The NBA parody account NBACentel is very good at what it does.
So good, in fact, that the word “centel’d” has fully entered the NBA social media lexicon. NBACentel was even briefly banned from X (formerly Twitter) for fooling too many people.
The account strikes an almost uncanny balance between posting something that is on one hand believable, and on the other hand completely absurd. And the account’s near-identical resemblance to the popular NBACentral account, which aggregates real NBA news, makes it all the more difficult for innocent phone scrollers to discern what is real and what is fake.
And that’s unfortunately what seems to have happened to Minnesota Timberwolves announcers Michael Grady and Jim Petersen.
During Monday’s game against the Indiana Pacers, the Timberwolves’ commentator duo began discussing Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who last weekend railed against NBA officials and Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during a postgame press conference following a close loss.
That moment, of course, garnered a lot of attention in the media. So the following day, NBACentel, in classic fashion, seized on the opportunity.
JB Bickerstaff has been fined $100,000 for publicly criticizing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
(Via @ChrisBHayne) pic.twitter.com/r8If989HOQ
— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) March 16, 2025
“J.B. Bickerstaff has been fined $100,000 for publicly criticizing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander,” the faux-report read.
But the post apparently looked too real for the Timberwolves’ broadcast team. The following night, one day after Centel had published his “report,” Grady began speaking on the broadcast as if it were real.
Timberwolves commentator got CENTEL’D. 😭🔥
Credit @automaticnba https://t.co/4HK4cfb3lM pic.twitter.com/tw1FLMq1H4
— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) March 18, 2025
“You saw the J.B. Bickerstaff postgame presser,” Grady asked.
“Oh yeah, that was epic,” Petersen responded.
“He was fined $100,000 by the NBA,” Grady replied.
“I’m sure he’s not paying that,” Petersen quipped.
Both were fully unaware that they’d been duped by the Chief Duper himself: NBACentel. And that’s the beauty of getting centel’d. You’d be none the wiser until the inevitable social media blow up.
Score another one for NBACentel.