Tyler Herro didn’t need a game in a Bucks uniform to start winning over Milwaukee. One Instagram post did the trick.
Herro, who was born and raised in Wisconsin, said he’ll wear No. 42 during his time with the Milwaukee Bucks. When asked about the choice, he explained, "My pops wore 42 and i was a Charlie bell fan growing up."
That answer landed with Bucks fans because Charlie Bell is the kind of name only real Milwaukee lifers tend to know. Bell came to the Bucks as an undrafted player and stuck around from 2005 to 2010, appearing in 350 games over five seasons. He averaged 9.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game in Milwaukee.
Bell was never a franchise headliner, but he carved out a long NBA career through effort and toughness, and that made him a meaningful reference point for fans who appreciated the detail. Herro choosing that number, and citing Bell as the reason, immediately changed the tone around how some people might view him.
That matters in Milwaukee, where Herro’s name has already carried baggage from years of playing against the Bucks in South Beach alongside Jimmy Butler. Now, though, he’s not just the guard who once lit up Milwaukee in the 2020 bubble. He’s also a Wisconsin kid who grew up watching the Bucks and held onto that connection even while spending seven years on the other side.
The move to bring him in was always going to come with questions. For a Bucks fanbase still sorting through the fallout of a now-bygone Giannis era, the trade return from Miami was going to be picked apart from the start.
Was Herro enough? Could he be the right centerpiece for a rebuild?
Does his injury history make a one-year deal too risky? Those questions are still there, and the answers will come from what happens this season.
But the jersey choice gave Milwaukee something immediate to latch onto. A player who picks his hometown team’s number because his father wore it and because he grew up admiring an undrafted Bucks guard is showing real buy-in to the city and its culture. That doesn’t show up in a box score, but it does matter for a team trying to build an identity as much as a roster.
Herro is a three-level scorer coming off an injury-shortened season, and he’s stepping into a fresh start at home. The Bucks need production, sure.
They also need a sense of who they are. Starting with No. 42 and a Charlie Bell nod gives this new chapter a little more meaning.
Milwaukee has a new era to shape, and its first new star already seems to understand the place he’s walking into. Herro didn’t look like a reluctant piece in a bigger transaction. He looked like someone who knows exactly what it means to be a Milwaukee Buck.
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