There is an art to getting hundreds of thousands of people across the world to fall for a fabricated story. NBACentel seems to have cracked the code on this as their most recent fabricated tale regarding Luka Doncic has caught quite a bit of steam, even reaching the heights of ESPN on live TV.
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Fakes news propagation isn’t anything new in the NBA media space. Most famously, ‘balls*cksports’ started the trend a couple years ago and was incredibly proficient at what they did, with Stepehen A. Smith falling for their antics, amongst millions across the world.
The ‘fake news’ game has since evolved as NBACentel has taken the reins. There are several reasons for why Centel has been so successful and this Luka Doncic story is the latest example for why.
In wake of the Doncic-Mavericks debacle, Centel released a tweet claiming the Dallas organization is banning Luka jerseys from their home arena. They would then ‘replace’ these jerseys with players who are currently on the team.
Quite the disrespectful message sent out by Nico Harrison and his front office. That is of course, if it were real. Unfortunately for ESPN’s Brazil commentators, they did not think twice to check their sources and blurted out this news as if it were real on national TV.
ESPN Brazil commentators fell for Luka’s jersey being banned
Credit @NBAdoPovo https://t.co/QQ3yDtUBDL pic.twitter.com/UXKbuhPYTh
— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) February 23, 2025
It’s easy to blame figures of such caliber in the media for believing untrue ‘propaganda’ but it’s also understandable so to why they fell for it. NBACentel are just that good and there are certain reasons for why this tweet, amongst several others, have worked extremely well.
How does NBACentel keep getting away with this?
The timing of their Luka tweet was beyond impeccable. The Mavericks had just released their own theme song with the backdrop being a hype video of all of their players. In this video, Luka’s face was censored with the Mavs logo each time he showed up on the screen, something fans found to be incredibly distasteful.
Centel’s tweet came out mere moments after the Mavs social media team posted this atrocity. So, it wouldn’t be all too shocking to know that an organization who has started a borderline hate campaign on their former franchise superstar has now also delved into banning his jerseys.
Mix that storyline in with the fact that they removed a fan from their arena for simply mouthing the words ‘Fire Nico’ and you have a recipe for success (in regards to having your fake tweet go viral).
It’s quite the uncanny ability Centel possesses to put forth a story that is just real enough to pass off as the truth. They take into account everything from the climate regarding the situation to how fans have been responding, leading to multiple fake stories that could all very well be true.
The cherry on top is the fact that they are impersonating ‘NBACentral’, a highly respected news outlet that actually does post accurate, day-to-day news. Casual viewers wouldn’t think twice to check for the minute differences in account name spelling and their logos.
