This is part of why trade packages for players like De'Aaron Fox are typically built around draft picks. The idea is that the team landing the star improves now, and then the team giving that player away reaps the benefits later.

“In this business, you have to put those emotions aside,” Fox said. “Obviously, everybody especially who were here during that long (postseason drought), and who was on this team when we made the playoffs, obviously that means a lot to everybody.