The Milwaukee Bucks have a history of drafting players with Virginia ties, and the team has done it again.

At last week’s NBA draft in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Bucks’ first-round pick, Thon Maker, and second-round selection, Malcolm Brogdon, both have state connections.

Maker, a 7-foot-1 native of South Sudan, is the NBA’s first straight-from-high school pick in 11 years.

Following the 2005 draft, the NBA imposed a ruling that prospects must be at least age 19 and one year removed from high school for draft eligibility.

The well-traveled Maker played his sophomore and junior seasons at Carlisle School in Martinsville, leading the team to the Virginia Independent Schools Division II title in tournament play at Virginia State University.

He also played for Carlisle in a showcase event at Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond.

His age listed as 19, Maker played the past two seasons at Orangeburg Prep/Athlete Institute in Canada. He qualified for the draft because he had credits for high school graduation in 2015, thus turning this past season into a post-graduate year at same school.

Although officially listed as a “pro grad,” Maker played the same high schedule this year as in 2014-15.

Brogdon, a 6-foot-6 native of Norcross, Ga., was a consensus All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year last winter as a graduate student at the University of Virginia.

Red-shirted his second season as a Wahoo, Brogdon now is working toward his master’s degree at U.Va’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

To the surprise of many because of his lack of experience, Maker was the 10th player chosen overall in the draft.

Drafted 36th overall, the 23-year-old Brogdon was Milwaukee’s second-round pick.

Brogdon, who has earned a college degree, stands in contrast with the recent trend of star collegiate players who leave their college studies to play professionally without finishing their college eligibility.

Four of this year’s first eight NBA draft selections were college “one and done” freshmen. Eight of first 29 picks were freshmen.

Milwaukee’s area draft history can be traced to 1969, when Richmonder Bobby Dandridge was the Bucks’ fourth-round pick after starring at Maggie Walker High School and Norfolk State University.

That was same year the Bucks selected UCLA’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the No. 1 draft pick overall. Dandridge became a ringleader on the Bucks’ 1971 NBA championship team.

In 2010, Milwaukee made Virginia Commonwealth University’s Larry Sanders the overall 15th selection. Sanders flashed tremendous promise, averaging 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots in 2013.

Sanders stuck with the Bucks until 2015 before leaving the league for personal reasons.

Other Milwaukee draftees include Bob McCurdy (University of Richmond) and Oliver Purnell (Old Dominion University) in 1975 and Virginia Union University’s Keith Valentine in 1980.

Valentine, who played for Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond, was the first VUU player drafted to the NBA under former VUU Coach Dave Robbins.

Because of many uncertainties, including questions about his age, Maker was clearly the most head-turning pick of this year’s draft. On most mock drafts, he was targeted as a late first-round and possibly second-round pick.

But the Bucks aren’t afraid to roll the dice.

Milwaukee hopes Maker will develop like 2013 first-round pick Giannis Antetokounmpo, who came to the NBA with no college experience at age 19 from Athens, Greece.

The 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo, of Nigerian descent, had played on Greece’s second tier of pro ball before joining the Bucks. A relative unknown in 2013, he has developed into a star. At age 21, he averaged 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists in 2015-16.

If Maker can progress in like fashion, the Bucks might break the chains of mediocrity in the Central Division of the NBA’s Eastern Conference.