I'm not a fan of boy groups but I remember like 6 years ago EXO was very popular with fangirls, even some people IRL mentioned them. I remember them performing in Russia was seen as a big deal. I thought that they may had the potential to become even bigger (obviously not to BTS level) but then SM's main push has been on NCT. And it had to do with logistics, they have to manage several units on two separate countries and hence less resources would have gone to expanding EXO's success further. Maybe SM could have done more strategic global marketing for EXO. I'm not sure but I'm wondering if other's also think it was squandered potential