About Delaware Blue Coats/87ers
The history of NBA G League (formerly known as the NBA Development League) teams are always fun exercises in great nicknames and confusing timelines. The Delaware Blue Coats are no different.
The team started life in 2007 as an affiliate of the Utah Jazz known as the Utah Flash, playing their games at the UCCU Center (previously the McKay Events Center) in Orem, Utah. The name was chosen in a fan contest. The first real star in the team's history was Morris Almond, the former Rice University swingman drafted by the Jazz in 2007. Almond broke scoring records — including the single-game points record twice — and led the G League in points per game.
In 2013, the Flash were acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers and moved to Delaware, where they became the Delaware 87ers, honoring Delaware's role as the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States in 1787. Continuing the team's tradition of setting single-game scoring records, Jordan McRae scored a whopping 61 points to grab the record in January of 2016.
As of 2018, the team has a new name and a new home. The Delaware Blue Coats left their usual arena at the University of Delaware campus and arrived at the brand-new 76ers Fieldhouse in Wilmington, which was built expressly for the Blue Coats.
The rebranding is part of getting fans in the area excited about the team, and the 76ers have been one of the most active teams in the NBA in utilizing its G League affiliate. Will the Blue Coats have more success than the 87ers? Only time will tell, but as the NBA as a whole starts taking the G League more seriously, the level of play will only increase.
