Oklahoma City Blue

American minor league basketball team of the NBA G League

The Oklahoma City Blue are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City and are affiliated with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blue compete in the NBA G League as members of the Western Conference. The Blue play their home games at Paycom Center, an arena shared with the Thunder. The franchise began as the Asheville Altitude in 2001 playing in Asheville, North Carolina for four seasons. They won the 2004 and 2005 NBDL championship, becoming the first (and so far only) team to win consecutive league championships. After struggling with poor attendance, the franchise relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma and played nine seasons as the Tulsa 66ers. Before the 2014–15 season, the franchise relocated again to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, becoming the Oklahoma City Blue. One of three teams still playing from the first league season, they are the oldest surviving NBA G League champion to play in the league.

The franchise began in 2001 when NBA Commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Russ Granik formed the National Basketball Development League. Asheville, North Carolina was chosen to one of the first eight franchises located in the southeastern United States. The franchise hired Joey Meyer and began their inaugural season in the 2001–02 season. In its inaugural season, the Altitude had a 26–30 record, finishing sixth in the league. Center Paul Grant was named to the league's inaugural All NBDL Second Team. After accumulating a 49–57 record after two seasons, the Altitude won back to back championships in its final two seasons in Asheville. Despite the Altitude's recent success, the franchise experienced poor attendance with fans often numbering in the dozens despite a 5,000 seat capacity. In its first four seasons, the Altitude averaged 788 fans a game and suffered at least $100,000 in losses. After the 2004–05 season, team president Rudy Bourg announced the Altitude had been sold to an independent ownership group and would relocate prior to the start of next season.

Before the start of the 2005–06 season, the league announced expansion to the southwest United States with Tulsa, Oklahoma being chosen as a host city. Initially planned to being independently owned and operated by the league, Southwest Basketball, LLC, operated by owner David Kahn, purchased the Altitude and relocated the franchise to Tulsa. The franchise also rebranded and was renamed to the Tulsa 66ers, in honor of the U. S. Route 66 which runs through the city and the state of Oklahoma. Starting in 2005, the National Basketball Association announced an affiliation and assignment system for the league. Under the system, the 66ers were directly affiliated with the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and the New Orleans Hornets. Prior to the start of the 2006–07 season, the franchise's affiliation with the Bulls and Pacers ended with the addition of the New York Knicks. Before the relocation of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the franchise had its final affiliations with the Bucks, Knicks, and the Dallas Mavericks during the 2007–08 season. On August 1, 2008, the newly relocated Oklahoma City Thunder agreed to purchase the 66ers for $2.25 million, becoming only the third NBA franchise to own a D League team. In the agreement, the Thunder owned full control of the team's business and basketball operations and became the sole affiliate of the Thunder.

After getting offers from four venues, Professional Basketball Club felt none were suitable and announced the 66ers would move to Oklahoma City and play in the Cox Convention Center across the street from the Chesapeake Energy Arena where the parent club Oklahoma City Thunder plays starting with the 2014–15 season. The team's front offices are located in the Chesapeake Energy Arena along with the rest of the front office staff of the parent club Oklahoma City Thunder. With the move, the team was rebranded from the 66ers to the Blue. In the 2016–17 season, the team was the regular season Western Conference champion with 34 wins, a franchise record. In 2021, the Cox Convention Center was leased to a film production company and the arena was closed to become Prairie Surf Studios. The Blue then moved into their parent team's home arena, the Paycom Center (then recently renamed from Chesapeake Energy Arena) in 2021.

Headed into the 2023–24 season, the Blue finished the regular season with a 21–13 record and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the 2018–19 season. Entering the playoffs as the third seed, the Blue defeated Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the first round in a 126–125 overtime win behind Ousmane Dieng's game winner. Advancing into the semifinals, the Blue defeated Sioux Falls Skyforce in a 111–93 win after winning the fourth quarter 34–18 to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2019. Facing off against the top seeded Stockton Kings, the Blue outscored the Kings by 24 points to lead 58–45 at halftime. Despite a late comeback, the Blue won 114–107 and advanced to their second ever G League Finals since the team was known as the Tulsa 66ers. In the best of three series against Maine Celtics, the Blue split the first two games, with both teams winning at home. In the decisive game three, the Blue built on an early lead and outscored the Celtics by 16 points to hold a 63–40 halftime lead. After a back and forth third quarter, the Blue led 92–67 entering the fourth quarter. Behind Dieng and Jahmi'us Ramsey, the Blue won its first ever championship, defeating the Celtics 117–100, clinching their first championship since becoming the only affiliate for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Thunder assignment Ousmane Dieng was named NBA G League Finals MVP after scoring 25 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks.