This all started a few years ago when they were not able to afford the luxury tax bill associated with keeping James Harden and accelerated the departure last week at the draft when they traded Serge Ibaka. Rumour has it that Westbrook and Durant were getting sick of Ibaka anyways but the point i am making and the one that Durant saw was that the team couldn't afford to keep the high priced talent they had acquired through the draft and that they would be constantly trading established skill players for up and coming talents that had to be developed and this is not a good thing for Westbrook or Durant because they had to carry the team regardless of who else was helping and they have been reminded twice now that when they do have a support network it will be eroded over time to appease financial demands from the owners and decisions will not be made with consideration of the win total.
They had to see the writing on the wall with this a few years ago but i believe Clay Bennett and Sam Presti honestly thought that Durant wasn't wired to leave OKC like he did today. That is something I am confident about. Even the last tweet by Royce Young who covers the Thunder is very emotional and its a barb against Durants word.
The league needs to install a franchise player tag if they want this to stop happening. Although the NBAPA will not let that happen anytime soon (and hasn't over the years because of the racial understones of a league with majority white owners restricting a majority black work force from earning and living in the communities of their choice...I don't like to incite debates with race but in this instance that is the explicit reason). They cannot restrict free agency or put in longer rookie contracts without MAJOR CONCESSIONS in the next CBA negotiations and Michele Roberts is going to help the players get a better deal next round. She seems like a very able and competent business woman.
The NBA has always been more WWE then IOC but this signing has really tempered the interest from a lot of fans...especially the older generations who would never accept this behavior from their contemporaries as well as fans of up and coming teams who now realize that they have to slay a juggernaut on top of running the gauntlet to become champions. I am sure Adam Silver is all smiles, the league made boat loads of money when everybody was hating on the Heatles therefore i am sure this will be no different.
My team finally doesn't suck historically bad and now they have no chance of winning. That isn't pessimism its pragmatism
