NBACentel (sometimes spelled as NBA Centel), often referred to simply as Centel, is a satiricalsports journalism account on Twitter. A parody of National Basketball Association (NBA) news aggregator page NBACentral, the Centel page often posts humorous or outlandish faux headlines regarding NBA teams, players, coaches, and personalities. Because of the account's similar appearance to NBACentral, many readers are fooled by the account's satirical headlines, mistaking them for genuine sports reporting. Professional NBA players and sports media figures have been tricked by the account, which has since been dubbed "getting Centel'd".
Despite explicitly labeling itself as a parody account, NBACentel has been the subject of critique online due to its contribution towards monetized disinformation on social media. The account garnered further attention after it was abruptly shadow-banned from X on 26 February 2025, before being reinstated the following day. As of July2025,[update] Centel has over 700,000 followers on the platform.
History
NBACentel is an X account directly parodying "NBACentral", a basketball news aggregator on the platform.[1] The account was opened in July 2022 under a different handle, and initially posted non-parody NBA content before pivoting to its NBACentel identity in 2023.[1] The owner of the account, an individual from Toronto who remains anonymous, credits his inspiration primarily to "Ballsack Sports", another "troll" account that has had fake quotes picked up and spread by legitimate news outlets.[1]
Media writers have suggested that X's incentive structure that allows for monetization on posts by X Premium subscribers has led to the increase in accounts like Centel.[1][2]
In July 2023, shortly after Centel began posting satirical content, the page successfully fooled Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green into responding to a fake quote attributed to retired player Kevin Garnett.[1][3] This prompted a response from Garnett, who pointed out Centel was a fake account, and called for X CEO Elon Musk to "fix it".[1] Other players and media members have since been fooled by or otherwise drawn attention to Centel's tweets, such as Kevin Durant, Stephen A. Smith and Colin Cowherd.[3][4]
Notable faux stories
One of Centel's more notable posts was a story falsely credited to NBA freelance reporter Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson, supposedly quoting NBA player LeBron James having stated: "It's crazy, I was bumping to '[Mo Money Mo Problems]' earlier today in the car and I had a weird feeling today was the day the feds will catch Diddy". Robinson stated that his contacts in the entertainment industry congratulated him on the supposed story.[1]
In October 2024, Durant referenced Centel in multiple tweets; in one, he replied to a profane X post directed towards him by user @JasonAWilkinson, who responded to a Centel post which included a fake quote attributed to Durant. Durant then replied to Wilkinson, informing him "you got centel'd".[sm 1][5][6] This exchange led to a tweet by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary humorously acknowledging the word centel'd as a verb.[5] Around this time, the account had approximately 154,000 followers.[1] Durant also stated that he browses the comments on the account's posts "just to truly see how many dummies come online thinking that they have high IQ".[7]
On 11 November, Centel posted a fabricated quote from Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers, humorously writing that Rivers "have [sic] informed the Bucks he'll start taking coaching 'seriously' now," after the team lost eight of its first 10 games to start the 2024–25 season.[sm 2][8] Following the post, the Bucks would go on to win nine of their next 10 games and win the 2024 NBA Cup tournament.[8]
Centel "broke" a fictitious story on 21 February 2025, reporting that the Mavericks had banned fans wearing Luka Dončić's jersey from entering the team's home arena, American Airlines Center.[9][sm 3] This came after multiple actual instances of Mavericks fans being escorted out of home games for chanting or holding signs reading "Fire Nico", a negative response to Mavericks general manager Nico Harrisontrading Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers earlier in the month.[10][11] Centel's faux headline fooled Cowherd, who mentioned the fake story during his show on Fox Sports 1 (FS1).[sm 4][12]
X shadow ban
On the afternoon of 26 February 2025, posts from the @TheNBACentel profile page on X stopped loading, and posts from the account ceased.[13][14][15] It was initially unclear if the shadow ban on the account indicated a permanent suspension.[4][16] As the account appeared shut down, Centel received tribute posts on X from Stephen A. Smith and the official accounts of various NBA teams, posting hashtags such as #RIPCentel and #FreeCentel, and dedicating wins from that night's games in the account's honor.[13]
Though the Centel account was transparent in its parody,[2] it did not officially tag itself as a parody account on X, which was speculated by many users to be the reason for the account being shut down.[17] The owner of the "Ballsack Sports" account tweeted that "Centel has told me he just wants to be back and having fun with you guys. We're hoping this a temporary restriction on his account, and not a ban".[17] Centel continued to post on Instagram,[4] and its X account was restored the following morning, on 27 February.[18] The account had accumulated around 357,000 followers at the time of the temporary ban.[16]
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