When the OKC Thunder cleaned house back in the summer of 2019 by trading both Russell Westbrook and Paul George in exchange for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a treasure trove of future draft assets, they essentially set the gold standard for what the ideal return for star players could look like.
Since then, however, no team has come remotely close to replicating such a transaction.
From Utah's return, headlined by a mere three unprotected first-round picks and two swaps for Donovan Mitchell in the 2022 deal with Cleveland, to last year's surprise Luka Doncic blockbuster that netted the Mavericks a laughably mediocre one single first-round pick from the Lakers, it seems as though the days of bringing in draft hauls are far gone.