According to this logic, distantly related groups could have all evolved from a widespread ancient hominid relative. In different locations, they may have interbred with and picked up traits from other ancient hominids, as we know Homo sapiens have done over time.
(In general, the term hominid describes great apes, humans, and all our extinct ancestors; the term hominin is a bit more narrow referring only to humans and our more closely related extinct ancestors.)
Ed Yong at The Atlantic wrote that the best way to understand this theory isn't to think of evolution as a tree in which modern humans branched off and became a separate group.
"It’s a braided river — a group of streams that are all part of the same system, but that weave into and out of each other," Yong wrote. "These streams eventually merge into the same big channel, but it takes time — hundreds of thousands of years. For most of our history, any one group of Homo sapiens had just some of the full constellation of features that we use to define ourselves."