After a long drawn-out process, including weeks of deliberating, hours upon hours of talking heads offering takes and betting markets shifting around accidental YouTube posts, LeBron James has decided to take his talents to Philadelphia to play alongside a loaded 76ers team chasing its first title since 1983.
As Philadelphia fans have been saying for more than a decade: “Trust the process.”
You’re probably familiar with the mantra, even if you don’t live in Pennsylvania. It’s one that started as an idea of sacrificing current success and focusing on building assets. It’s been synonymous with tanking in the NBA, and was a phrase that’s taken on many iterations since the 76ers went five straight seasons with top-10 picks, accumulating a collection of young stars that ultimately went elsewhere or fizzled.
Sam Hinkie, the general manager at the helm of that process, has been out of the NBA since 2016. Markelle Fultz, the former UW men’s basketball star who was drafted No. 1 overall by Philadelphia in 2017, is currently a free agent after battling injuries and playing just five games last season. Meanwhile, Joel Embiid, the most successful member of that era who has embraced the phrase and is even nicknamed “The Process,” will anchor the team James is joining.
The process has taken a circuitous route all the way to James using it (perhaps intentionally?) on-stage at Fanatics Fest a week before landing with the 76ers. Certainly, no one could have predicted the process would end up with the face of the NBA taking a league-minimum deal to form a super team around Embiid, Jaylen Brown and Tyreese Maxey.
But the phrase itself, which was trending all over social media Friday, has roots in Seattle, thanks to Tony Wroten.
Yes, the former UW men’s basketball and Garfield star is credited with birthing the iconic three-word phrase in 2015.
Pablo Torre, formerly of ESPN, interviewed Wroten for a story on the 76ers’ plan to build around its young talent.
“They tell us every game, every day, ‘Trust the Process,'” Tony Wroten said in the story. “Just continue to build.”
Wroten starred at Garfield, averaging 25 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game over his senior season. He was the No. 14-ranked recruit in the country, committing to his hometown Huskies. He played one season at UW, earning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and averaging nearly 17 points per game.
Wroten was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies with the No. 25 pick in the 2012 draft, before landing in Philadelphia via trade.
His NBA career, however, was short-lived. After a breakthrough 2014-15 season in which he averaged a career-best 16.9 points per game and earned a starting spot, Wroten suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee and his NBA career ended the following year.
“I’m not going to take all the credit for it,” Wroten said about the phrase in a 2017 video. “It became a big thing when I was there, and the organization played a part in it. I used to say ‘TTP’ all the time. … I just took it and ran with it.”