Mmmmmmmm. Lowry-to-the-Sixers talk is a full-throated beast and my NBA 2K roster construction could be as prescient as that time I traded Michael Young to the Phillies in MVP 2005 and realized he’d be a GREAT right-handed bat on the club (never mind that this didn’t happen until 8 years later because Chase Utley was too busy brain-fucking the NL during that time).

Everyone is talking about Lowry to the Sixers and now both Keith Pompey and Marcus Hayes have weighed in on Philly.com with divergent viewpoints.

HE SAID– Keith Pompey:

Sources have said the North Philly native has been interested in playing for the Sixers for some time. The speculation only heightened once Bryan Colangelo became the president of basketball operations in April 2016. As the Raptors general manager, Colangelo acquired Lowry in a trade from the Houston Rockets on July 11, 2012. The two have remained good friends since then.

And sources have always said that the Sixers planned to offer Lowry a lucrative contract this summer.

SHE SAID– me: There appears to be some actual reporting in this, but the problem is that Pompey doesn’t even BROACH the subject of Lowry’s salary implications in his article. He also mentioned Lowry being able to lure other free agents. If the Sixers max Lowry, and then max Embiid, good luck freeing up that money. If the Sixers sign Lowry, he becomes the free agent for the next four years.

SHE SAID– Marcus Hayes:

Sure, it’s enticing to imagine. With Lowry tutoring Ben Simmons and feeding Joel Embiid and Dario Saric the Sixers might indeed reach the playoffs … but, frankly, they are probably two seasons from winning a playoff round. They’re maybe four seasons from sniffing a conference final.

It’s not just the inevitable mediocrity, it’s the overall impossibility of the situation. Lowry would be expected to help convert Simmons, a college power forward, into an NBA point guard. Simmons was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft. Simmons is a cornerstone. Lowry would be a stopgap. A $150 million, discontented stopgap.

HE SAID– me: I get the point about Lowry being maybe a bit of a reach at this point in the process, but I think some are overestimating the timeline, or at least the timeline that Bryan Colangelo will adhere to. This wouldn’t be a mid-oughts Sixers move to grab an 8 seed. Combining a well-rounded veteran point guard with a young and dominant Embiid – which could be a fleeting thing – makes some strategic sense. If healthy, Joel Embiid is already a top 5 big man in the league. Pair him with Lowry, coming off the best season of his career, and you instantly have a playoff team. If Ben Simmons is as-advertised, the Sixers could be very good by year 2 of the Lowry deal. What if LeBron gets hurt? Would a team with three star caliber players which already has decent role players in Robert Covington, Dario Saric and T.J. McConnell, not to mention a likely lottery pick or two this year, be able to compete in the East? Absolutely.

This is all moot if the Sixers get the number pick and take Markelle Fultz, but there’s only a 15% chance of that happening. So it’s absolutely worth discussing if Kyle Lowry could accelerate the process.