Sam Hinkie
Sam Hinkie is the former President & General Manager of the Philadelphia 76ers. In 2013 Hinkie took over as the steward of the Philadelphia 76ers and repositioned the franchise’s future in just three seasons by acquiring record numbers of talented young players and draft picks, including drafting the first Rookie of the Year in 25 years to be selected outside of the top 10 picks. The innovative Sixers front office was named by ESPN as the top team in professional sports for their use of analytics.
Sam and his team’s efforts have been profiled by The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN, among others. Promoted to become the NBA’s youngest vice president before turning 30, Hinkie guided the club’s transformation from a team near the bottom of the cycle to a forward-thinking operation stockpiled with resources and avenues to improve, distinctive for its combining wide-ranging objective research with basketball knowledge.
Hinkie helped launch basketball’s analytics movement when he joined the Houston Rockets in 2005. His eight year Rockets tenure—the last seven with Daryl Morey—saw the team enjoy three straight 50-win seasons (including a 22-game winning streak) before making a roster overhaul to acquire James Harden.
Beginning his career at Bain & Company before stints in private equity and venture capital, Hinkie received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma, summa cum laude with honors in finance, and his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, with honors.
Hinkie has been on the Advisory Board of KIPP Public Charter Schools and serves on the National Advisory Board of Positive Coaching Alliance. He is an advisor to entrepreneurs and invests as an angel in startups, especially those with a machine learning focus, and as a limited partner in various venture and quantitative investment funds.
He is a Lecturer at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he co-teaches several courses. He has lectured on analytics at Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton and is an original contributor for all twelve years of MIT’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
His honors include being named an Arjay Miller Scholar for graduating in the top 10% of his class at Stanford and being selected as one of the top 60 undergraduates in the nation by USA TODAY. As an undergrad, Hinkie was awarded the Letzeiser Award, The Outstanding Senior in his college and The Outstanding Finance Student.
Hinkie lives in Palo Alto, California with his wife Alison and their four boys.