76ers probe critical tweets linked to chief

THE Philadelphia 76ers have started an investigation into tweets linked in a report to team president Bryan Colangelo that criticized Sixers players Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz, among other NBA figures.

The burner accounts also took aim at former Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie, Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri and former Sixers players Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, according to a report by The Ringer website.

“The allegations are serious and we have commenced an independent investigation into the matter,” the Sixers said in a statement yesterday. “We will report the results of that investigation as soon as it is concluded.”

The website asked the team about five Twitter accounts it suspected Colangelo was operating. He said in a statement he used one of the accounts to monitor the NBA industry and other current events, but that he was “not familiar with any of the other accounts” brought to his attention and that he didn’t know who was “behind them.”

Embiid, the 24-year-old All-Star center, tweeted that he didn’t believe the report. “I don’t believe the story. That would just be insane,” he wrote.

Colangelo was hired as president of basketball operations for Philadelphia in April 2016. He served as Toronto’s general manager from 2006-2013.

Colangelo, the son of longtime sports executive Jerry Colangelo, stepped in with the Sixers after Hinkie resigned. He lost his GM job in Toronto after the Raptors missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season, and Ujiri took over basketball operations.

According to The Ringer, one of the Twitter accounts linked to Colangelo downplayed Hinkie’s role in the franchise’s turnaround. It also lamented in another post that Ujiri hadn’t done anything to make the Raptors better.

Another account accused Embiid of “playing like a toddler having tantrums,” and one criticized Fultz for his work with his “so called mentor/ father figure.”

In a related development, the 76ers and head coach Brett Brown have reached agreement on a three-year extension through the 2021-22 season, according to multiple reports.

Brown had one season left on his contract. He joined the 76ers in 2013, leading the team to its first postseason berth in six seasons this year.

In the playoffs, the No. 3 seed Sixers was eliminated by the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the second round.

Brown, 57, has led Philadelphia to a 127-283 record during his tenure.