Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to outstanding pro and college teams like the New York Liberty or UConn Huskies, or just acknowledge that women’s basketball’s level of play has never been higher than it is right now. Whatever the reason, the women’s game is thriving.
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Ratings are higher than they’ve ever been, and jersey sales and ticket demand are through the roof. There may be no better sign of the game’s popularity, though, than being featured on the internet’s most infamous parody account.
NBA Centel is basically The Onion of the NBA. The X account has frequently fooled athletes and talking heads alike into believing that its posts were real. The account is relentless in shading some of the biggest players in the game, from LeBron James to Steph Curry to Victor Wembanyama.
As women’s basketball has become more prominent, it’s gained the notice of Centel, which has begun to feature the league and its players in some of its tweets. Sue Bird appeared on the most recent episode of Straight to Cam with Cameron Brink and Dearica Hamby, and she said that getting Centel’d is a good thing.
“It sounds weird, but it’s a good sign.” @S10Bird on why the WNBA getting featured on NBA Centel could be a positive thing pic.twitter.com/9WcmrFpcoY
— Straight to Cam (@straight2cam) June 16, 2025
The ladies discussed a recent Centel tweet that said, “Los Angeles Sparks practice was delayed due to Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink arriving in the same outfit and refusing to acknowledge each other.”
They all had a laugh about it, with Brink saying that Plum told her to send it to her so she could quote-tweet it and add fuel to the fire by replying, “That f****** b****!”
Bird is right that getting Centel’d is a sign that the WNBA has made it, and it’s great that they were all able to laugh along. Think of it like Saturday Night Live spoofing someone. It’s much better to be joked about than not talked about at all, and with nearly 12 million views on that tweet alone, it’s proof that the WNBA’s reach is only getting bigger.
The downside to the WNBA being in Centel’s crosshairs is that sooner or later, someone is bound to be fooled into thinking that one of its tweets is real news. Stephen A. Smith and Colin Cowherd have been on the wrong end of this before in regard to NBA news, and with the number of Centel’s WNBA posts rising drastically this season, it’s only a matter of time until someone gets got.
