Bryan Colangelo recently celebrated another birthday.
With his job in peril, any candles on the cake must still be flickering.
It has been a harrowing stretch for the 76ers President of Basketball Operations, who is still being investigated as a connection to numerous Twitter burner accounts. Those accounts tweeted out personal information on players and head coach Brett Brown among other things.
The investigation is still active and there’s no immediate word on how long it will take as the NBA Finals continue.
Colangelo’s status must be considered shaky since the investigation was anything but quick following the report by The Ringer, which implicated the NBA executive into having knowledge of the burner accounts.
The situation has many layers and it’s unclear whether Colangelo will survive this investigation.
More than two years ago, he took over for Sam Hinkie as the Sixers were careening to a 10-72 record, the third season of a four-season Tank-A-Thon. The Sixers won 75 games over a brutal four-year span, before rallying for 52 wins and a first-round playoff series win over the Miami Heat. The Sixers are finally trending up. They have draft picks Nos. 10 and 26. They have salary cap space. Can you say LeBron James?
But there is a huge shadow over the franchise as the nation watches James battle the Golden State Warriors.
Colangelo, the son of USA Basketball Chairman and NBA legend Jerry Colangelo, is a two-time NBA Executive of the Year himself. When the Sixers dismissed Hinkie and added Colangelo, it looked to be a solid move.
Now, no one knows.
Rewind back to last year when Colangelo traded up in the draft, going from the No. 3 pick to No. 1. The Sixers took guard Markelle Fultz, who had a polarizing season filled with a bizarre shoulder injury.
Every Sixers fan was forced to watch Jayson Tatum shine through the playoffs. The Sixers made that trade with the rival Celtics and it sure looks as if Danny Ainge fleeced Colangelo.
Depending on what the NBA decides, Colangelo might not be around to see how the trade shakes out.
The Sixers need a decision from the league as soon as possible.
What draft picks and free agents will want to come to Philadelphia with a front office clouded in controversy? Money does talk so there’s that. This investigation must be cleared up for this reason: this is one of the most important offseasons in Sixers history.
Adding James or a player such as Kawhi Leonard can catapult them into the NBA Finals next season.
With trust issues looming from these alleged burner accounts and a potential change in leadership, players throughout the league will surely think twice before coming to the Sixers.
An outside law firm is still dotting every I and crossing every T. The investigation could linger through the week. What should have been a happy birthday has turned into an excruciating waiting game.
“The notion here was, let’s find out what’s going on,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told reporters before Game One of the NBA Finals. “You have to separate sort of the chatter and sort of what either fans or, frankly, the media are saying from the facts. And the first thing we have to do here is determine what the actual facts are in this circumstance.”
The waiting game continues.
