Kings owner reportedly eyeing former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie for a front office position

By Brett Pollakoff
Published

The Kings have received permission from the Sixers to speak with their former GM, Sam Hinkie, about a front office position, according to a report from ESPN. Hinkie left his job in Philadelphia in April 2016, and is required to sit out the 2016-17 season due to the terms of a non-compete clause in his deal.

A report from Yahoo Sports states that Sacramento owner Vivek Ranadive is searching for an executive to place over current GM Vlade Divac in the Kings front office.

https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/846513576529612800

The Kings later issued a statement denying these reports.

https://twitter.com/mr_jasonjones/status/846533555563868160

Hinkie was infamous for installing The Process during his time with the Sixers, which was an interesting idea in theory, but one that turned out to be a disaster in practice. Philadelphia intentionally bottomed out in order to increase its odds of landing high draft picks, which the team hoped it could use to build the franchise into a contender from the ground up.

But none of the picks worked out as planned -- Joel Embiid is injured again after appearing in just 31 total games in his first three seasons with the team, Jahlil Okafor has also been limited by injuries (along with his interest in playing on only one end of the floor), and Nerlens Noel was traded to Dallas at the deadline this season because there were too many big men on the roster.

The way the team was constructed created a culture of losing, and the all-out tanking was such a bad look for the league that commissioner Adam Silver stepped in to try to change the team's course. Once Jerry Colangelo was brought in as a consultant, it was the beginning of the end for Hinkie, and The Process he brought with him.

The Kings, meanwhile, finally moved on from the toxic DeMarcus Cousins at the trade deadline this season, but got so little for him in return that the franchise is in a worse position than before, both now and in the foreseeable future. It's unclear just how much of that was Divac's decision, but the fact that ownership continues to meddle in basketball operations remains the primary problem in Sacramento, and there's really no reason for Hinkie (or anyone else) to consider accepting a role there if things aren't finally going to change.