It's bad if Ujiri lied to his face when he was in the process of negotiating with the Spurs. However, loyalty is irrelevant. It's a business and trades must be a part of it. Make the team better.
Thats true. But the same applies to the players as well. Just look how (understandably) butthurt Isles fans are about Tavares right now. The truth is that he made the right decision for himself but I don't think any Islanders fan cares about that.To them he is evil incarnated and a traitor. Which is stupid but understandable from a fan POV.
Its a business for everyone involved. Including the fans but we delude ourselves otherwise. If everything goes smoothly and the interests as well as performance/contract value align well, people talk about loyalty and fans heap praise on the individuals involved which is part of the fan experience the NHL is selling.
If the performance is bad, fans can't wait to rid themselves and their team from that overpaid loser that should be demoted to the AHL anyways. So yeah. Loyalty is a nice marketing tool and to a certain extent plays a role in some decisions but mostly shouldn't be expected..
Look at this EK mess and Dorions stupid "We will offer him an extension on July 1st garbage". He should have traded him quite some time ago but he unnecessarily put himself in a bind due to marketing reasons and because the franchise is dependent on the good-will of the fans who are very loyal to their superstar. So that clearly did not go well.
Ujiri did the right thing for his franchise regardless unless he lied to DeRozan in a way that might turn off other players when it comes to negotiating with Toronto.
