Despite the usurping of general manager Sam Hinkie’s authority with the hiring of Jerry Colangelo, coach Brett Brown remains firmly in the Philadelphia 76ers' future plans, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Sixers ownership has already been discussing a contract extension for Brown, who has a year and a half left on his original four-year deal, league sources told Yahoo.

Ownership short-circuited Hinkie’s tanking process on Monday, inserting Colangelo, 76, as the special adviser to the managing general partner and chairman of basketball operations.

Sixers management lost patience with the third year of Hinkie’s tanking process, triggered in recent weeks by a 1-20 start to the season and several high-profile incidents involving No. 1 pick Jahlil Okafor.

Brown has endured two-plus years of a gutted roster, saddled with a 38-147 record. Despite the losing, Brown has made a strong impression inside and outside the franchise for how determined and resourceful his under-manned teams have remained, and how poised he’s been in the face of one of the most taxing coaching assignments in NBA history.

Colangelo was a longtime executive with the Phoenix Suns, but hasn’t been around a day-to-day front office in two decades. He’s been running USA Basketball for a decade.

It is immediately unclear how long Hinkie will want to stay on the job with reduced power in the organization, and several league executives were already wondering on Monday if Colangelo would eventually persuade ownership to hire his son, Bryan, a former general manager with the Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns, into a high-ranking team position.

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