Franchise History
The 66ers are named for the famous US Highway 66 ("Route 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 2007–08 season. Prior to the 2005–06 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 team's name 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). 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.
For the 2008–09 season, the team moved to the brand-new SpiritBank Event Center in nearby Bixby, but retained the Tulsa 66ers name. After the 2008–09 season, however, the team announced it would seek another venue for the next season, and it filed a lawsuit against the owner of the arena. On August 13, 2009, it was announced that the 66ers would play home games for the 2009/2010 season at the Tulsa Convention Center in downtown Tulsa.
During the 2010-2011 season, the team set a record for 14 wins in a row before being defeated by the Maine Red Claws 109-106 on January 30, 2011. At the end of the 2011-2012 season, the 66ers missed the playoffs with a 23-27 record.
In May 2012 the 66ers announced that they would return to the SpiritBank Event Center for the 2012-2013 season.
Read more about this topic: Tulsa 66ers
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