A lot of Sixers fans think that they will trade for Kawhi and that will lead to Lebron signing with them too
If it's true that Popovich would not trade a star in his own conference, then that probably would mean he's not Lakers bound. But could a team like MIL or Charlotte or NYK beat a rumored PHI offer for Leonard (Fultz, Saric + Salary + Pick)?
Or maybe Spurs and Kawhi settle their differences and Kawhi signs that $219M extension.
Fultz, Saric, etc for Leonard would be dismissed by Spurs. Garbage. Would have to include Simmons, and even that would be a risk for Spurs given his dreadful playoff performance so far. If you’re the Sixers you may deal Simmons for Leonard and hope that Fultz can get his act together to be your starting PG. Embiid, Leonard and a rehabilitated Fultz would be more competitive than current Philly lineup.
Taking it a step further, if Philly really wanted to get creative they could move Simmons + Fultz + Bayless to the Spurs for Kawhi (and maybe the Spurs include a future 1st) - which feels like an insane overpay...
And then they move Covington, Anderson, Furkan, Cabarrot in a salary dump and take back a pick or something - which also feels like a loss...
But then they have Kawhi (20 mil), Embiid (25 mil), Saric (2.5 mil) on the books and use their roughly 58 mil in cap space to just sign Paul George and LeBron on Durant-esque deals.
Bron, Kawhi, George, Saric, Embiid would make for an interesting core.
Or if it's too difficult to imagine Bron and George splitting that money, maybe old man Chris Paul is willing to take a discount.
PG - Paul, SG - Kawhi, SF - Bron, PF - Saric, C - Embiid
Who knows.