After consecutive years of shameless tanking in order to set themselves up with high draft picks, the Philadelphia 76ers appear to be finally savoring the fruits of all those losses. Often referred to as “The Process,” the Sixers’ arduous rebuild by way of losing is mainly credited to the team’s former general manager, Sam Hinkie – the architect of it all.

Under Hinkie’s regime, the Sixers were able to draft the likes of Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, and Ben Simmons to name a few. However, Hinkie wasn’t able to see both Embiid and Simmons play together as the team’s general manager, as he stepped down from the position last year.

Joel Embiid likes to think Sam Hinkie was a big part of his NBA career, so there’s a tinge of regret from him when pondering on how Hinkie ended his stint with the Sixers, a feeling he disclosed to NBA.com’s David Aldridge during an interview.

Aldridge: Sam Hinkie drafted you. Do you keep in touch with him, call, text?

Embiid: Yeah, we text sometimes. We talk to each other sometimes. I mean, that's the guy that drafted me, and he made sure he put everything in place so I could get healthy. And I got healthy and I got back on the court. And I feel like he basically kind of lost his job because of me, because I missed two years. So I feel like I owe him a lot. Yeah, we talk. We talk sometimes.

Whether Embiid and Simmons would be able to make the Sixers a perennial title contender in the future is something that remains to be seen, but in it also lies the lasting legacy of Sam Hinkie.