"They view his becoming a star for another team worse than him remaining a Sixer and continuing to struggle. Former general manager Bryan Colangelo, who drafted Fultz, would get the blame in the latter scenario. However, the front-office holdovers and ownership group would have to look at themselves in the mirror if they trade Fultz for next to nothing and he goes on to become the star they thought he was going to be when they drafted him."

But the other side of the coin is that the Sixers are built to compete in the present, with a talented big three of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler. The rest of the roster is more suspect, however, as the Sixers lack a quality backup at center or any two-way guards behind Butler and Simmons. 

The team's starting lineup of Embiid, Wilson Chandler, Butler, JJ Redick and Simmons has an impressive net rating of 17.4. But once the bench players begin to filter through the rotation, the Sixers begin to suffer. Most notably, without Embiid, the team's net rating drops to a woeful -8.7. 

Part of that speaks to Embiid's massive importance on both offense and defense. But it also speaks to the team's lack of depth. And beyond Fultz, draft picks and perhaps backup point guard TJ McConnell, the Sixers don't have many assets to move in trades to address their depth issues. 

Yes, the Sixers could wait to see which players become available in the buyout market. But for a team with a superstar trio built to compete for a title in the present, risking those aspirations on the hope that the buyout market will solve depth issues is a risky proposition. 

If the Sixers aren't willing to give up on Fultz, they likely would be best served to commit to him as the backup point guard and move on from a player like McConnell. If not, Fultz is one of the team's only trade chips, and the Sixers will have to at least considering trading him, massive potential or not.

Even if Fultz does live up to his potential, there are natural fit questions in Philadelphia given the presence of Simmons at the point. Fultz has shown he's at his best with the ball in his hands. Ditto for Simmons.

Take the ball out of Fultz's hands, and he needs to be able to provide some sort of perimeter shooting threat, which he's yet to show. Take the ball out of Simmons' hands, and he prefers to work out of the post—the natural habitat of Embiid—since Simmons has shooting issues of his own. 

Questions of fit abound, and it's unlikely the Sixers drafted Fultz with the idea of him being a long-term sixth man. But in Philadelphia, that might be his ultimate role, another consideration when the team contemplates trading him.

The Sixers don't need to rush the decision. As Pompey noted, "The thought is the Sixers will have more serious discussions once it becomes apparent certain teams will be eliminated from the postseason. Those teams will look to unload desirable players in the final year of their contracts in exchange to take a look at Fultz."

So for now, the Sixers are in a holding pattern. But a major decision looms.