The 76ers and Bryan Colangelo will no longer be working together. According to a press release sent out by the 76ers, the Philadelphia GM has agreed to part ways with the team. This is following an investigation into multiple "burner" Twitter accounts that revealed private team information and attacked media members.
Colangelo took over the 76ers in 2016 after the team parted ways with former GM Sam Hinkie. His departure from the team will reportedly be seen as a resignation and not a firing. Coach Brett Brown will take over the team's front office in an interim position.
The Philadelphia 76ers organization has accepted the resignation of President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo, effective immediately.
We appreciate Bryan's many contributions during his time leading our basketball operations and thank him for the work he did in positioning the team for long-term success. An independent investigation by New York-based law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP was conducted into certain anonymous social media accounts that posted information concerning the club, personnel, and related topics (a statement of the findings is attached).
It has become clear Bryan's relationship with our team and his ability to lead the 76ers moving forward has been compromised. Recognizing the detrimental impact this matter had on the organization, Colangelo offered his resignation. We find the situation to be disappointing for our entire organization. We are determined to continue the tremendous progress we have made over the last two seasons in our quest to win an NBA Championship.As such, we have appointed head coach Brett Brown to oversee basketball operations on an interim basis to lead our efforts in this important offseason. He will work closely with the rest of our talented basketball operations department in preparing for the upcoming NBA Draft and thereafter until a new General Manager is found. The search for a new General Manager will commence immediately.
All of this began when The Ringer released a story that alleged Colangelo had multiple burner Twitter accounts that were revealing sensitive information about the team. After the story was released, an internal investigation by the 76ers was conducted. They then hired a law firm to help with the investigation.
The law firm, Paul, Weiss, investigated into the incident and concluded that the Twitter accounts belonged to Colangelo's wife Barbara Bottini. They could not prove that Colangelo had any knowledge of the Twitter accounts. However, while the accounts apparently belonged to his wife, that the information was released at all spelled the end of Colangelo's tenure in Philadelphia. The law firm concluded that Colangelo was "careless" in protecting that private information.
This has to be, by far, the weirdest end to a GM's tenure with a team ever. The 76ers had just won 52 games and reached the second round of the playoffs. Most GM's have a chance to build off that and grow their team, but now Philadelphia will be seeking for new guidance in the front office. All because of some Twitter accounts.