Former 76ers GM Sam Hinkie. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Trust the process: Sam Hinkie raises $50 million for Silicon Valley venture capital firm

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Apr 30, 2020 5:37 PM ET

Former Philadelphia 76ers general manager and president Sam Hinkie has something new to process.

On Wednesday, Dan Primack of Axios reported that Hinkie has raised $50 million for a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. The firm, named Eighty-Seven Capital, won't have a sports focus.

Hinkie is probably most known by NBA fans for the 76ers tanking across multiple seasons to stockpile draft picks. The team jokingly, albeit somewhat affectionately, became known as "Tankadelphia" during the middle of the 2010s as Hinkie asked perturbed fans to "trust the process."

The Sixers and Hinkie parted ways in April 2016, ironically before center Joel Embiid made his NBA debut and helped spark the franchise's turnaround into a legitimate contender. When the coronavirus pandemic brought the 2019-20 season to a halt on March 11, the Sixers sat sixth in the Eastern Conference standings.

Philadelphia lost to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals in heartbreaking fashion:

Meanwhile, Embiid embraced the nickname "The Process" in tribute to the man responsible for the big man landing in Philadelphia:

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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