Milwaukee to Host Championship Parade for Bucks on Thursday

The newly crowned NBA champion Bucks will celebrate their first NBA title in 50 years with a championship parade on Thursday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. 

While some details of the parade are still being ironed out, WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee caught up with Bucks president Peter Feigin as he celebrated the franchise's title.

The Bucks did not have a championship parade when they won their first championship in 1971 when Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) led the franchise to an NBA title. Other players from the 1971 team include Oscar Robertson, Bob Dandridge, Jon McGlocklin and Greg Smith. 

"It was just the third season of the team’s existence, so perhaps it happened too fast for unfamiliar city leaders to process and a still-developing fan base to clamor for. Perhaps, as some feel, Milwaukee politicians didn’t want to so publicly acknowledge a team led by Black players or encourage a mixing of races downtown after years of marches and protests," according to the Sentinel.

Jeff Fleming, the spokesperson for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, said the city had been planning for the parade prior to Game 6. 

The parade route would likely include Wisconsin Avenue—one of the main streets in downtown Milwaukee. Late Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, some Bucks fans were already celebrating near Pere Marquette Park. 

In what will be less than two days to host a championship parade bodes well for Bucks guards Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday. The two of them are also members of the USA men's basketball team in the Tokyo Olympics. Team USA's first Olympics game is slated for Sunday.