SIXERS GM CAUGHT IN TWITSTORM
76ers executive under fire for allegedly trashing his own players on social media
Old tweets have burned college athletes’ draft stock in recent years.
Now the epidemic may have spread to the front office, where it could lead to the downfall of the top executive of one of the NBA’s upand-coming teams.
76ers president and general manager Bryan Colangelo is under fire for allegedly leaking private medical information and trashing a few of his own players and other executives through burner accounts on Twitter.
The news broke late Tuesday night in a story posted by The Ringer, and by Wednesday morning, the 76ers had announced they had launched an investigation into the claims.
“The allegations are serious and we have commenced an independent investigation into the matter,” the team said in a statement. “We will report the results of that investigation as soon as it is concluded.”
The accounts have often thrown insults at 76ers star Joel Embiid and fellow first-round picks Markelle Fultz and Nerlens Noel; pleaded with the media to inquire about Jahlil Okafor failing a physical that ruined a potential trade, which had never been publicly reported; criticized head coach Brett Brown, former GM Sam Hinkie and Raptors president Masai Ujiri (Colangelo’s successor in Toronto); and defended Colangelo through it all, even about details as petty as his collar size.
Embiid, who poked some fun at the report on Twitter and went back and liked some of the burner account’s tweets about him, later said he didn’t believe the story because “that would just be insane.”
“Someone’s out to get me,” Colangelo told Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Schultz. “This is clearly not me.”
More clues emerged Wednesday, with The Athletic reporting past tweets from one of the alleged burner accounts were sent out at the same time as Colangelo was holding a press conference on Feb. 11, 2017. A 76ers fan account, “Did the Sixers win?” also showed screen shots of a password recovery for one of the accounts, and the last two digits of the phone number linked to the account were the same as Colangelo’s wife’s number.
Colangelo confirmed that one of the Twitter accounts was his — using the handle @phila1234567 — but denied he had anything to do with the other four in question. Curiously, though, right after The Ringer contacted the 76ers to inquire about two of the Twitter accounts, the other three switched from public to private.
There have not been any tweets sent from the account Colangelo confirmed was his, but the other four have been active at various times over the past two years since April 2016, when Colangelo was named president of basketball operations and GM of the 76ers.
“While I have never posted anything whatsoever on social media, I have used the @Phila1234567 Twitter account referenced in this story to monitor our industry and other current events,” Colangelo said in a statement to The Ringer. “This storyline is disturbing to me on many levels, as I am not familiar with any of the other accounts that have been brought to my attention, nor do I know who is behind them or what their motives may be in using them.”
All of five of the accounts displayed a similar pattern of tweets, likes and follows. Users frequently followed by the burner accounts included 76ers players, front office members, beat reporters of the 76ers and Raptors and Canadian high school and University of Chicago basketball — where Colangelo’s son Mattia played.
Colangelo’s future with the 76ers may be dependent on the results of the team’s investigation. Oddsmaker Bovada already has pinned his departure as the likeliest outcome, offering 1-3 odds that he won’t be team president at the start of next season.
NBA players, execs and owners, as well as other teams, poked fun at Bryan Colangelo’s Twitter controversy Tuesday.