If Billy King is like general managers in all sports, he probably has a name or two in his pocket.

Because someday, Larry Brown will leave the 76ers.

It would seem unlikely that King, at whatever point that might be, would leave with him. Brown is 61, winding down a remarkable career in which he has come to be recognized as one of the finest teachers of basketball. King is 34, the youngest GM in the NBA, on the way up. King's stewardship as an executive in the league has been inextricably tied to Brown. His eventual choice of a successor to Brown could serve as a defining moment in his career.