We’re talking hypotheticals here in discussing what would be the right way for the Mets to part ways with Jose Reyes, because let’s face it, if the Mets did things the right way on more than the occasional basis, they wouldn’t be the Mets.

But still, Sunday night’s nationally televised finale of the weekend Subway Series would have provided the proper backdrop for Reyes’ exit. For old times’ sake, manager Mickey Callaway could have had Reyes start at shortstop and lead off before pulling him on schedule following the at-bat to an ovation from the home fans.

Kind of like Terry Collins did in the final game of 2011, when Reyes’ leadoff single clinched the NL batting title at .337. Then, Reyes was off to riches as a 28-year-old free-agent signee with the Marlins. Now, Reyes would be off to DFA-land as a 35-year-old reserve with a slash line of .141/.208/.197 as of the start of Friday night’s contest against the Yankees.

The organization could have done this up the way the Yankees did with Alex Rodriguez in 2016. The Mets could have invited Reyes’ family to share in the send-off. But that is not the way things are done in Queens. There are no plans to cut ties with Reyes, who has started all of 13 of the Mets’ first 60 games.

And that, according to sources within the industry, is because the Wilpon ownership does not believe a release befits a man of Reyes’ stature in franchise lore. In essence, the operation is being run on sentimentality. It is the wrong call for the wrong reason.

And this decision, which is completely apart from baseball analysis, captures why the Mets are the Mets, even more so than Jeurys Familia landing on the disabled list Friday afternoon with shoulder soreness or Noah Syndergaard experiencing renewed swelling in his finger that will prevent him from starting on Sunday.

Reyes is a popular guy among his peers and the fan base, which has been just as warm to No. 7 since his mid-2016 return following a domestic violence incident/suspension that prompted his release from the Rockies as during his first stint in Queens, when he was a young and dynamic linchpin of the attack.

But Reyes’ popularity represents counterfeit currency. Loyalty to him — or to any singular athlete in a team sport — at the expense of the group undermines the operation. Any Met who can barrel up would be wildly popular with the fans, whose team entered Friday on a six-game losing streak having scored an aggregate seven runs, including two runs over 41 innings covering the previous four defeats.

Phil Rizzuto was a pretty popular fellow in the Bronx while he wore the pinstripes, an MVP who was a member of nine pennant-winners and seven World Series champions. But when the Yankees needed room on the roster to add Enos Slaughter in August 1956, they summarily released the then-35 Rizzuto, moving him into the broadcasting booth.

The Yankees did the same with Bobby Murcer, at least as popular with the fan base as Reyes, in the middle of 1983, releasing and reassigning him to the announcing crew as a 37-year-old in order to clear a spot for Don Mattingly.

Now it is true that the Mets don’t have a Mattingly (or apparently even the equivalent of a 40-year-old Slaughter) to force management’s hand, and that is part of the problem. Wilmer Flores is expected off the DL within a week or so, but if ownership has its way, chances are Luis Guillorme (.196/.226/.235 in 51 at-bats) will be the one to go when it is time to make a corresponding move.

This isn’t about Reyes’ 17 triples in 2005 and 2006 and his 19 triples in 2008, when he led the NL in hits and provided enough voltage to light up Shea Stadium. It isn’t about Reyes forming the foundation, with David Wright, for the Willie Randolph years and beyond. It isn’t about the debates whether, in 2006, you would rather have had Reyes and Wright (both 23) or Derek Jeter (32) and Rodriguez (31) as the left side of your infield.

It is about now, about Reyes’ declining productivity at bat (.243/.309/.404 in 246 games during his second tour) and his undependable play in the field. It is about ownership giving their manager the best 25 men with whom to work. Or it should be.

But apparently not.

Instead, we have the Mets being the Mets.