76ers hope Dario Saric will join team in 2016-17

The Philadelphia 76ers have practiced patience for the past three years.

So much so, the team's fan base has become accustomed to the futility of its hometown ball club as it awaits something - or someone - that will rescue the floundering franchise from the league's basement.

One of many assets the club has stockpiled during its rebuild, Dario Saric - a 21-year-old Croatian who has yet to play a minute stateside - may be part of the next step in "The Process" next season.

The Sixers believe that the sharpshooting forward could join the team for their 2016-17 campaign, according to philly.com's Keith Pompey. Saric was selected twelfth overall in 2014 by the Orlando Magic but was acquired by Philly in exchange for Elfrid Payton on draft night.

"We just continued to stay with him and remind him that he has a bunch of coaches and teammates and friend(s) back here that look very much forward to seeing him as soon as we can," Sixers head coach Brett Brown said.

The one thing keeping Saric - a two-time winner of the FIBA Europe Young Men's Player of the Year Award - from suiting up for the Sixers has been his contract with Turkish club Anadolu Efes, which he can opt out of this year.

"Obviously, decisions are going to have to be made on his part," Brown added. "But we like what we see and we believe he likes what he sees."

Saric told a newspaper in his native Croatia that he plans to play for Philadelphia next season.

The forward, who stands 6-foot-10, has averaged 11.6 points (shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 40.4 percent from beyond the arc), 5.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 22.2 minutes in 19 games for Anadolu Efes this season.