The

1974–75 NBA season The 1974–75 NBA season was the 29th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Golden State Warriors winning the NBA Championship, sweeping the Washington Bullets 4 games to 0 in the NBA Finals. Notable occurre ...

was the Bucks' seventh season in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. For the first time since 1970,

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

was not on the opening day roster. This would be Kareem Abdul Jabbar's last season in Milwaukee before being traded to the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

the following the season. Just before the start of the regular season, Kareem had privately requested a trade on October 3, 1974, at a dinner meeting in

Downtown Milwaukee Downtown Milwaukee is the central business district of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The economic and symbolic center of the city and the Milwaukee metropolitan area, it is Milwaukee's oldest district and home to many of region's cultural, financial ed ...

. His preferred trade destinations were the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

and the

. General manager Wayne Embry later stated in 1987, "We asked Kareem if there was dissatisfaction with us and he said, 'no'. He just wanted to be traded from Milwaukee. He said his life style and the life style in Milwaukee were not compatible." With the Knicks failing to trade for Kareem in the 1975 offseason, the Lakers then traded for Kareem on June 16, 1975, in a trade that also sent

Walt Wesley Walter Ivory Wesley (January 25, 1945 – March 28, 2024) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks. Early life Wesley grew up in Fort Myers ...

to the Lakers and

Junior Bridgeman Ulysses Lee "Junior" Bridgeman Jr. (September 17, 1953 – March 11, 2025) was an American professional basketball player and businessman. Bridgeman played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Cli ...

, Dave Meyers,

Elmore Smith Elmore Smith (born May 9, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player born in Macon, Georgia. A center from Kentucky State University, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1971 to 1979. He was a member ...

, and

Brian Winters Brian Joseph Winters (born March 1, 1952) is an American former basketball player and coach. Career Winters attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York, graduating in 1970. He then played collegi ...

to the Bucks.

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

With the retirement of

, the Bucks started the season 1–13 before slowly coming back and after 48 games they were 24-24 and were poised for their 6th straight trip to the postseason, but the Bucks faded down the stretch and missed the playoffs for the first time since their inaugural season in 1968–69.

Season standings

:z – clinched division title :y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

, -style="background:#fcc;" , 1 , , October 18, 1974 , ,

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

L 101–106
, , , , MECCA Arena , 0–1 , -style="background:#fcc;" , 4 , , October 22, 1974 , ,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

L 96–111
, , , , MECCA Arena , 1–3 , -style="background:#bbffbb;" , 30 , , December 22, 1974 , ,

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

W 96–76
, , , , MECCA Arena , 12–18 \

Playoffs

The Milwaukee Bucks failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first since 1968-69 season.

Player statistics

Awards and records

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...

NBA All-Defensive First Team The NBA All-Defensive Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1968–69 NBA season to the best defensive players during the regular season. The All-Defensive Team is generally composed of ten players in tw ...

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1974-75 Milwaukee Bucks season

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Milwaukee Bucks seasons Milwau Milwau 1970s in Milwaukee