Bucks’ co-owner Wes Edens ‘optimistic’ team can make a playoff run despite Damian Lillard injury

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MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks held their second annual Sixth Man Soirée at Fiserv Forum on Monday.

The event benefited the Milwaukee Bucks Foundation, offering guests the chance to support the foundation as well as its anchor program, Bucks Health and Wellness. This year’s fundraising effort supported the foundation’s latest initiative to fight obesity in the Milwaukee community. More than 500 people have participated in the program since its launch in 2024, according to the Bucks.

“We started this program over a year ago,” Bucks co-owner and current governor Wes Edens said. “The real purpose of it was to take these, really miracle drugs, these medication drugs, which are expensive and they’re out of the reach of a lot of people, and then create a program around that to basically then take those drugs and medications, give them to people that couldn’t afford them otherwise, and then most importantly bring in a health and wellness program to back it up.

“So we work with the sports science group here at the Bucks, which is world-class, to provide a nutrition and fitness program for them. And in doing so, we’ve got almost 600 people in the program right now, and they’ve collectively lost like 8,000 pounds. We talk about all the things in the world, obesity is probably the No. 1 disease. It’s actually considered a disease, one out of two Americans almost. It affects everything. It affects your cholesterol levels, blood pressure levels, pre-diabetes, but also your mental health. A person who is struggling with their weight a great deal has a lot of other things to deal with. So I think that this is something we’re very focused on.”

A Bucks spokesperson said that 550 people attended Monday’s fundraiser and the team raised more than $2.5 million on the night.

While he talked with reporters about the event and the fundraising efforts, Edens also talked about basketball and his expectations for the Bucks in the postseason, the latest in NBA ownership news and the reasoning behind Milwaukee’s trade deadline moves.

(Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.)

The playoffs are two weeks away. This team has dealt with some unexpected injuries and absences this year and it’s tough to know when Damian Lillard will return. So what are your expectations and excitement level heading toward the postseason?

Health is everything in the NBA and we’ve been a little bit snakebit around the playoffs the last four years. Dame’s No. 1 objective, our objective for him, is to be healthy as a person. He’s an amazing basketball player, but he’s also an amazing person. We want him healthy. And so I have no idea what that means for him in the short term or long term. And you can only play the game with the people who suit up for it. We’ll get Bobby (Portis) back here in a few days. We’ve got a great team, I think, otherwise.

You’ve seen us have some good results. The last couple of weeks have not been what we wanted, but it’s a long season, and I’m optimistic that with Giannis (Antetokounmpo) and his leadership and the other players that we’ve got, we’ve got a strong core and so let’s let’s play with it. The one thing I learned in this sport is that nobody feels sorry for you. Everyone’s had a deal with their injuries and maybe we’ve had more than our share (with) some of the stars these last three, four years.

But I’m optimistic this team can make a real run of it, so let’s see.

Junior Bridgeman purchased a 10 percent stake in the club in September, but with his sudden passing on March 11, is there a process in terms of finding some clarity on what will happen with that part of ownership?

I’m so saddened by the passing of Junior Bridgeman. I was just getting to know him. He’s been around the team for some time but getting to know him the last number of months. Went to the service in Louisville and was incredibly touched at the impact he made on so many people. I think that there’s a saying, “Hard to make a dollar, much harder to make a difference,” and he made a difference to a tremendous number of people. He and his family deserve so much credit for (their) impact.

It’s such a tragedy that he was not able to reach his full expression as an owner. He was coming into it. He’s a pretty understated, almost shy person, especially when you consider all his many accomplishments. But it’s just … life is not always fair and so I’m sorry for him and his family that he didn’t experience it. And I’m sorry for us as owners and for the Bucks organization and the fans that he was not able to be an owner longer.

I presume (the Bridgeman estate must work through his affairs). He clearly wasn’t expecting to pass and they still have a lot of stuff to sort through, their … significant assets and whatnot. So, they’ll work through that.

What are your thoughts on the Boston Celtics being sold for $6.1 billion, the highest value for a North American sports franchise?

(Celtics governor) Wyc (Grousbeck) is a close friend and I’m so happy for him and his family. I mean, I think that the valuation kind of surpassed what everyone’s expectations were. The Celtics are an incredible franchise and deserve all the valuation they got. It’s a good time for the NBA.

We had our league meetings last week and we talked a lot about the European opportunity, which I think is going to develop over the next couple of years. That is a monumental step. Because if you look around the world, I’m an investor in the Premier League (with Aston Villa) and nobody owns world soccer. There’s Premier League, then there’s La Liga, then there’s Serie A, there’s Bundesliga and so on. In basketball, the NBA can kind of own basketball around the world and be the brand setter for all this.

I think going and starting a league in Europe is a bold step. I think it has tremendous promise. If you look at the number of athletes (who) come out of Europe, it’s a very long list. Many of our most recent MVPs are out of there, but there’s so much talent there and I think putting a league with this kind of imprimatur with the NBA on the continent is exciting. I think it’s an exciting time for the NBA, broadly speaking, and I think the valuation of the Celtics is going to reflect that.

Where might NBA expansion fit with the conversation of a European league?

I don’t think it’s either/or, from my perspective. There’s not been a decision made about that yet. There’s been a lot of speculation. I think it’s a very healthy thing when people are eagerly looking for franchises. It just shows you where it is and there could be some amazing cities that you can imagine that are out there. I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive at all.

There have been many changes to the All-Star Game — what are your feelings on that and where does Milwaukee stand with its chances to land one?

There’s been a lot of attempts (at changes) and it hasn’t worked out quite as well as we wanted. It’s not for a lack of trying. I think when you look at the impact it’s had on social media, it’s at like a billion views. A billion views of anything shouldn’t be considered a failure in my view. There’s a lot of good about it. We’d all love to see the competitive games that we used to see in the ’80s and ’90s but the world has moved on in a lot of different ways.

There’s lots of talk about different things they can do and different formats. They’re going to keep trying. But it’s not just us. NFL football is now a flag football game. There’s a lot. To have a chance to showcase your best athletes, give fans a chance to get close to them, that’s the part about it — the celebration of the game and I think that is very successful. The game itself needs a little bit of work.

With respect to Milwaukee, I think we have a deserving venue. As they add more hotel rooms in the city here — that’s a big part of it — can you stage this? I would be a huge fan and would be honored if there was a game here. Next year, they’re headed back to L.A. and it’s probably a little bit more kind, weather-wise, in the middle of winter than Milwaukee but that’s OK. There have been cold-weather venues that have done really well in Chicago, and in Toronto and other places. So we’ll see.

The Bucks made a four-team trade at the deadline in February that got the team under the second apron. How has the basketball operations group been affected by the new apron penalties?

For the first time, they’ve included both financial penalties and sporting penalties and so you do not want to be in the second apron if you can avoid it. We have come out of our pockets to put the best team we can on the field and spent a lot of money doing so and have a championship to show for it and a lot of wins. But we always want more.

The moves we made at the deadline were basketball moves. And the financial was a part of it, in the consideration of the second apron, but I think that (general manager) Jon Horst and his organization did and recommended what they thought would be best for the basketball team and I think that they did a great job.

So, let’s see. The season’s not over with.

So there was no mandate from ownership to get under the (second) apron for financial reasons?

No. No. Not at all. None of that.

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(Photo of Wes Edens: Michael McLoone / USA TODAY Sports via Imagn Images)

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