Five Possible Names For The Bucks G-League Team

As the D-League world looks forward to the inevitable transition to becoming the only development league that can truly quench your thirst, there’s many questions that need to be answered. Are salaries finally be increased? Will alums of the G-League be called OGs? Are commercials going to be called G-Spots?

While most of those questions will probably remain in the ether until next year, there’s one pertinent NBAGL matter that should be answered in the foreseeable future.

That issue pertains to the name of the Milwaukee Bucks NBAGL squad that will play their ball in nearby Oshkosh starting in the 2017-18 season. The team’s matchups will take place in an arena in downtown Oshkosh that’s currently being constructed as we speak. Although the games will take place in Oshkosh, the Bucks G-League squad’s name will take on the name of the area (Fox Valley) where the team will play rather than a specific city or state. That’s similar to what we see from the RGV Vipers who declare they’re from Rio Grande Valley rather than Hidalgo, Texas.

Of course, that information has been known since the Milwaukee Bucks officially announced their G-League squad back on February 9th. However, the team’s actual name still remains unknown, even though we’re more than three months removed from the actual announcement of their NBAGL affiliate. That long delay is extremely surprising as team owner Greg Pierce stated in a February interview that the team’s squad’s name would come at the end of March. That didn’t happen.

While we wait for the Bucks organization to actually make that announcement, it seems like a good time to speculate about what the team would actually be called. So without further ado, here are some possible names for the Bucks G-League squad.

Fox Valley Flyers

Although most people associate the “Flyers” with Philadelphia’s NHL squad, this name actually has a history in the Fox Valley that dates back more than more than thirty years. Back in the early 1980’s, the state of Wisconsin didn’t have much of a basketball presence outside of the Bucks and a few college teams.

To help fix that, local Oshkosh businessman Killian Spanbauer set his sights on forming a minor league squad in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), which basically stood as the 20th century version of the D-League. Spanbauer accomplished his goal in 1982 when the CBA announced that the Wisconsin Flyers would be a new expansion squad located in Oshkosh.

While the squad wasn’t necessarily successful during their six year run, as they only had one winning season, it still showed that the city could hold a minor league hoops squads.

In addition to that squad in the mid-80’s, the city of Oshkosh has had a deep connection with aviation that dates back to the 1950’s. Starting in 1953, the city of Oshkosh has been looked at as this mecca for aviation enthusiasts as every summer the city holds the Oshkosh Airshow. Within those 60+ years, the event has featured some of the best aircrafts in the entire world, with most of them being homebuilt. The event has become so massive that more than 500,000 people attended the Oshkosh Airshow back in 2014.

Fox Valley Whitetails

As weird as it might sound, one of Wisconsin’s more profitable business is deer hunting. According to the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the act of deer hunting contributes more than $1 billion to the state’s economy. That revenue comes from the 600,000 deer hunters in the state that do everything from buying rifles and outdoor equipment to soaps that smell like dirt and grass..

Of course, that huge deer hunting market led to the introduction of the the Bucks back in 1969. With the new G-League squad, it would only be right for them to continue honor that great lineage by being named after the most popular type of deer in Wisconsin.

Fox Valley Fawns

If the Bucks still want to have a deer-related name for the G-League team and are not fans of calling them the “Whitetails”, the Fox Valley Fawns is a pretty decent alternative. For those of you not in the know, fawns are basically versions of deer or bucks. It would makes perfect sense for young players in the team’s organization to play with the Fawns before they move up to the NBA and become Bucks.

Fox Valley B’Gosh’s

Alongside aviation, the city of Oshkosh is known as the hometown of one of the leading children’s apparel company, OshKosh B’Gosh. With minor league basketball turning more corporate with the introduction of the NBA Gatorade League and the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, it might not be surprising for the Bucks G-League squad to be named after the most popular company to come out of the Fox Valley.

Fox Valley Bucks

Unfortunately, this is probably the most likely name for the Bucks G-League affiliate. With the introduction of the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario and Lakeland Magic, nine of the league’s 26 teams will share the same name as their big league affiliate. In addition to that, this decision makes sense as the Fox Valley Bucks would have immediate brand due to them sharing the same name as their big league affiliate that’s been in the NBA for nearly fifty years.