Aaron Rodgers' ownership stake in the Milwaukee Bucks almost a year in the making

Matt Velazquez | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

During Game 3 of their first-round playoff series, this postseason's first at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, the Milwaukee Bucks surprised fans in the building and around the world by announcing Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had bought into the team's ownership group.

It was a move that united some of the largest brands in the state and made Rodgers the first active NFL player to become an NBA owner.

While it was a surprise at the time, it was actually many months in the making. Following Tuesday's practice in Green Bay, Rodgers spoke with reporters about how he got in with the Bucks as well as how he feels about the hiring of new Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer.

"It’s actually been almost a year now in the making," Rodgers said. "We wanted to announce it at the beginning of the season but I was in California dealing with the post-surgery blues, so I didn’t have a chance to make it out to the first game, so we decided to push that back a little bit into the offseason.

"I’ve gotten to know (owners) Marc (Lasry) and Wes (Edens) and (Bucks president) Peter (Feigin) over the years and have been wanting to be a part of it for a long time. The opportunity finally came about where I could get representation out of the way and talk directly to Wes, and then it was easy. It’s exciting, it’s fun. Excited about the new coach. I’m just excited to kind of have that attachment to the state, which is going to hang on longer than my career."

While he is close with Edens, Lasry and fellow majority owner Jamie Dinan, Rodgers isn't on equal footing with that trio when it comes to ownership of the Bucks. According to the team, Rodgers is a "limited partner."