After Bryan Colangelo’s departure, where do the Philadelphia 76ers turn?

Who should the Philadelphia 76ers hire to replace Bryan Colangelo as their general manager and president of basketball operations?

#WooderGate came to a swift and merciful end Thursday, when the Philadelphia 76ers announced general manager and president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo was resigning in the wake of a Twitter scandal that erupted last week.

Thanks to a tip from an anonymous source, Ben Detrick of The Ringer highlighted five secret Twitter accounts that divulged sensitive internal information and had too-coincidental-to-ignore links to Colangelo. After the Sixers hired a law firm to conduct an investigation into the situation—one which Sixers Twitter solved within roughly 24 hours—Colangelo’s wife, Barbara Bottini, admitted to running said accounts.

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“Our investigation revealed substantial evidence that Mr. Colangelo was the source of sensitive, non-public, club related information contained in certain posts to the Twitter accounts,” the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP said in its statement about the investigation. “We believe that Mr. Colangelo was careless and in some instances reckless in failing to properly safeguard sensitive, non-public, club-related information in communications with individuals outside the 76ers organization.”

The Sixers now head into perhaps the most pivotal offseason in the history of their franchise with a power vacuum atop the organization. Armed with upward of $25 million in salary-cap space, six picks in the upcoming draft (including No. 10 overall) and a wealth of young lottery talent, they’re in position to add the final piece of their championship puzzle.

However, they may have to do so without a permanent front office in place.

In their statement announcing Colangelo’s departure, the Sixers announced head coach Brett Brown will “oversee basketball operations on an interim basis” until they hire a new general manager. During a press conference Thursday following Colangelo’s resignation, principal owner Josh Harris couldn’t say for certain that the team will have a new GM by the beginning of free agency, although he expressed hope that it would.

Given his ties to impending free agent LeBron James, the obvious target for Philadelphia is former Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin. When the Cavaliers decided not to renew Griffin’s contract following the 2016-17, James expressed his gratitude for what Griffin helped him accomplish in Cleveland.

Griffin spent seven years in Cleveland — four as the vice president of basketball operations and three as the general manager — during which time he helped the franchise bounce back after James left for the Miami Heat in 2010. (Having three No. 1 overall draft picks didn’t hurt, either.)

Upon James’ return in 2014, Griffin engineered the trade that brought Kevin Love to Cleveland, and he continually managed to round out the Cavaliers roster despite being cap-strapped over the following years.

Seeing as Brown discussed the Sixers’ need for “another high-level free agent” during his exit interview last month, it stands to reason that James will be high upon the team’s wish list. And even without a general manager in place, James can glean information about the inner workings of the team through his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group, who also represents star Sixers point guard Ben Simmons.

As Griffin recently told Zach Gelb of CBS Sports Radio, that connection may give the Sixers a “leg up” in their pursuit of James this summer.

"“I do think it is significant, though, that Rich Paul is the representative for Ben Simmons as well. So he’s going to know the organization very well, and I think that will certainly give them a leg up, because I know Brett Brown is somebody that you’re going to look at when you’re LeBron, and you’re going to look at Pop, you’re going to look at the coach in L.A. … all the teams he’s went to, coaching is going to matter. And I think because Ben has intimate knowledge of Coach Brown, that will probably help.”"

If Griffin’s connection to James isn’t enough to get him the job, the Sixers could turn their attention to Boston Celtics assistant general manager Mike Zarren, who they reportedly pursued in 2013 before hiring Sam Hinkie. Last spring, ESPN.com’s Kevin Arnovitz described Zarren as “an affable, brainy exec with a mastery of the collective bargaining agreement and sharp negotiating skills, and he knows how to spot good basketball operations personnel.”

The Sixers also may decide to revisit hiring Danny Ferry, who they reportedly discussed as a candidate for a “partnership” with Hinkie prior to the latter’s resignation, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Ferry spent five years as the Cavaliers’ general manager during James’ first stint with the team, and he also served in a dual GM/president role with the Atlanta Hawks for three seasons before resigning due to racially offensive remarks.

Whichever route the Sixers go, whoever replaces Colangelo will have his or her work cut out for them immediately. Ben Simmons and Dario Saric will soon be due for extensions that begin in 2020-21, which gives the Sixers a small window of time to add the impact free agent Brown desires before their salary-cap space disappears.

They also have a potential Jerry Colangelo-sized headache to deal with.

According to Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice, Colangelo “tried to intervene on Bryan’s behalf, threatening to interfere with club relationships around the league.” During Thursday’s press conference, Harris declined to say whether Colangelo would be with the team beyond this month, adding, “We’re going to be talking about it. But that’s not today’s issue. … My respect for him is certainly not colored by this unfortunate situation.”

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Having this much top-level uncertainty is by no means ideal for the Sixers, but Brown may be able to help them weather the storm. In an appearance on ESPN’s Outside the Lines Thursday, Wojnarowski said Brown is “as credible of a face and a voice for this organization as they could have hoped to possibly have.”

With Colangelo gone, the Sixers now have less than four weeks to begin repairing their image around the league before free agency begins.

No pressure, though.