People expect them to sacrifice literally hundreds of millions of dollars to get freedom as well. The "that's what the money is for" argument seems to only apply to the players and not the owners.
Like if Portland had sacrificed one young player, gone into the tax, taken on a risky contract on a high reward player, or hell even resolved their ownership issue then maybe this is a different convo... but people acting like Dame is Harden or even KD is just wild. He is a small markets dream... gave his all (not just on the court... dude was a leader, mentor, etc.) and when he saw no hope he asked out and would like to go to a preferred destination... Portland has been having their cake and eating it too... why can't Dame?