President Joe Biden met with Bucks co-owner Wes Edens, coach Doc Rivers and players and staff during Milwaukee visit.

BOSTON – On March 13 the Milwaukee Bucks were a bit weary as they made their way back from a weeklong road trip in California – but head coach Doc Rivers and a handful of players and staff joined team co-owner and governor Wes Edens for an informal meeting and conversation with President Joe Biden.

The President was in town and spoke at the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club, and wanted to catch up with Rivers and the team, if possible.

Biden held the private meeting with the Bucks’ coach, players and billionaire owner as he and his surrogates sweep this battleground state as part of his reelection bid later this fall. Biden held official and campaign visits while in Wisconsin last week, focusing on shoring up enthusiasm among Milwaukee’s Black community – a crucial electorate for Democrats – and boosting his campaign coffers.

Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in Wisconsin by fewer than 20,000 votes in 2020. Now, the pair face off again and Wisconsin is again one of the few states in the country that will decide the election.

Edens, who is worth billions, has supported Democrats in the past. Rivers endorsed Biden publicly in 2020.

“I said I can't, I'm in Sacramento and we're flying in,” Rivers recalled to the Journal Sentinel. “And the time we were flying in he was about to leave and he kind of waited for us to come in so he could see us.”

The team did arrive and made it to the Pfister Hotel for the meet and greet.

“He was really surprised at the turnout,” Rivers said. “It’s funny, they must have briefed him, because he knew. He said listen, I just wanted to say hi, I don't want to ask for anything, just want to say hi. I'm just surprised that this many of you guys came knowing that you've been on the road for a week. And he joked and he said, 'It would seem like you want to see your wives and not me.'”

Rivers said Biden recited parts of the coach’s memorable speech about racial injustices from the 2020 “bubble” when Rivers spoke about the shooting of Jacob Blake by a Kenosha police officer on Aug. 23, 2020.

The President has cited that speech before, notably in an October, 6, 2020 speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

“It was great,” Rivers said. “He was great. He started reciting the (speech) that I did, when I did that speech – he started off his head just started going into my speech.

“So, no, it was a great meeting. Just talked about the campaign coming up for him and all that. I was into it. It was really cool. Listen, I don’t care how many times you meet a President – it’s the President of the United States. And in my opinion, the guy is such a decent human being that he’s pretty cool.”

Rivers had met President George W. Bush formally in 2008 after his Boston Celtics won the NBA championship.

“It was really a cool thing,” Rivers said of meeting the President of the United States. “And it’s rare. I’ve been to a lot of things that are formal, it’s rare that you get an informal meeting. That was a very informal. We just came in, we were just talking and it was awesome.”

Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Pat Connaughton and Khris Middleton were the players on hand, and Antetokounmpo said the President asked about his mother Veronica and recorded a video greeting for her.

“I think he has a great relationship with people on the team and kind of was like, hey, I’d like to see some of the guys. It was great,” Antetokounmpo told the Journal Sentinel. “It was a day off, we just landed I think, so it was great.

“It never gets old when I meet world leaders and I meet people like that. It never gets old. It’s always a privilege to meet people like that, who have a lot of influence and do a lot of good in their communities and in their countries. It’s always great, even if I’m in Greece, if I’m in Nigeria, or I’m in Spain, France, wherever I’m at, it’s good.”

Antetokounmpo and Connaughton had met President Biden on Nov. 8, 2021 when they were invited to the White House to commemorate their NBA Championship, but Middleton did not make the trip because he was in the NBA's health and safety protocol.

“It was pretty cool,” Middleton told the Journal Sentinel. “I’ve met one sitting president before that in (Barack) Obama. I met Bill Clinton a couple times. So it was cool to finally meet Joe Biden. It was strange not being able to be there with the team for the White House but it was cool to kind of make a second time or second effort when he came to Milwaukee. I was definitely appreciative that I got the invite to come by and say hello. I got to bring my kids and my family so that was really cool, especially for them. One day they’ll look at that picture and realize how cool it was that they got to meet and take a picture with a sitting President.”

Senior Capitol Reporter Molly Beck contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: President Biden met with members of the Bucks during Milwaukee visit