The fallout: How have teams fared in the short term after losing a star?

"I talked to a GM right before this podcast started and he said, 'Watch: The Kings will be better without Cousins. The Kings played the Celtics so much tougher when he was suspended, the players were happier; these guys will hear all the noise about how bad this trade is, how bad their roster is, blah blah blah. ... They'll be better without him.'" - Zach Lowe, ESPN's The Lowe Post Podcast.

It seems to happen pretty often in the NBA, even if we never totally see it coming: a team loses its star player, and despite all signs pointing towards that squad throwing in the towel for the season, it shows renewed life and manages to survive, even thrive, far longer than anyone expects. Whether due to some Simmons-y confluence of locker-room intangibles or due to more practical on-court adjustments that make new teams trickier to game plan for, we've seen it happen enough times that you can't discount the possibility that even after losing DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings might still find themselves in the playoff race at season's end.

Or have we? Does this phenomenon really occur with any regularity, or do we just remember the one or two times it has happened vividly enough to stand out disproportionately in our memories? Let's look at the blockbuster trades from the last decade that have uncoupled franchise players from their original markets - either through trade or free agency, keeping it to franchises who really only had one such star to speak of - and see how the teams left behind fared in both the short and medium terms directly after.

2008: Pau Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies - traded to Los Angeles Lakers midseason

At the time: The Grizzlies were a lousy 13-32 in late January, with Gasol still averaging a robust 19-9-3 on 50 percent shooting, but dragging an otherwise youth-oriented Memphis team (including Rudy Gay, Mike Conley, and Juan Carlos Navarro) that was increasingly far from contention. On Feb. 1, Gasol was traded to L.A. for a package nearly as criticized for its thinness as what the Kings received on All-Star Sunday.

What happened next: Memphis lost its next four games, beat the Kings, then lost another nine, while the Lakers took off to title contention.

The rest of the season: The Grizz spent the beginning, middle, and end of the season losing, finishing with the league's third-worst record at 22-60. Marc Gasol, whose draft rights were received in the trade, would eventually help key the next Grizzlies' renaissance, but for that season, losing brother Pau just turned the Grizz from bad to deplorable.

2010: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers - signed with Miami Heat in free agency

At the time: Arguably the most famous free-agency departure in the history of American sport, LeBron James spurned his quasi-hometown team in the summer of 2010 to join up with a couple of his Olympic buds in Miami, seemingly leaving the Cavaliers - who enjoyed an NBA best 61-21 regular-season record before flaming out in the Eastern Conference Semifinals - in a state of destitution.

What happened next: The Cavs won four of their first seven games to start the 2010-11 season, including an early three-game road trip sweep, inspiring surprising levels of hope that there would be life after The King in Cleveland. "We have a great group of guys who go out and play," said veteran forward Antawn Jamison after the team moved to 4-3 in New Jersey. "I'm glad to be a part of it."

The rest of the season: Cleveland scuttled a little from there, before back-to-back blowout home losses to the Celtics and LBJ-led Heat effectively sent the team spiraling. By season's end they'd set the NBA record for consecutive losses, with 26 defeats in a row from December to February. Still, that unexpected early Cavs surge remains one of the definitive examples of a team rallying for a short while after losing its centerpiece - even if the expended energy seemingly left them sapped for the rest of the year to come.

2011: Deron Williams, Utah Jazz - traded to New Jersey Nets midseason

At the time: The Utah Jazz, having just parted ways with long-tenured head coach Jerry Sloan, were treadmilling a bit at 31-26 around the '11 All-Star break, when - in what still probably ranks as the most unexpected mega-deal of the NBA's past decade - franchise point guard Deron Williams was dealt to the New Jersey Nets for a bounty of young players and draft picks.

What happened next: The Jazz lost four of their next five games, essentially tumbling out of the playoff picture in the West in the process.

The rest of the season: Utah limped to the finish line at an unremarkable 39-43, missed the postseason, and has yet to win a playoff game in the half-decade since. The package the Jazz received in dealing D-Will - including Derrick Favors and the draft pick that became Enes Kanter - played its part in eventually returning the team to respectability, but any post-trade surge from the team was pretty invisible.

2011: Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets - traded to New York Knicks midseason

At the time: Similarly to the Jazz, the Nuggets entered the 2011 All-Star break a middling 32-25, and with Carmelo Anthony deeming himself unlikely to sign an extension in Denver after he entered free agency, Denver decided to finally cut the cord with their star wing and deal him to New York, for a number of rotation players and draft considerations.

What happened next: The Nugs found themselves revitalized as a ball-sharing, pace-pushing squad, winning an astounding nine of their next 11 games after All-Star Weekend. "There's no one on the court with sticky hands," pointedly commented Ty Lawson of the team's post-Melo roster that March.

The rest of the season: Denver cooled slightly from there but still finished the season 50-32, with a far better winning percentage after the Anthony deal - though it made little difference in the postseason, as the Nuggets fell in the first round for the seventh time in eight seasons. However, if you're looking for one solid recent example of a team that simply played better after dealing its franchise guy, this would undoubtedly be it.

2011: Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets - traded to Los Angeles Clippers in the offseason

At the time: The Pelicans made the 2011 playoffs and gave the Lakers an impressive six-game fight in the first round, but with the team's momentum stalling and All-NBA point guard Chris Paul's free agency looming, the Hornets shipped CP3 to the Lakers, and then once that deal was infamously voided, moved him to the Clippers instead, receiving a mix of prospects, veterans, and draft picks in return.

What happened next: New Orleans began the lockout-shortened season with a pair of respectable wins, against the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns and the big-three Boston Celtics, although Paul Pierce missed the latter with a bruised right heel. "This team's going to play with a chip on its shoulder the entire year," said then-Celtics coach Doc Rivers postgame. "If I was a player and all I heard was, 'If you lose Chris Paul it'll be the demise of the franchise,' that would make me want to prove a lot of people wrong."

The rest of the season: The post-CP3 spark would prove short-lived for New Orleans. With Eric Gordon - the blue-chip two-guard returned in the Paul trade, and the presumptive new first option for the Hornets - sidelined for all but nine games that season, the team sputtered to locate much of an offensive identity, and lost 11 of its next 12 after winning its first two. The Hornets would play to a 21-45 final record for the season.

2012: Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic - traded to Los Angeles Lakers in the offseason

At the time: The Magic had endured a year's worth of trade rumors and locker-room drama with Dwight Howard, with the franchise center eventually picking up his player option for the 2012-13 season, but feuding with his coach and missing the playoffs after a back injury. The Magic - who finished the strike-shortened season 37-29 and had likely plateaued with Dwight - sent him to Los Angeles for a lukewarm stew of first-rounders, young players, and vets.

What happened next: As with the Hornets the year before, the Magic also began the season 2-0, picking up home wins against the still-clean-handed Nuggets and the now-post-Nash Phoenix Suns. Sharpshooter J.J. Redick began the season particularly blazing, scoring over 20 off the bench in both wins. "We're a team," Glen "Big Baby" Davis remarked after the second victory. "There's no All-Stars here. ... If we want to go far, we can't go alone."

The rest of the season: Also as with the Hornets the year before, Orlando quickly ran aground after its 2-0 start. The team lost seven of its next eight, and though the Magic were still pawing at a .500 record in mid-December, by New Year's they were well on their way to the lottery. But as with New Orleans, starting out with two wins was likely as far over .500 as anyone ever anticipated the team could climb.

2014: Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves - traded to Cleveland Cavaliers in the offseason

At the time: A rare true example from the last half-decade of a single-star team deciding to move on from its core guy, the Timberwolves - who amassed a 40-42 record a year before, their first 40-win season since 2004-05 - dealt franchise big Kevin Love to the Cavaliers in a three-team deal that (remarkably) landed them the No. 1 overall picks in each of the previous two drafts, Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins.

What happened next: No 2-0 streak to start the season this time, though the Wolves did start the 2014-15 season a commendable 2-2, with their first two losses - to a couple playoff-bound squads in the Grizzlies and Bulls - even coming by a combined five points.

The rest of the season: Predictably enough, the center could not hold for the Timberwolves without Love, and the team would win just three of its remaining 26 games in the 2014 calendar year, finishing the season a league-worst 16-66. Though like Cousins with the Kings, Love never led the Wolves to the playoffs during his time in Minnesota, their thorough ineptitude after his departure should perhaps remind Sacramento fans that greatness in the NBA often simply means keeping a mildly subpar team from being absolutely horrendous.