The Oklahoma City Thunder have always utilized their minor-league franchise for developmental purposes. If you’ve followed the team for a while, you may remember Jeremy Lamb, Andre Roberson, and Perry Jones III being assigned to the (then) Tulsa 66ers quite often early in their careers. Their assignments for the (now) Blue helped each player–especially Lamb and Roberson–hone their skills. However, the inconvenience of the G-League team being roughly two hours away made assignments difficult to manage at times, specifically when the Thunder and 66ers played on consecutive days.
The problem was solved in 2014. After the 66ers encountered problems with their arena lease, the Thunder announced the team would move directly across the street from the parent club into the Cox Convention Center prior to the 2014-15 campaign.