I have no problem with the Shock leaving Detroit, I'll join the chorus that it's better than them getting disintergrated. They've been in trouble for a while, not just after Davidson died, although that's what probably sealed their fate. And yes, Laimbeer's early departure raised a red flag for me too (as it did the other times he was rumored to nearly be on the move).
I thought ATL had someone stepping up to buy in, I thought I read that recently. In any event, if the league has to move or break up the Dream, I agree that's a much much much worse scenario than a NBA team shedding it's WNBA franchise. Terwiliger was supposed to be the most monied up outside owner to come into the league - which is why I always thought the league flipped over itself to change it's draft rules to appease his desire to get competitive quicker than other expansion teams.
If Bentonville is still viable and the league didn't move Houston or Charlotte there, then I'm even more upset at their lack of foresight. And for the record, Bentonville continues to be a bad idea for a franchise and if a team wound up there, I would see it as the beginning of the end for this league. Especially if they are still actively courting the Bay Area and Kansas City, among others. They can't trade Atlanta for northern Arkansas, I don't care what kind of (walmart) money lives there. ESPN would then have even more of an incentive to drop the number of games it televises if they lost another huge market.
Oklahoma's fan base (within reasonable driving distance of Tusla) is solid, I'm pretty sure Courtney Paris played in front of more fans per night in her career in Norman than she did at any of her stops in the W.