngest arena in the NBA." Edens said, "We were fortunate enough to get enough support so we could afford to do it and then as a result this is where we are. And now the Bucks are in Milwaukee for, hopefully forever.” Owczarski noted Edens is "becoming one of the elder statesmen in league ownership," and his "influence is palpable." He has been "on the leading edge of the NBA's efforts in creating and growing the Basketball Africa League" and sits on the NBA Africa BOD (
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 4/16).
