From day one, though national (and local) writers seem to forget, Dario Saric’s plan has been to come to the Sixers after two seasons in Turkey. That helps your narrative if you’re on the “Hinkie is a fraud tank tank tank” train. There’s no reason to take it to the “he might never come over” extreme. It already fell into your hands.

Now, in Dario’s second season in Turkey, he’s speaking in definitives. Earlier this year, he flat-out said he’ll be coming to the Sixers next year

The reason for Dario to stay over in Turkey would be to slink his way out of the rookie contract and come over later, making more money by being signed by the Sixers on a free agent deal. But Dario’s not even thinking about that, as he told 24 Sata in Croatian (translation by the always reliable users at r/Sixers, and some from Google Translate):

“I’d like to have the kind of success to justify what they have invested in me at Efes. But achieve it or not, next summer I will finally go to Philadelphia, to the NBA. It depends only on me, and I want to go next summer, I don’t know what amount of money could make me stay (in Turkey) … Sixers are young and talented team, results don’t give them enough credit. They will have another high draft pick and they’ll find chemistry quickly, I’m not worried about them.”

Why would he even want to come to Philadelphia, outside of the whole NBA thing? He had to be asked how he feels living in Istanbul, to which he responded “I do not feel safe, but I also do not feel threatened.” He’ll fit right in with Okafor.

UPDATE: Saric’s father, rumored to be a large part of Dario’s decision making team/process, says his son will be in Philadelphia next year.