About Oklahoma City Blue
As the NBA G League (formerly known as the Development League) continues to grow into a proper minor league system for the league at large, teams are investing more resources into their own affiliates in hopes of unearthing a diamond in the rough. The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of those teams, with their in-town affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue.
The Blue started back in 2001 as the Asheville Altitude, based out of North Carolina as one of the founding teams of the then-National Basketball Development League. The Altitude even found some success in the early days, winning the NBDL championships in 2004 and 2005. However, after that second title, the team relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they became the Tulsa 66ers, a nod to U.S. Route 66, which cuts across the state.
The team eventually was purchased by the Professional Basketball Club LLC — which also owns the Thunder — in 2008. This made Tulsa just the third D-League team to be owned by an NBA team, after the Los Angeles D-Fenders (Lakers) and the Austin Toros (Spurs). Though the 66ers stayed in Tulsa for another half decade, they eventually moved to Oklahoma City in 2014, when they were rebranded as the Blue.
Currently, the Blue are coached by 33-year-old Mark Daigneault, who was named the G League coach of the month for November 2018. The team's roster includes former NBA player K.J. McDaniels, who played with the Rockets, Sixers, and Nets in the NBA. However, the team's star in the 2018-2019 season has been Egyptian-American wing Abdel Nader, who led the team with 24.3 points per game. Nader was impressive enough that he was called up to the Thunder's NBA team and earned significant playing time.
