NBA Centel creator unsure what led to popular parody account's suspension after swift revival: Report

Earlier this week, the popular parody account NBA Centel was restricted on X, formerly Twitter. The social media handle was associated with fake news about the NBA world, which was meant as a joke.

However, many high-profile celebrities have mistaken Centel's parody posts for facts in the past. On Thursday, Alexander Schiffer from Front Office Sports reported on the social media handle's ban/restriction and conveyed the account owner's confusion about what led to the swift ban.

"NBA Centel said he isn’t sure what led to the handle’s suspension, though some followers speculated the account was finally punished for not including a label to note the account as parody," Schiffer wrote.

The parody social media handle started in July 2022 during that year's NBA free agency and amassed over 360,000 followers on X. During his conversation with FOS, Centel's owner also revealed the source of inspiration behind his work.

"Ballsack Sports inspired me and many other troll accounts on this platform,” Centel's owner said. “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."

The parody account has once again made a return on X after being briefly restricted, per TMZ.

NBA teams and personalities pay tribute to NBA Centel

NBA Centel's departure from the NBA media landscape left the fans, NBA teams and personalities in splits. Many franchises paid tribute to the parody account after learning about its ban.

"Forever in our hearts #RIPCentel 🕊️" the Houston Rockets tweeted.

"lit that beam for Centel tonight 🟣🔦" the Sacramento Kings tweeted.

The Miami Heat also chimed in on the matter after securing a 131-109 win against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. The Heat wrote:

"We'd like to dedicate this win to NBACentel 🕊️"

"NO MORE GETTING CENTEL'D," the Atlanta Hawks tweeted.

The Hawks used the term "Centel'D" and Suns star Kevin Durant can be credited for coining the term. In October, KD used the term to reply to a fan who had an insulting reply to Centel's parody post talking about the Suns star's bachelor status.

NBA personality Stephen A. Smith also offered his condolences for NBA Centel's departure in a post from his X handle.

"RIP Centel," Smith tweeted.

The parody account's name is a twist on another NBA news outlet named "NBA Central" which posts facts and legit news related to the NBA world and has over 1.5 million followers.

NBA Centel bore a close resemblance to its legitimate counterpart. It had even the same logo design which helped fool people into believing his fake news.