I Spoke With The Creator Of @TheNBACentel

Yes, that NBA troll account.

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There’s Pop Crave and there’s Poo Crave.

I know I can’t certainly be the only person who has been bamboozled by a blue check mark and reading the handle too quickly, thinking that the parody account was the real thing.

I don’t think it helps that now anyone can get a verified check, but alas. Here! We! Are!

In the sports world, there are plenty of troll accounts, but the one that comes up on my feed more than any other is @TheNBACentel, a play on @NBACentral (one of the largest accounts for NBA news with almost 2MM followers).

With over 154,000 followers on X, NBA Centel isn’t just some tiny troll account. If you’re reading this, then there has probably been at least one NBA tweet that you thought was real…

Admit! It!

Obviously, I was curious as to who was running this account after

Charlotte Wilder

and I discussed it on a recent episode of

The Sports Gossip Show

.

Travis Kelce mansplained baseball to Taylor Swift, Kevin Durant is friends with a dictionary, and does Shohei Ohtani know who Rob Lowe is?

I reached out to NBA Centel on X and they agreed to answer some questions over DM.

Anonymously, of course.

Before you ask, NBA Centel is not run by multiple people. It really is a one-person operation.

And no—they won’t share which NBA GM is in their DMs…

Read the entire conversation below for free and consider becoming a paying subscriber for just $6/month to support the work that I’m doing.

An Interview With The Creator of NBA Centel

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What inspired you to launch the account?
The real OG, BallSackSports, inspired me and many other troll accounts on this platform. He was the first to truly embrace this style of content, which encouraged me to give it a try and have fun with it. I didn’t expect it to gain as much traction as it did.

I first saw potential when I randomly tweeted that the Boston Celtics were interested in signing Kyrie Irving after his departure. That moment sparked my interest in this troll format, and I wanted to see how many people I could engage with it.

Fast forward to now, and it’s incredible to find myself in this position, getting interviewed and connecting with so many fellow fans and players through @TheNBACentel.

Do players or coaches ever hit you up privately to ask if things can be taken down, etc.?
Players and coaches have never privately messaged me to take things down, but NBA players like Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Pat Bev, and KG have all commented and interacted with my tweets.

There’s one specific NBA GM in my DMs, and we have conversations here and there that I won’t disclose out of respect for our privacy.

What’s been your favorite thing you’ve posted that people thought was real?
Ahh, there are so many tweets that appear genuine and catch people off guard, but my most recent favorite has to be the one where I created an Instagram story of Paul Pierce ranting about the whole Shannon Sharpe situation, discussing how Shannon kept his job while ESPN let Pierce go.

That tweet even made its way onto the Joe Budden podcast! I’d say the majority of the comments believed it was real.

What’s been the biggest post to blow up?
My current pinned tweet features a graphic I created of Draymond Green’s Instagram Story, where he’s shown enjoying LeBron’s Hennessy with the caption, ‘Ending the day with the King inside me.

What’s next for NBA Centel?
My goal is to keep growing, making others laugh, and hopefully reaching a million followers someday without getting suspended since running a misinformation account comes with that risk.

If I do end up getting suspended, I hope to leave a legacy for other troll accounts to pick up where I left off. Maybe one day, the NBA will create a show called ‘You’ve Been Centel’d,’ similar to Shaqtin’ A Fool. Haha. That might not happen, but like KG said, ‘Anything’s possible,’ right? So who knows!

For now, my focus is on having fun, getting NBA players to interact with my tweets, and hopefully earning a follow from the laid-back players who don’t mind being Centel’d here and there.

Is there anything about running this account behind the scenes that may be surprising to people?
I often see comments saying things like ‘there’s a new admin’ or ‘it’s a team running this account,’ but it’s just me. I’ve been the sole person behind @TheNBACentel since day one, it’s a one-man show.

While I do bounce ideas off close friends and occasionally get suggestions from them, I make all the final decisions on what to post. I also get messages from random accounts with ideas for tweets, and I’m always open to hearing them.

But to be clear, I’m the only one who has access to the account, and that hasn’t changed since I started.

Last question: What’s your favorite team/player? Any hot takes for the upcoming season?
My favorite team is the Toronto Raptors, and my favorite player is Kobe Bryant. As for hot takes, I think the Celtics have a strong chance of going back-to-back this season.

Another bold prediction? Keep an eye on Wemby, he could lead the Spurs to a deep playoff run sooner than expected, maybe even securing a spot in the conference finals.