NBA's 76ers believe Bryan Colangelo does not know about secret Twitter accounts
Li Xiang
["north america"]
Philadelphia 76ers are said to hold the general belief that the NBA team's basketball operations president Bryan Colangelo is at the center of a Twitter scandal that he knows little about.
As they see it, he has no idea about the secret Twitter accounts, sent none of the messages that have raised eyebrows and did not know that the messages were sent, league sources told NBC.
Owners the 76ers discussed the investigative findings of the Twitter fiasco on Tuesday as well as whether Colangelo should be allowed to keep his job, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. No conclusion has been announced yet. Colangelo was seen attending the workouts the 76ers set up for draft players on Wednesday.
In February, anonymous reports were sent to US basketball news agency The Ringer saying that  Colangelo had been allegedly posting improper content through five Twitter accounts. The content included:
With Ben Simmons #25, Joel Embiid #21 and Markelle Fultz #20, things were finally looking good for the Philadelphia 76ers after years of tanking. /VCG Photo

With Ben Simmons #25, Joel Embiid #21 and Markelle Fultz #20, things were finally looking good for the Philadelphia 76ers after years of tanking. /VCG Photo

• Negative comments on the team's players and former players such as Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel; 
• Questioning decisions made by the 76ers' coach team and satirizing Sam Hinkie, the team's former general manager, and Masai Ujiri, the Toronto Raptors' president; 
• Breaking in advance that the 76ers will select Markelle Fultz with the first pick in the 2017 NBA Draft;
• Releasing non-public medical information on Jahlil Okafor as well as giving away private information about Embiid and Fultz to the press; 
Sam Hinkie (L), the 76ers' former general manager, and Masai Ujiri (R), president of the Toronto Raptors, have been satirized by the secret Twitter accounts linked to Bryan Colangelo. /VCG Photo

Sam Hinkie (L), the 76ers' former general manager, and Masai Ujiri (R), president of the Toronto Raptors, have been satirized by the secret Twitter accounts linked to Bryan Colangelo. /VCG Photo

Ben Detrik from The Ringer has been investigating since then and made contact with the 76ers on May 22 to ask about two of the five Twitter accounts. The team's press officer said they would ask Colangelo for answers. However, on the same day, the three accounts Detrik did not mention were switched to "private only," meaning no one but the owner could read the posted content. And the only account that kept posting content on a daily basis stopped posting. 37 of followers involved with Colangelo have stopped following too. After that, the 76ers responded to Detrik that Colangelo said he only admitted the ownership of one account and knew nothing about the others. The response also claimed that the question was only brought to Colangelo.
A week later, Detrik contacted the 76ers and said he knew about all five Twitter accounts. He also asked the team who the accounts belonged to. Colangelo responded himself by saying that he used the first account to follow NBA news but had no idea who's behind the other four or what those accounts were used for.
Markelle Fultz, who was selected by the 76ers with the first pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, was also a victim of this Twitter fiasco. /VCG Photo

Markelle Fultz, who was selected by the 76ers with the first pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, was also a victim of this Twitter fiasco. /VCG Photo

There were also reports about Colangelo's wife Barbara possibly using the secret accounts. "Sixers ownership is struggling to separate Colangelo from his wife, if she indeed, posted those remarks," wrote ESPN's Wojnarowski on Wednesday. He also mentioned that the team could decide whether to fire Colangelo as soon as Wednesday.