There has been a surge of NBA-related misinformation spreading on social media, starting with “Ballsack Sports” that frequently posted misinformation disguised as relevant NBA news on X (formerly Twitter) since June of 2021. Then “NBA Centel,” a parody account mimicking “The Dunk Central” (formerly known as “NBA Central”) joined the fray a year later.
The two accounts have since dominated the fake news niche, inspiring more users to create their own parody news accounts. The controversial content has received mixed reactions in the sports community, with some finding them hilarious and others feeling incensed after being made to believe them.
Now, following the WNBA season that saw the league break gate attendance and viewership records, a new parody account named “WNBA Centel” has popped up on X.
The Toronto-based anonymous owner of the Centel account weighed in on the fake news situation in an interview with FrontOfficeSports, crediting Ballsack Sports for the inspiration while also denying numerous claims that he owns the account.
“Ballsack Sports 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. And yeah, it definitely evolved from the beginning,” the anonymous owner said. “I only manage the NBA Centel. All the other ones are just copying me.”
Ballsack Sports founder speaks on NBA Centel’s virality
The anonymous founder of the NBA Centel account praised Ballsack Sports for walking the path so that others could run. The show of respect goes both ways as the owner of Ballsack Sports in turn acknowledges the virality the Centel has received in recent weeks.
The owner of Ballsack Sports, who also wished to remain anonymous, talked with FrontOfficeSports about the NBA Centel’s impact in the fake news scene.
“Centel has a knack for going viral consistently. I think you have those 5% of users that are well-versed on the inner workings of the basketball Twitter space and are ‘in’ on the joke. Then you have the rest of that 95% that probably aren’t as engaged with the app and so are more vulnerable to the bait,” the anonymous Ballsack Sports owner said. “I’ve seen time and time again users post screenshots of their friends, coworkers, and family getting ‘cracked,’ ‘sacked,’ or ‘centel’d.'”
The 2024-25 NBA season has just opened, and both parody news accounts are already busy coughing up hilarious content. On Tuesday, the NBA Centel posted a photo-manipulated image of the seats at Crypto.com Arena, alleging that the Lakers are giving away T-shirts with Bronny James’ face in them.
Los Angeles Lakers seats tonight.
“UP NEXT.” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/aKSP9UN5wc
— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) October 22, 2024
But the real news is that the team is giving fans Jerry West shirts for their season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
For more sports content:
Follow us @HardwoodHeroics for your NBA and college basketball reading fix. You can reach out to Dan Agulto through email at [email protected]. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest sports news, click here!
Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.