In February of this past year, Vlade Divac and Vivek Ranadive came to the inevitable conclusion that a bottom-up rebuild was the only realistic path to avoiding another decade in the doldrums of league mediocrity and media ridicule. DeMarcus Cousins and Omri Casspi were shipped away, Matt Barnes was cut, the young guns were given the reigns, and development was given the priority over meaningless wins and unrealistic postseason hopes.
Over the past six years, four teams have found themselves in similar situations by trading their star player in the midst of his contract.