Internet sleuths believe they are one step closer to exposing the identity behind several Twitter burner accounts tied to 76ers president and general manager Bryan Colangelo, alleging his wife may be the mastermind.
Hours after the organization announced they would launch an internal investigation into allegations brought to light in The Ringer’s report, published Tuesday, a 76ers fan account, “Did the Sixers win?,” connected the dots to Colangelo’s wife, Barbara Bottini, noting the last two digits of her phone number were linked to three of the burners in question. Additional Twitter detectives followed suit, piling on the evidence.
“When you type Bryan Colangelo’s wife’s # into the Twitter reset form,” a Philadelphia-based user posted.
“For more evidence of her number ending in 91, see the following screenshot from @2003mubb who noted the recover number on Barbara’s email,” tweeted another Philadelphia-area sports blogger.
The Athletic also pieced together a timeline Wednesday, noting past tweets from one of the alleged accounts were posted at the same time Colangelo spoke at a press conference on Feb. 11, 2017. And while the 76ers confirmed Colangelo himself is the owner of one account identified in The Ringer’s story, the executive backtracked on his original claim, that “someone is out to get me,” telling Yahoo Sports he cannot be sure someone set him up.
“This storyline is disturbing to me on many levels, as I am not familiar with any of the other accounts that have been brought to my attention, nor do I know who is behind them or what their motives may be in using them,” Colangelo said in a statement.
While tweets from the alleged burners have mercilessly defended Colangelo, even addressing his collar size, sensitive information has also been released, particularly a failed physical by former first-round pick Jahlil Okafor. The accounts have also criticized 76ers head coach Brett Brown, former general manager Sam Hinkie, last year’s first overall pick, Markelle Fultz, and star Joel Embiid, who spoke with Colangelo after the story broke.
“I talked to him and he said that he didn’t say that,” Embiid told ESPN. “He called me just to deny the story. Gotta believe until proven otherwise. If true, though, that would be really bad.”
Colangelo was named the 76ers’ president of basketball operations in 2016.