Kevin Durant missed some shots. Offensively he wasn’t the dynamo that carried the Oklahoma Thunder past the Houston Rockets. It’s hard to argue that Durant doesn’t need to be better next season for his team to return to The NBA Finals. But Oklahoma City’s second-round exit is hardly his fault.

Not even the injury to Russell Westbrook, a three-time All-Star, can be legitimately viewed as the sole reason the Thunder lost. It certainly played a role, but those that have watched the team all season understand that Westbook’s injury only made the team’s mistakes more visible.

The real failure belongs to Sam Presti and the Thunder front office. The franchise’s bright future was put at risk the moment they decided to trade James Harden.

It’s rare when a franchise finds a group of young players that are good enough and work well enough to compete for championships. Most teams are looking for two, the Thunder had three. Durant, Harden and Westbrook improved each season and the team improved around them. The next step was winning a championship. Presti, however, never gave that talented core a chance to keep going.

It’s a story that has a predictable outcome, mainly because it’s something we’ve seen before.

Think back to the 2008-09 Orlando Magic and their run to The NBA Finals. That tough, well-coached team never had a chance to make another run to The Finals. Moves were made during the summer that changed the dynamic and chemistry of the team. Vince Carter was acquired while Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston were shipped out. The mix was never right and Otis Smith, the former general manager of the Magic, would be forced to make more trades in search of a mix that would recapture the chemistry of the Finals team. Ultimately they would take steps back in the three following seasons, leading to Dwight Howard asking out and being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. In just three years, they went from conference champions to a lottery team.

Who knows if the stars in Oklahoma City get frustrated and ask out at some point? Certainly not I, but it’s a safe bet that guys are interested in winning and they’re aware of the factors that hurt their chances to compete.

In the world of sports, things can change in a moment’s time. Nothing, especially winning, is guaranteed. Injury, free agency and complacency can all change the fortunes of a team. This year the injury bug caught the Thunder, who knows what’s next?

It’s important to cultivate assets while you have them and go for the win. The Thunder had three of the best assets any team could ask for. Those guys produced on and off the court; the risk was minimal. Perhaps they would need to make a change at some point, but that point wasn’t before giving Durant, Westbrook and Harden one more chance to make a run. Only then could Presti and the Thunder ownership truly evaluate whether the reward of keeping Harden outweighed the risk. In fact, the deal Presti made for Harden surely would have been available after the end of the season.

That team, at the very least, deserved one more shot.

Had the Thunder been patient and truly believed in the strength of their program, they would have discovered that Harden is better than good. So good, in fact, that he’s made Houston an attractive landing spot for upcoming free agents. Meanwhile, the Thunder are left with the burden of finding the right guys to get the team back to contender status.

The reality that nothing is guaranteed should have been incentive for Presti to roll the dice. Now, the conference is certain to change and the road to the NBA Finals could become much more difficult for the Thunder. Who knows where guys like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard land this summer? It’s a safe bet that both men will make a great impact on the conference.

Still, the biggest impact on the Thunder was made by Presti when he made that trade. It’s something that he’ll regret.