Since Jerry Colangelo officially took on the job of the Sixers’ savior Special Advisor to the Managing General Partner and Chairman of Basketball Operations, the Sixers have played exactly zero basketball games (he didn’t start until the morning after the Spurs loss). Yet, we’ve already heard at least three distinct stories about how this happened. The first is that Josh Harris hired Colangelo to help the team and that’s it. The second is that the league strong-armed the Sixers into hiring Colangelo due to pressure from other owners. The third is that – from Colangelo’s mouth himself – Harris and commissioner Adam Silver “pleaded” for him to come to Philadelphia. Now, we’re hearing version number four.

CBS Sports’ Ken Berger spoke to the ever-famous “source familiar with the discussions,” and they offered up another, slightly different story:

It’s not clear who called whom, or exactly when, but it was around this time when Harris and Silver first spoke about how best to reroute the organization’s course.

“[Harris] realized this is a tremendous asset that he has, and that it’s not just about my draft picks and not just about my wins and losses,” a league source familiar with the discussions told CBS Sports.

Harris and his partners, including fellow private equity titan David Blitzer, came to the conclusion that they needed what one league source described as a “course correction.”

“It was him saying, ‘I need help,'” the source said … While the commissioner had a role in the Sixers hiring Colangelo to right the ship, how proactive Silver was has been a bit misunderstood.

Silver did not compel Harris to make the change, nor did other owners twist his arm to intervene, a person familiar with the highest levels of the talks told CBS Sports. When Harris asked for advice, Silver gave it in the form of a list of people with what one person described as “real-life experiences” to consider for the job. At the top of the list was Colangelo, who Silver has known since his first day in the NBA 23 years ago.

Silver spoke with Colangelo to gage his interest, made the introduction to Harris, and then stepped aside, league sources said.

Berger goes on to say that Hinkie is now believed to be the GM “in title alone.” This version of events reads almost like a hodge-podge of all the ones we’d already heard. There’s “Harris hired Colangelo to help” from the first version, “Hinkie has been stripped of power” from the second one, and “pleaded for help” from the third. It’s a Mad Lib of a strange front-office mess that I’m not sure can get messier. Of course it will.