The Milwaukee Bucks have a weird history. One year they’re winning 66 games and looking like gods, and the next they’re bottom-feeding with 15 measly wins. If you look at the Milwaukee Bucks season records over the last 50-plus years, you see a franchise that doesn't really do "middle of the road" very well. They are either elite or they are essentially a lottery factory. Honestly, it’s a bit of a rollercoaster for the fans in Cream City.
Back in 1968, the team started as an expansion project. They were bad. 27 wins bad. But then they won a coin flip—literally a coin flip—and got Lew Alcindor, who we now know as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Suddenly, the record books exploded. By their third year, they hit a franchise-high 66-16 record and won the whole thing. Imagine an expansion team winning a title in three years today. It’s unheard of.
Why Milwaukee Bucks Season Records Tell a Story of Streaks
You can't talk about this team without looking at the massive eras of dominance followed by total collapses. In the 80s, under Don Nelson, they were the "nearly" team. They won 50 or more games almost every single year. Between 1980 and 1986, they didn't just win; they dominated the Central Division. They took home seven straight division titles. But they kept hitting a wall called the Boston Celtics or the Philadelphia 76ers.
The record from 1980-81 shows a 60-22 finish. People forget how good those Sidney Moncrief teams were because they never got the ring. It’s kinda tragic. Then the 90s happened.
Basically, the 90s were a black hole. From 1991 to 1998, they didn’t have a single winning season. Not one. They bottomed out in 1993-94 with a 20-62 record. If you were a fan then, you were basically just watching Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson and hoping for a miracle. The record improved when Ray Allen and Sam Cassell showed up, leading to that famous 2000-01 run where they went 52-30 and fell just short in a controversial Eastern Conference Finals.
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The Giannis Shift and Modern Dominance
Everything changed in 2013. Well, not immediately. That season was actually the worst in franchise history. 15 wins. 67 losses. It was brutal. But that misery led to the draft picks that eventually built a juggernaut.
When Mike Budenholzer took over in 2018, the regular season became a cakewalk.
- 2018-19: 60 wins.
- 2019-20: 56 wins (in a shortened season).
- 2020-21: 46 wins (and a trophy).
The 2020-21 record of 46-26 looks "worse" on paper than the 60-win season, but that’s the irony of Milwaukee Bucks season records. Sometimes the best regular season doesn't lead to the parade. They actually played better "winning" basketball in the playoffs when the record was more modest.
The Recent Slump and 2025 Reality
Lately, things have been... complicated. After a stellar 58-24 record in 2022-23, they’ve struggled to keep that same energy. They fired Mike Budenholzer, hired Adrian Griffin, then fired him while they were 30-13, and brought in Doc Rivers. It’s been chaotic.
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The 2024-25 season ended with a 48-34 record. That's respectable for most teams, but for a group with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, it felt like a disappointment. They finished 3rd in the Central and 5th in the East. Fans expected 50+ wins. They got a first-round exit instead.
As of January 2026, the current season is looking even rougher. They’re sitting at 17-23. That’s below .500. For a team with this much talent, seeing a record that looks more like the pre-Giannis era is jarring. They’ve been struggling on the road, going 8-13 away from Fiserv Forum. It’s tough to watch.
Milwaukee Bucks Season Records: All-Time Highs and Lows
If you’re looking for the raw data, here’s how the extremes shake out:
- Best Record Ever: 66-16 (1970-71)
- Worst Record Ever: 15-67 (2013-14)
- Most Recent "Great" Year: 58-24 (2022-23)
- Total Playoff Appearances: 37
- Championships: 2 (1971, 2021)
It’s interesting that the Bucks are the only team to win a title in both the Western and Eastern Conferences. They moved conferences in 1980. That’s a trivia fact that most people get wrong.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Record
Everyone looks at the win-loss column and assumes the team was "bad" if they didn't hit 50. But context matters. In the 2019-20 season, they had a .767 winning percentage. That’s actually higher than many of their 60-win seasons, but because the season was cut short by the pandemic, the raw number looks lower.
Also, look at the "Fear the Deer" era around 2009-10. They went 46-36. It wasn't a world-beating record, but the vibes were at an all-time high. Brandon Jennings was dropping 55 points as a rookie. Sometimes a 46-win season feels better than a 55-win season where everyone is miserable.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're tracking these stats to understand where the team is headed, keep an eye on the "Net Rating" rather than just the wins. Last year, their Net Rating was +2.5. This year, it's dipped significantly.
- Check the Home/Road Split: The Bucks historically play about 15-20% better at home. If the road record is underwater, the season record will never recover.
- Watch the Aging Curve: Brook Lopez and Dame are getting older. When veteran teams start losing to teams below .500 (which they’ve done a lot this year), it’s a sign the regular season record is a harbinger of a playoff disaster.
- Defense Wins Records: In every 50-win season the Bucks have ever had, they’ve ranked in the top 10 for Defensive Rating. Currently, they are sitting outside that mark, which explains the 17-23 start.
The history of this franchise is a cycle. We might be witnessing the end of a high-win era and the start of a retooling phase. Or, Giannis might just carry them to 15 straight wins and fix the stats. That’s the beauty of it.
To get a better handle on how this stacks up against the rest of the league, you should compare their defensive efficiency to the 2021 championship year. The gap right now is pretty wide, specifically in transition defense. Keep an eye on the injury reports for Khris Middleton too; the record without him has historically been about 10-12 wins worse over a full season pace.