Report: 76ers Hire Law Firm to Probe Bryan Colangelo's Alleged Burner Accounts

The Philadelphia 76ers have retained a law firm to investigate president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo and his ties to Twitter accounts that leaked sensitive information, ripped Sixers players and disclosed potential roster moves in the works.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported the Sixers hired the same firm, Paul/Weiss, that investigated impropriety of former NBPA director Billy Hunter. That investigation found a number of abuses of power from Hunter, who was subsequently fired.

The Sixers' focus has increasingly been on Colangelo's wife, Barbara Bottini, as the person behind the five Twitter accounts exposed in a report by The Ringer's Ben Detrick. The accounts, which were vehement defenders of Colangelo and all appear to be linked, created a firestorm of social media speculation that first focused on the Sixers GM before moving on to his wife.

Colangelo has publicly and privately denied all links to the accounts. The Sixers ownership group has been considering firing Colangelo since the report and are said to want a decision in place as soon as this week.

The tweets included disparaging remarks about Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel, among others, while also disclosing medical information about Jahlil Okafor. They also went as far as to comment on seemingly innocuous things like the length of Colangelo's collar.

More than anything, the Sixers ownership could simply fire Colangelo for embarrassing the franchise. Embiid took to social media with multiple posts about the topic, though he's said he believes Colangelo was not behind the tweets.

LeBron James, whom the Sixers are expected to target in free agency this summer, also poked fun at the situation during a press conference during the NBA Finals. 

Colangelo's credibility appears to be damaged to the point it'd be hard to welcome him back. This investigation may instead be about whether the Sixers can find a way to fire him with cause, which would absolve them of his contract.