The Denver Nuggets' long and essentially fruitless pursuit of forward Peyton Watson in free agency puts the Nuggets in a difficult position from a basketball perspective, but it also has personal weight as well. 

The Nuggets did receive multiple draft picks through a multi-team sign-and-trade deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings, but they lost out on Watson himself after essentially dedicating their entire offseason to pursuing him. 

From a basketball perspective, saying goodbye to Watson after developing him in their system for years and seeing him have a breakout year last season where he hit career-highs across the stat sheet hurts, especially considering it was more of an issue to due with Denver's limited cap space than it was any lack of desire to retain the standout wing. 

But there's also a personal impact felt by Watson's absence as well, especially for the players that shared the court with him for the first four seasons of his career. 

Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon will especially feel that absence. As one of the Nuggets' longstanding veterans, Gordon saw Watson grow up as an NBA player and developed a bond with him that went beyond basketball. 

In a recent interview with Harrison Wind, Gordon opened up about his relationship with Watson and how bittersweet it is to see him go, even if it means Watson found a better financial opportunity. 

"That's my dog. It's deeper than basketball with Peyton and I. Our family members go to the same church. Peyton is like my brother. Happy for him, the situation that he's in," Gordon said. "Obviously, we would have loved to have him. But it worked out the way it should have -- that it was supposed to."

Gordon's comments and his relationship with Watson reflects a balance that it is often overlooked in the grand scheme of the machinations of professional sports.

When a move like trading Watson away to avoid the financial hit of his impending contract is made, it can easily be chalked up to the business of sports, but the NBA, and professional leagues as a whole, go so far beyond how the business operates. 

Players essentially live together for half the year, if not more. Countless hours spent training, traveling, playing and eating together forge strong strong connections, especially when players find themselves in new cities where there only connections are their families and their teammates. 

So losing out on a teammate in what amounts to a business deal hurts on both a personal and a professional level, even more so when the factors that led to those departures go beyond basketball reasons or the interpersonal connections that have been created over years.