Report: Sixers owners discuss Bryan Colangelo Twitter investigation, could make decision Wednesday

Bryan Colangelo and his wife, Barbara, were interviewed earlier this week by the law firm hired to investigate the matter, ESPN reported.

Bryan Colangelo's fate could be decided by Sixers ownership as soon as today, a report says. Read moreYONG KIM / File Photograph

by T.J. Furman and Keith Pompey | Columnist

Published Jun. 6, 2018, 6:25 a.m. ET

The 76ers owners met in New York on Tuesday to discuss the future of the team's president of basketball operations, Bryan Colangelo, after reviewing the findings of an independent investigation into his and his wife's alleged use of five Twitter accounts to attack critics, players, and colleagues, ESPN reported early Wednesday.

The report, which cited anonymous sources, said Colangelo's fate could be decided as early as Wednesday.

Colangelo has denied using four of the accounts mentioned in an article published by The Ringer last week. He admitted using a fifth one as a way to track news, but he never sent any tweets from that account. The embattled GM's wife, Barbara, also has been connected to the accounts. Both Colangelo and his wife were interviewed separately by investigators from Paul/Weiss, the law firm hired to probe the matter by the Sixers, on Sunday and Monday, ESPN reported.

Even if the investigation clears the Colangelo family, the Sixers owners will still have to consider how effective Bryan Colangelo can be in his job as the team approaches free agency next month. The Sixers have the ability to sign or trade for superstar players this offseason, and there has been speculation that LeBron James, Paul George, or Kawhi Leonard could come to Philadelphia. Several NBA sources told the Inquirer and Daily News that the report had seriously harmed Colangelo's reputation.

"I think the damage is done," said one executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I don't know if the players can trust him. I think he lost the trust of the players unless it's proven definitively that it wasn't him."

The Sixers hired Colangelo on April 10, 2016. That was four days after Sam Hinkie resigned as general manager and president of basketball operations after it became clear he would lose his power to Colangelo.

At the time of his hiring, Colangelo's father — Jerry — was the Sixers chairman of basketball operations.

However, the elder Colangelo and the team said that he had nothing to do with hiring his son, who was honored twice as NBA executive of the year before coming to the Sixers.

Bryan Colangelo worked for his father for 13 seasons with the Phoenix Suns before becoming the Toronto Raptors' president and general manager in February 2006. He ended his Toronto tenure as general manager in May 2013 and stepped down as president a month later.