The Philadelphia 76ers and team president Bryan Colangelo mutually agreed to part ways early Thursday morning after an investigation into multiple social media accounts determined sensitive information had been leaked to the public. Yup, it’s 2018. The future is here.

The most awkward part of the whole process has been the nature of the investigation. The accusations came out of left field, and its twists and turns should be reenacted on Law & Order. Every conclusion the public jumped to was dead wrong.

Here’s how it all played out:

THE BURNERS

Burner accounts were made popular by Kevin Durant, who created a separate Twitter account under a fake name used solely to defend himself in the arena of public opinion. Durant accidentally used his actual, verified Twitter account (@KDTRey5) one day while defending himself in third-person, and it blew the lid off his whole setup. The jig was up, and the NBA world got a lengthy laugh at his expense.

But front office executives? No way. They would never stoop down to these levels. Social media is for the millennials, for the new generation. Those old geezers would never know how to run a Twitter account, let alone set up a separate one as a burner account, right?

That’s what we all thought, until The Ringer published an in-depth investigation into several Twitter accounts they had linked to Bryan Colangelo. The accounts had defended Colangelo’s decisions as 76ers president of basketball operations. Way worse, though, the burner accounts divulged sensitive information about several Philadelphia players.

The accounts criticized rookie Markelle Fultz’s shooting progress, putting the blame on his shooting coach.

They also had some comments critical of Joel Embiid’s game.

It exposed previously unknown information about Jahlil Okafor’s physical condition. Some of that information was tweeted toward members of local 76ers media, urging them to do their own research and ask those questions.

The accounts also tweeted that presumptive Rookie of the Year Ben Simmons would not have come to the 76ers had Colangelo not replaced San Hinkie as general manager. They took shots at Masai Ujiri, who replaced Colangelo as Raptors president years ago.

This is wild. RT @TrapAHolic__: Colangelo hates Toronto GM Masai Ujiri so he flamed him up lmao pic.twitter.com/yE3uDMnuZE — Dynamics • £ (@theDYNAMICS) May 30, 2018

And you can’t forget what was said about Nerlens Noel:

Colangelo himself responded to The Ringer’s story with a statement that he was in ownership and only aware of one Twitter account in their investigation.

If there is one time to use this NSFW term, it’s here: The Colangelo situation had become a shit show.

The Reaction

Embiid was targeted specifically in the Colangelo burner account story. He hopped right on Twitter as soon as The Ringer story broke.

Joel told me that @samhinkie IS BETTER AND SMARTER THAN YOU @AlVic40117560 #BurnerAccount — Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 30, 2018

Are you saying you’re no longer happy in philly ? https://t.co/i623bIufJR — CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) May 30, 2018

Lmao CJ.. you just gotta trust it https://t.co/Igl0MZouzQ — Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 30, 2018

Embiid summed the night up on Twitter with a few words:

Fun night on Twitter lmao.. All jokes asides I don’t believe the story. That would just be insane — Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 30, 2018

Then he responded via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:

Sixers All-Star center Joel Embiid tells ESPN on Bryan Colangelo: “I talked to him and he said that he didn’t say that. He called me just to deny the story. Gotta believe him until proven otherwise. If true though, that would be really bad.” — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 30, 2018

Several players considered the situation to be a joke.

— Richaun Holmes (@Rich_Holmes22) May 30, 2018

I don’t think it’s true. — Trevor Booker (@35_Fitz) May 30, 2018

And while Wojnarowski asserted the nature of the information share was sensitive, there wasn’t enough proof at that moment to definitively link Colangelo to the Twitter accounts.

Maybe there’s an IT person who can prove it wasn’t Bryan Colangelo, but here’s one of his biggest problems in disputing Ringer story: Those tweets reflected not only private team biz, but launched personal beefs/jealousies/frustrations that he’s shared inside and outside 76ers. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 30, 2018

Nevertheless, Colangelo is denying he is responsible for those tweets and many league executives seem to believe this: It is hard to fathom a GM risking his job in such a reckless manner. Many are giving him the benefit of doubt on that level alone. It just doesn’t add up. https://t.co/BDn3n0os2a — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 30, 2018

The Colangelo situation became an obsession

Conspiracy theories were coming out of every corner. Was this really Bryan Colangelo? Was it a coworker? Was it his wife? Was someone setting him up? Was it Sam Hinkie’s revenge? Was it his father, Jerry Colangelo? Could it be Joel Embiid’s most masterful troll to date?

WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE?! The world wanted answers, and since there were none, people manufactured their own.





Colangelo’s wife, Barbara Bottini has a phone number ending in 91, almost certainly linking her to 3 of the burner accounts.



WOW. pic.twitter.com/PQpe5GccEh — Did the Sixers win? (@DidTheSixersWin) May 31, 2018

There even became widespread worry about how these developments would impact the 76ers heading into free agency. Philadelphia had become a budding young team on the rise with two pillars in Embiid and Ben Simmons to build around for years to come. But would anyone want to play for a GM that disguised he feelings toward players using burner accounts?

All the while, Colangelo maintained he had no knowledge of these so-called burner accounts, whatsoever. And they can’t be burner accounts if they don’t actually belong to him, right?

The 76ers became the laughing stock of the league

At a time where all the focus should have been on the Cavs and Warriors meeting for a fourth straight NBA Finals showdown, Philadelphia stole all the attention — for all the wrong reasons. Even LeBron James cracked a burner account joke a day ahead of Game 2.

This was the furthest thing from what the 76ers envisioned after a magical season ended a five-year playoff drought and led them to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Philadelphia was supposed to be viewed as a premier destination for NBA free agents this summer, not a punching bag for the biggest fish in the pond.

The verdict

The 76ers eventually hired an independent firm to investigate the Colangelo social media fiasco. The firm interviewed Colangelo and his wife, Barbara Bottini, separately. She eventually fessed up to running three of the burner accounts. Colangelo owned one, but never released sensitive information on it.

The independent investigators made a recommendation to 76ers owner Josh Harris, and during Thursday’s press conference addressing the situation with the media, he said that recommendation was to part way with the team’s president of basketball operations.

JUST IN: Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo submits his resignation in the wake of being accused of using multiple fake social media accounts to anonymously disparage players and fellow executives. https://t.co/6yMTk02cOv pic.twitter.com/5lbjVSrhgj — ABC News (@ABC) June 7, 2018

Colangelo also released a statement in light of Philly’s decision on Tuesday. He threw his wife under the bus for her actions, but maintained that he wasn’t at fault for the incident.

Bryan Colangelo just released a statement on the Burner Accounts pic.twitter.com/89y3bbg3NW — Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) June 7, 2018

“I vigorously dispute the allegation that my conduct was in any way reckless,” he said. “At no point did I ever purposefully or directly share any sensitive, non-public, club-related information with herat no point did I ever purposefully or directly share any sensitive, non-public, club-related information with her.”

The 76ers will continue on through the summer with Brett Brown acting as both head coach and president of basketball operations. And this ends the circus that was the Colangelo burner account fiasco.

No one could have thought that his wife was responsible, but nothing is ever as it seems at first look.