The NBA is in the midst of a season in which TV ratings are up double digit percentage points, young and exciting teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves are arriving as contenders and, night after night – from LeBron James to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook to Giannis Antetokuonmpo – fans can enjoy a depth of skill and athleticism that has never before been seen in the sport. While the talk around the NFL is how that league is past its peak in popularity, the narrative on the NBA’s future is nothing but positivity and light. It’s easy to make the argument that there has never been a better time for the NBA. Now someone just needs to let the NBA’s players in on the news.

While NBA fans swoon over pretty much everything about the league in 2018 – dip a toe into NBA Twitter on a random Tuesday and you’ll see it hype a game between the Grizzlies and Suns like its Game 7 of the Finals – the players themselves apparently don’t feel the same way. Just in the past seven days, we saw a player angrily score 46 points on an opponent after mistakenly thinking he was picked last for the All-Star teams and then, three days later, a player dismissively stared down the opposing bench while dribbling out the final seconds of the clock in a victory. OK, so both of those were produced by Russell Westbrook, already the NBA’s all-time career leader in completely invented indignation. But it’s not just Westbrook who is made out of mad anymore. The whole league seems pissed off.

Kevin Durant got ejected last Tuesday against the Knicks and then accused official James Williams of targeting him throughout the game. A day later he changed his tune. “I looked at the plays, a couple techs, and I was being an asshole last night,” he said. “I was being a jerk.” Sure. But he’s far from alone. And the next time Durant’s Warriors play the Houston Rockets, he’ll want to make sure he doesn’t spend time alone, because the Rockets look to fight en masse. Two weeks ago, after a road game against the Clippers, several Rockets players went to the Clipper locker room to confront Austin Rivers and Blake Griffin. And they got there after being alerted to a secret passage through the Staples Center by former Clipper Chris Paul. Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green each got suspended two games for the incident, undoubtedly giving them time to research architectural designs for the arenas of future opponents.

Detroit’s Andre Drummond was angry about being left out of the All-Star Game, so he wrote “Gotta be fuckin kidding me lol” on Twitter, while the Clippers’ Lou Williams went with a more concise, but vague “lol” over his absence on the roster ... and then confirmed his anger an hour later:

Last Monday, Dallas center Salah Mejri got ejected from a game against Washington after picking up his second technical, Wizards forward Kelly Oubre mocked him with a dismissive goodbye wave and then Mejri’s own head coach, Rick Carlise, yelled at him: “You’ve got two fucking points. Get the fuck out of here.” Ouch.

And, of course, there is no NBA storyline without at least some tie to LeBron James, so his struggling Cavaliers team fed the anger wave by holding a players-only meeting last week that was reportedly heated, with much of the anger focused at Kevin Love’s decision to leave a game against the Thunder early due to illness. Said forward Tristan Thompson of the chemistry between the team: “I don’t care if X don’t like X off the court. I really don’t give a shit. As long as you’re on the court playing hard and playing for each other, that’s all that matters to me. We don’t got to talk to each other off the court. As long as we talk on the court.” Sounds friendly. But a few days later, everything between Love and his team-mates seemed better when he used Jeff Green’s head as a towel rack.

Kevin Love either didn't see Jeff Green sitting there, or just, uh, threw his warmups right on his head... 😂



📹:/r/NBA pic.twitter.com/CrDsrrk7LO — Dime on UPROXX (@DimeUPROXX) January 27, 2018

Oh, and let’s not forget that most of the league, players, coaches and GMs, are always mad at LaVar Ball while Ball, in turn, is angry with anyone who doesn’t believe Lonzo is the best player in the world (therefore the entire world). But Ball aside, all that other stuff happened in just the last two weeks. The NBA is mad as hell and fans just want to consume it more.

But what are NBA players so mad about, exactly? Officiating? Sure, it’s bad. But it’s always been that way. There’s nothing new there. Pay? It’s hard to gripe much there when most 12th men make over a million a year while superstars have seen their future annual salaries break $40m. Shoe deals? Many top players now make as much or even more from their shoe company than they do their actual employer. Maybe NBA players are just angry because, well, everyone else is angry and they’re humans, too, albeit very large ones. The whole world is mad right now and capturing the cultural zeitgeist of 2018 requires being angry. We can’t relate to someone jumping two-feet above the rim, but someone who is pissed about every little thing? Yeah, that registers.

The anger-infused on-court product is outstanding right now. So if finding and inventing slights helps players motivate themselves to perform at peak level every game of the 82-game schedule, sign us all up for it. We just want to be entertained. And an NBA stocked full of angry Russell Westbrooks sounds perfect.