The Tulsa 66ers are an NBA Development League team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the minor league affliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Their logo design is a basketball behind mountains with a road leading up to them, all on a U.S. Highway shield.
The 66ers are named for the famous US Highway 66, which runs through Tulsa and once played a pivotal role in its economy. The team has one affiliate club in the NBA: the Oklahoma City Thunder. The New York Knicks were formerly an affiliate through the end of the 2007-2008 season. Prior to the 2005-2006 season, the team was the Asheville Altitude and played in the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, North Carolina, where they won two NBDL championships. The teams named was in reference to the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. Upon moving, all of the team's hard assets were then sold to former Tulsa 66ers owner Southwest Basketball, LLC, which also owns the Albuquerque Thunderbirds and the Reno Bighorns. The Asheville Altitude were a founding team of the NBDL in 2001.
On July 31, 2008, the 66ers announced that Clayton Bennett of the Professional Basketball Club LLC (owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder), had agreed in principle to purchase the 66ers; marking the third D-League team to be owned by an NBA team (the other two are the Los Angeles D-Fenders and the Austin Toros, owned by the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, respectively). [1]
Under terms of that deal, they will be the OKC team's sole affiliate; former co-parent club the Milwaukee Bucks will now be affiliated with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. [2]
For the 2008-2009 season, the team moved to the brand-new SpiritBank Event Center in nearby Bixby, but will retain the Tulsa 66ers name. [3]
Asheville Altitude
Tulsa 66ers
Asheville Altitude logo (2001-2005)
Tulsa 66ers logo (2005-2007)
66ers logo (2007-present)
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