What Happened to TheNBACentel? The Parody Account Temporarily Went Dark

Parody accounts are the lifeblood of the internet. Just when society or a celebrity tries to take themselves too seriously, someone comes along to knock them down a peg by parodying their behavior.

It's a time-honored tradition of keeping agencies and celebrities from getting too big for their britches by reminding the world of absurdity.

Some parody accounts are more effective than others. Take NBA news parody account @TheNBACentel, for instance. The popular sports parody account racked up a massive follower count on X (formerly Twitter) before suddenly going dark on Feb. 26, 2025. So what happened to @TheNBACentel? Here's what we know.

On X, @TheNBACentel amassed almost 466,000 followers just by posting parody versions of NBA news.

If you think that's impressive, you should see how people reacted when the account suddenly went down in February 2025.

Users hoping to click on their favorite sports parody account to get the day's recap on Feb. 25 suddenly found themselves confronted with the message, "Posts aren't loading right now" and no content available to access on the account.

Rumors immediately began spreading that the account had been banned by X, with multiple users saying, "they finally got NBACentel!"

However, if it was a ban, it was not a long-lived one. Less than 24 hours later, the account was back to posting, with a witty message for their followers who celebrated its return.

The return post featured a re-post of an account by Stephen A. Smith that was captioned, "RIP Centel."

@TheNBACentel shared that post, then added a looped video of a person taking a deep gasp into an oxygen mask and seemingly "coming back to life."

Fans were immediately joyous in the comments, with many sharing the goat emoji to suggest they are the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).

Unfortunately, there were no quick answers as to what had happened and if worried followers could expect it to happen again.

Sports commentator Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson claimed insider knowledge as he posted, "NBA Centel's account is not deactivated from use on X (the app formerly known as Twitter), I'm told. Per a source with direct knowledge: 'It's a temporary restriction'."

It remains unclear if this is something fans can expect to happen again. But at least for awhile, NBACentel was back and appeared untouchable.

There's nothing quite like an account going down to remind us of just how much we rely on the internet to stay connected and informed. And sometimes, to keep laughing.

Parody accounts may sometimes be outrageous, but they're also a good reminder that the world is, at times, an absurd place. And if we can't laugh at the wild things we learn, we might cry instead.

With @TheNBACentel back on X, fans can rest easy knowing that their satirical NBA news is right back squarely where it belongs.