Gimme Jimmy.

By now you know the Sixers have been linked to three players by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst: L.A. Clippers’ star wing Paul George (who Windy expects the Sixers to offer a max contract to), Heat super villain Jimmy Butler and Pelicans’ “star” Brandon Ingram.

This piece is part of a pro-con series I’m hurdling with my esteemed colleague, Harrison Grimm. Grimm lays out below, why a Joel Embiid-Tyrese Maxey-Butler trio would be a sight to see, but it’s better left as a daydream.

Here’s the pro-Jimmy side.

Point one: Paul George would be better?

Grimm described for us, persuasively, in his Butler con piece, that George is the superior option. To use the formal Latin debate term, fiat the PG plan.

Yeah, I think Butler is better overall than PG. But I’m not certain he’ll age better. And I agree that PG is a better theoretical fit, given his ability to willingly knock down triples and not need the ball quite as much offensively.

PG is a free agent, and getting him to choose Philly over L.A., N.Y., Miami or whoever would be a massive coup for the Sixers (relative to trading for Jimmy) since it would also allow them to retain the up-to-five-firsts-on-NBA-Draft-Day next month picks haul.

So if the question is PG AND whoever else you can get using five firsts vs. Butler using said draft picks? I merrily concede to Grimm’s alternative hypothetical.

But Windhorst’s speculation that the Sixers are prepping to drop a max on PG’s door come June suggests Morey has already calculated as much. So even asking about Butler here almost necessarily means George is unavailable.

In that case, Jimmy becomes a fallback plan with immense upside.

Point two: he’s ‘literally Jimmy’ (shrug)

For all the debate there will be about fit, hierarchy, Maxey’s development or spacing the floor for Embiid, it’s important not to overthink this one — the way the Sixers or a certain co-host of the most popular Sixers podcast did back in summer ‘19.

The fact of the matter is that Butler has been one of the five (that’s right five) best NBA players over the last half-decade.

Player impact is best measured in the postseason, and very, very few players have been more impactful since Sixers’ owner Josh Harris opted to let Butler walk five years ago.

Here is a list of players who have outdueled and defeated Butler in a playoff series since Butler left Philly:

• LeBron James
• Giannis
• Nikola Jokic

That’s the list. All three went on to win NBA Finals MVP.

The sad fact of the matter is that Embiid has never had a single postseason run matching Butler’s top playoff heroics.

And the saddest fact of the matter is that Butler, if acquired, is a very decent bet to be the best Sixer on the team come spring ’25 — for reasons you already know all too well. Imagine being able to add a guy who might be better than Joel during the biggest games of the season and not wanting him for… reasons?

Kevin Durant has not been a more impactful player than JB over the last five years. If you think that Jokic, Luka and Curry have been, fine.

But those guys are not even rumored to be available. This superstar might be.