In those early days, Green was more popular even than Russell Westbrook, who had yet to blossom into the franchise-altering superstar he would become. Only Kevin Durant — now a star on the Warriors team Green faces in these Finals — was clearly more beloved among Thunder fans then.
And so his trade was jarring, particularly for a fan base yet to experience such a thing.
Green was a foundational piece, the first the Thunder had traded. Fan reaction “fell somewhere between heartbroken and furious,” Darnell Mayberry wrote in “100 Things Thunder Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.