Bryan Colangelo

Early life

Colangelo grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where his father served as general manager (and eventually owner) of the Phoenix Suns. After graduating from Central High School, Colangelo attended Cornell University, where he played as a guard for the Cornell Big Red men's basketball team. After graduating from Cornell, he moved to New York City, where he worked in real estate.

Phoenix

Colangelo was hired by the Suns front office in 1991. In 1995, Colangelo succeeded his father as general manager of the Suns.

During his tenure as Phoenix's general manager, Colangelo made a number of transactions that have received wide praise across the NBA, including the drafting of would-be superstars Shawn Marion and Amar'e Stoudemire. Colangelo was roundly criticized for his trade of Jason Kidd to the New Jersey Nets for Stephon Marbury, but corrected this mistake by trading Marbury and oft-injured Penny Hardaway to the New York Knicks for several contracts. The additional salary cap space created by this trade allowed Colangelo to sign Steve Nash back from the Dallas Mavericks in the summer of 2004. Nash would go on to be the 2004–05 and 2005–06 NBA Most Valuable Player, and the Suns would go 62–20 and claim the top playoff seed in the Western Conference in the 2004–05 season. As a result, Colangelo was awarded the 2005 NBA Executive of the Year Award.

In the summer of 2005, Colangelo traded disgruntled shooting guard Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks for two future first-round picks and Boris Diaw, who then won the 2006 NBA Most Improved Player Award. Colangelo also dealt Quentin Richardson to the New York Knicks. Despite the loss of these two players and the loss of Stoudemire for virtually the entire season (only playing in 3 regular season games), the Suns once again led the Pacific Division.

In addition to his work with the Suns, he served as president of Phoenix Arena Sports (PAS), the owning entity of the Arizona Rattlers team of the Arena Football League and the operating entity of the Phoenix Mercury team of WNBA from June 1991 through June 2002. The Rattlers won the championship in 1994 and 1997 and the Mercury played in the WNBA finals in 1998. He won the AFL Executive of the Year award in 1993 for his work with the Rattlers.

Toronto

In 2004, the Suns were sold to a group of investors led by Robert Sarver, although Colangelo stayed on as President and GM. Shortly after the Raptors fired Rob Babcock in January 2006, rumors began swirling that the team was pursuing Colangelo despite the Raptors' claims that they were initiating an "exhaustive" search for a new GM.

On February 27, 2006, Colangelo resigned from his position with the Suns, and on February 28, 2006, the Raptors announced him as their new President and GM. On May 23, 2006, Colangelo and the Raptors were awarded the first overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft.

On June 8, 2006, Colangelo pulled his first trade since he joined the Raptors by swapping the much-criticized first-rounder Rafael Araújo for Robert Whaley and Kris Humphries with the Utah Jazz. He completed his second trade by sending forward Eric Williams, fan favorite Matt Bonner and a 2009 second-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for center Rasho Nesterovič on June 21, 2006. The Raptors also announced that they had waived Robert Whaley.

His first major trade as GM of the Raptors occurred when he traded Charlie Villanueva, who was runner-up for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, for Milwaukee Bucks point guard T. J. Ford. Some believed that Villanueva's presence hindered the development of Chris Bosh, who was considered to be the new franchise player of the Toronto Raptors following the departure of Vince Carter. But Colangelo specified that the team was in need of a true point guard, and in order to receive a quality point guard in T.J. Ford, one must also give up a lot in return, hence the trade took place the way it did.

Colangelo picked the 20-year-old Italian Andrea Bargnani with the first overall selection in the 2006 NBA Draft which was held in New York City on June 28, 2006. This also made Bargnani the first European selected first overall in the history of the NBA Draft. He also signed several free agents from European teams, including Jorge Garbajosa and Anthony Parker. However, the drafting of Andrea Bargnani would cause some serious criticism later on after performing lesser to expectations as a #1 selection.

On July 16, 2006, Colangelo signed Bosh to a contract extension which was in effect starting from the 2007–08 season. The contract was for three years plus a player option for the fourth year, and had the potential to pay Bosh up to US$65 million over the four-year span.

2007: Executive of the Year

In 2007 the Raptors clinched the Atlantic Division for the first time in franchise history. Many have credited their significant turnaround from a 27–55 in the 2005–06 season to the changes made by Colangelo, in which he brought in nine new players to the Toronto Raptors' roster.

Colangelo was awarded the 2007 Executive of the Year Award in the weeks following the Raptors' series loss to the Nets in the first round of the playoffs.

During the offseason, Colangelo gave the 2009 and 2011 second-round draft picks to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Carlos Delfino. He also signed Jason Kapono to a multi-year contract with the Raptors.

2008–2013

On July 6, 2008, Colangelo traded point guard T.J. Ford to the Indiana Pacers, for Jermaine O'Neal. The Raptors also earned the draft rights to forward-center Nathan Jawai, the 41st overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft, from the Indiana Pacers, and sent center Rasho Nesterovic, forward Maceo Baston and the draft rights to center Roy Hibbert to the Pacers. During the 2008-2009 season, the trade was regarded as being a failure for Toronto.

Colangelo fired coach Sam Mitchell 17 games into the season, promoting assistant Jay Triano to head coach. Triano was the first Canadian-born head coach in NBA history.

In the 2009 draft he picked DeMar DeRozan with the ninth pick. Two years later, in the 2011 draft he picked Jonas Valančiūnas with the fifth pick, although he would not play for the Raptors until 2013.

In July 2012, Colangelo traded Gary Forbes and a first round pick for Kyle Lowry. In October 2012 he re-signed DeMar DeRozan to a 4-year deal worth $38 million, which was a bargain in hindsight.

On May 21, 2013, MLSE announced that the Raptors were looking for a new GM, but Colangelo would remain team President. On June 26, 2013, Colangelo stepped down as President of the Raptors. Although Colangelo had received substantial criticism in the latter part of his tenure as Raptors GM, he was credited with building the foundations for the Raptors' success under his replacement, Masai Ujiri.

After his tenure with the Toronto Raptors ended, Colangelo did freelance scouting and consulting for other NBA executives and agents. In January 2016, Colangelo emerged as a top candidate to succeed Billy King as general manager of the Brooklyn Nets, though the team ultimately hired the San Antonio Spurs' assistant general manager Sean Marks instead despite not being considered a main competitor for the position at the time.

Philadelphia

In April 2016, the Philadelphia 76ers hired Colangelo as president of basketball operations. Colangelo's father, Jerry Colangelo, had been hired as chairman of basketball operations earlier in the season, but he soon stepped down from the chairman role after the younger Colangelo was hired as president. The older Colangelo still maintained a role as a special adviser for the team. Sam Hinkie, the previous general manager of the team, also stepped down from his position days before Bryan Colangelo was hired.

Colangelo drafted Ben Simmons, a former LSU point forward, as the first overall pick of the 2016 NBA draft; the team also selected Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot and Furkan Korkmaz with first-round picks. Due to a fractured foot, Simmons missed the entirety of the 2016-2017 NBA season. Colangelo also signed Jerryd Bayless, Gerald Henderson, and Sergio Rodriguez during the 2016 offseason. At the 2017 trade deadline, Colangelo traded center Nerlens Noel to the Dallas Mavericks for Andrew Bogut, Justin Anderson, and two second round picks. In June 2017, Colangelo traded the third pick in the 2017 NBA draft and a future first-round pick to the Boston Celtics for the first overall pick of the draft, using that pick to select Markelle Fultz. The Sixers also acquired Anžejs Pasečņiks, Jonah Bolden, and Mathias Lessort in the draft.

Personal life

Before working for the Phoenix Suns, Colangelo worked for an upmarket commercial real estate firm on Wall Street for four years. Colangelo is married to an Italian-born woman.

Colangelo is in the final stages of earning his permanent residency in Canada.