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Brooks disappointed Durant, Westbrook haven't spoken

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

As poorly as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook's relationship looks now, it wasn't all that long ago when the two were terrorizing defenders as one of the more deadly one-two punches in league history with the Oklahoma City Thunder, proving that the two were in fact capable of co-existing.

Any goodwill the two may have had with one another seemingly went out the door the minute Durant decided it was in his best interest to leave the Thunder and join the Golden State Warriors - who OKC nearly bounced from the Western Conference finals before blowing a 3-1 series lead.

Current Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks worked for seven seasons with the Thunder organization, and was there for all of the highs and lows of the Durant-Westbrook era. With the numerous reports coming forward about how the two megastars aren't on speaking terms, Brooks is disheartened to see a bond he played a part in building meet such an ugly end.

"It doesn't make me feel good," Brooks said Wednesday afternoon, according to the Oklahoman's Erik Horne. "As a coach of the team ... when you're coaching a group of athletic, competitive-minded players, you're gonna have arguments, you're gonna have disagreements, but you have to be able to keep the group together. I thought the staff did a great job of doing that with a lot of people trying to separate them.

"I think that eventually they're going to (talk) ... I don't think they have. I'll trust you guys that you guys know they haven't spoke(n), and maybe that's probably dangerous on my part to trust you guys. But I don't like to see that. They did so many wonderful things together and they should be proud of that and not be focused on not winning the championship. A lot of things happen in order to win one and (I'm) fortunate we were there and able to (try to) win one."

Brooks was relieved of his duties with the Thunder following a 45-37 record in 2014-15, a campaign in which his two best players combined to miss 70 games. He and the Wizards are at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Wednesday for their only meeting with the Thunder in Oklahoma City this year.

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