The Philadelphia 76ers and collar-loving general manager Bryan Colangelo have “agreed to part ways” today, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Last week, the Ringer dropped a bombshell report advancing the theory that Colangelo had been secretly operating five Twitter accounts to defend himself. They were close, and as many theorized last week, it turned out that Colangelo’s wife Barbara Bottini ran the four active burners. The Sixers released a statement about their investigation’s findings today. Bottini apparently reset her phone to its factory settings, though investigators were still able to find “forensic evidence” that tied her to the accounts before she admitted to operating them.
The Sixers brought on Bryan Colangelo in April 2016 shortly after Sam Hinkie resigned from his post as GM. The NBA had a hand in installing Bryan’s father Jerry into a leadership role months before because owners brought up concerns about Hinkie’s shameless tanking efforts. The reason this process dragged on for over a week was because Jerry threatened to burn bridges with other teams if the Sixers fired his son, according to a report from PhillyVoice.
Even though Colangelo didn’t use the accounts, telling his wife about confidential medical information only for her to publicize it was apparently a serious enough offense that the Sixers had to let him go. While he didn’t broadcast his own team’s secrets himself, Colangelo was clearly the source of that intel. He will now have time to buy some better shirts.
Update (12:47 p.m. ET): Colangelo has released a statement, in which he “vigorously dispute[s]” that his conduct was reckless and talks some shit about his wife.