Former Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie is not currently employed by an NBA team. He may never be employed by one again. His methods while in Philly were deemed too drastic by some, including the league itself. The Association is set for lottery reform after next season in large part because of his tanking measures.
But that doesn’t mean Hinkie’s approach and constructs and general insight aren’t still valued around the NBA. They are. Owners and league executives, in fact, still seek advice from him today, according to Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher:
While Hinkie offered a glimpse of that personality in his resignation letter, he didn’t win many converts to his ways. One owner of an Eastern Conference team said the letter—which was not intended to be shared publicly—damaged Hinkie’s chances of being hired to run a franchise again as much as anything he did while with with the Sixers. Still, sources both close to Hinkie and around the league said owners and executives routinely reach out to him for counsel. Several basketball operations vice presidents and owners said they would hire him, but they wouldn’t put him in charge.
Check out Bucher’s entire piece when you get the chance. It has some telling thoughts from those in and around the league about how Hinkie is viewed today. The prevailing theme: Hinkie probably won’t ever be given full control of an NBA team ever again. And, based off Bucher’s reporting, he doesn’t seem to be seeking that type of gig anyway.
Writing him out of all future front-office positions still feels premature. The Sixers remain his work of art. They’re an unfinished one, to be sure, but the jury is still out. He’s directly responsible for the futures of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. His legacy is even tied to Markelle Fultz, since the assets and losses he helped accumulate put Philly in a position to trade up for him. He isn’t responsible for Fultz going bust, since selecting him wasn’t his call, but he’ll reap part of the anecdotal rewards should the point guard pan out in the future.
Fast forward a few years down the line, and the Sixers could be both fully healthy and contending for a title. And if that’s the case, Hinkie will have received his ultimate form of validation. From there, it would be tough to imagine that some team, somewhere, wouldn’t be willing to stomach a half-decadeish of his rock-bottom ideals for a shot at becoming his next masterpiece.
