Editing Milwaukee Bucks (section)

===1968–1969: Team creation===
On January 22, 1968, the NBA awarded a [[Sport franchising|franchise]] to Milwaukee Professional Sports and Services, Inc. (Milwaukee Pro), a group headed by Wesley Pavalon and Marvin Fishman.<ref>{{cite web|title=On This Day in 1968: Milwaukee Awarded an NBA Franchise|url=https://www.nba.com/bucks/features/milwaukee-awarded-nba-franchise-1968|publisher=NBA Media Ventures, LLC|website=Bucks.com|date=January 22, 2016|access-date=May 13, 2024|language=en-US}}</ref> A fan contest was held to name the new team, with over 40,000 fans participating.<ref>{{cite web |title=On This Day in 1968: Milwaukee Awarded an NBA Franchise |url=https://www.nba.com/bucks/features/milwaukee-awarded-nba-franchise-1968 |website=NBA.com |access-date=December 10, 2019 |date=January 22, 2016 |archive-date=December 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210213713/https://www.nba.com/bucks/features/milwaukee-awarded-nba-franchise-1968 |url-status=live }}</ref> While the most-voted fan entry was the ''Robins'', named for Wisconsin's state bird, the contest judges went with the second-most popular choice, the ''Bucks'', which was a reference to Wisconsin's official wild animal, the [[white-tailed deer]]. One fan, R. D. Trebilcox, was awarded a new car for his part in reasoning why the Bucks was a good nickname, saying that bucks were "spirited, good jumpers, fast and agile."<ref>{{cite web|last1=McGee|first1=Adam|title=Milwaukee Bucks History: What's In A Nickname?|date=September 2, 2016|url=http://behindthebuckpass.com/2016/09/02/milwaukee-bucks-history-nickname/|publisher=Fansided|access-date=January 1, 2017|archive-date=January 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101232650/http://behindthebuckpass.com/2016/09/02/milwaukee-bucks-history-nickname/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Bucks marked a return of the NBA to Milwaukee after 13 years; their previous team, the [[Atlanta Hawks|Hawks]], played for four seasons in the early 1950s before moving to [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] in 1955 (they are now based in [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]]). In October, the Bucks played their first NBA regular-season game against the [[Chicago Bulls]] before a [[Milwaukee Arena]] crowd of 8,467. As is typical with expansion teams, the Bucks' first season ([[1968–69 NBA season|1968–69]]) was a struggle. Their first victory came in their sixth game as the Bucks beat the [[Detroit Pistons]] 134–118; they won only 26 more games in their first year. That year, the Bucks' record earned them a coin flip against their expansion cousins, the [[Phoenix Suns]], to see who would get the first pick in the upcoming draft. It was considered a foregone conclusion that the first pick in the draft would be [[Kareem Abdul-Jabbar|Lew Alcindor]] of [[UCLA]]. The Bucks won the coin flip, but had to win a bidding war with the [[Brooklyn Nets|New York Nets]] of the upstart [[American Basketball Association]] (ABA) to secure him.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/it-took-a-hustler-a-native-son-a-priests-blessing-and-a-city-hungry-for-sports-to-bring-the-bucks-to-milwaukee/ar-AALO4xT|title = It took a hustler, a native son, a priest's blessing and a city hungry for sports to bring the Bucks to Milwaukee|website = [[MSN]]|access-date = November 19, 2021|archive-date = November 19, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211119145122/https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/it-took-a-hustler-a-native-son-a-priests-blessing-and-a-city-hungry-for-sports-to-bring-the-bucks-to-milwaukee/ar-AALO4xT|url-status = live}}</ref>