The Oklahoma City Thunder fired longtime coach Scott Brooks after the season. While some have called the timing of the move curious (because why would you fire a coach after the team was beset by injuries?), the general consensus is that it was the right decision, even if it happened a few years too late.
Kevin Durant To Finally Play For Good Coach?
Since then, the team has agreed to a deal with former University of Florida head coach Billy Donovan. He was regarded as one of the brightest minds in the college game, and he will look to join Brad Stevens in the ranks of college coaches that have recently made a successful jump to the NBA.
And while many of the fans and players are happy about the hire, not everyone is happy about how the team went about finding the new coach. Specifically, star point guard Russell Westbrook has an issue with the fact that he was not consulted. Really, it is not even so much that he was not consulted; it's that teammate Kevin Durant was.
Sources: Thunder consulted w/ Durant on the hiring of Donovan, but not Westbrook... This has Westbrook upset with organization...
— Justin Termine (@TermineRadio) May 5, 2015
For years, Westbrook has been battling an inferiority complex thanks to being constantly overshadowed by a teammate even though he is one of the top 10 players in the league. Unfortunately, that's just the world he lives in, as Durant is unquestionably one of the best two or three players in the league.
Analysts have wondered for years if tensions would ever come to a boil between Westbrook and Durant, leading to a full-blown alpha dog struggle between the two. Some have even suggested that OKC move Westbrook before it can come to that.
While the Thunder clearly have no intention of moving Westbrook, they should be more careful about situations like these in order to avoid upsetting what is already a delicate balance.
And although it will probably all blow over, it is yet another piece of evidence that the very same things that make Westbrook a great player also make him a difficult teammate, particularly when the team already has a player that is clearly better.
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