The Milwaukee Bucks finally did the unthinkable and traded away Giannis Antetokounmpo in a blockbuster deal ahead of the NBA Draft. This sent shockwaves around the NBA and around Wisconsin. It also sent jokes around Wisconsin, too, especially among Badger fans. The same joke was shared by a ton of Badger writers and fans... Wisconsin is getting Tyler Herro.
The entire trade package is wild to comprehend... according to ESPN, it's "Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to the Miami Heat for Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round picks (including No. 13 in Tuesday's NBA draft), one pick swap and one second-round pick, sources told ESPN." That's wild, but what stole many of the headlines and what caused Badger fans to turn and look twice was Tyler Herro.
The Herro to Wisconsin Badgers story has a few twists and turns, and now he's finally back home in Wisconsin.A high school player from Milwaukee who almost became a Badger is now back in Milwaukee, but has yet to become a Badger. Yet, the joke was ripe for the picking. Here are a couple of examples:
Wisconsin finally gets Tyler Herro. https://t.co/9TnWerzBcM pic.twitter.com/WIqjeWlmlC
— Evan Flood (@Evan_Flood) June 23, 2026
Seven years later, Tyler Herro will actually play for a Wisconsin team
— Zach Heilprin (@ZachHeilprin) June 23, 2026
Tyler Herro to the Milwaukee Bucks is the hometown hero story that should have happend as a Badger
Related: Final NBA Draft projection for former Wisconsin standout Nick Boyd
Herro was set to be a hometown hero. Greg Gard's first offer as a newly minted head coach went to the local star. However, he wasn't yet a star in the national spotlight. He had plenty of other offers, but wasn't considered what would eventually be a "phenom" status. Herro committed to the Badgers and Gard and was all set to be a hometown hero, and then his profile exploded.
In his final high school season, he went from a local star with a good handful of high-major offers to programs like Kentucky and Arizona coming after him hard. Herro eventually decommitted, saying he wanted to explore all his options and see what other opportunities were out there. Most people know the ending: he chose to play for John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats, going one-and-done, and has been an NBA fringe star ever since.
It's truly one of the "what-if" stories for the Wisconsin Badgers. What would have happened if Tyler Herro decided to stay home and play for the Badgers and become the hometown hero? Yet, that never happened, and then in a strange twist of the NBA world, he's now back in Wisconsin but not as a Badger. Never as a Badger, this time as a Buck and ready to put on the jersey for an NBA team he grew up rooting for.
It's a good joke to make, no doubt, but it also stings a little, still after all these years. He's a player who spurned his hometown to chase whatever it was Calipari was offering (let's not speculate) and left Greg Gard and Wisconsin in the dust. This doesn't mean there isn't some excitement to see him run a full-circle moment and return home, but it does have a little bit of a sting to it.
Add us as a preferred source on Google