At the end of the coming season, Whaley, Polley, Carlton, and Sid Wilson will all have been in school 3 years, and all four may have credits to graduate next May since they've been attending summer classes in addition to academic year classes. All will have 1 (or in the case of Sid, 2) years of eligibility remaining. I'm not predicting that one of them will grad transfer, but it's not out of the question. Grad transfers of players who are leaving a backup/minor role to gain a starting/major role are fairly common in college basketball. Carlton will not be a backup, but the others probably will be, and a couple of them may be out of the rotation.
Re Hurley's support for his players, which I love, it's a totally different situation when a guy can grad transfer and not have to sit out a year. Hurley is in no way harming a player if he lets him know his situation and his opportunity to get more minutes elsewhere. That's just the reality of high major college basketball.