The NBA has a long-established culture of high-profile controversies among players and women with hidden motives , resulting in "haunting" off-court incidents in which players are taken advantage of for their influence, money, and reputation.
As a result, the league has discovered a well-known pattern of which kinds of women attract players and which ones are doing the scouting reports on the athletes' bank accounts — primarily models who appear on social media platforms, including Instagram and OnlyFans.
One of them appears to be Celina Powell, who has gained a large reputation among NBA athletes as a "danger woman" for her frequent entrances into relationships with them.
Recently, the social media influencer was interviewed by Michael Porter Jr. , where she highlighted how NBA teams make sure young players are on the lookout, especially for her.
"My picture is on the slide show. When you get drafted to the NBA. It says, 'People to stay away from.' My picture is on there. Someone sent that to me, and I was like, 'I should sue the NBA,'" Powell said .
"She's like the headliner for what you don't do. I feel like at this point, I'm like, scared of you. But I feel like most NBA players be tripping," Porter Jr. said.
In the first days of May, Powell was supposed to join a livestream with Porter Jr. and other internet personalities, including streamer N3on and YouTuber Steiny, only to discover she wasn't in the initial streaming plan. After the group tried to exclude her, Celina took her act to Instagram, where she revealed MPJ's home address in a revenge attempt.
Not long after MPJ discovered the leak, he called the police to his home after he was seen packing his valuables to move to a new, safer location. In a follow-up livestream, Porter Jr. described the event as one of the weirdest in his life.
"I don't want to talk to her, because I stood up for her, like, I even said that I hope she's turning over a new leaf. I said all that. I don't know what she's mad about," MPJ said .
Powell's reaction to MPJ's denial of having her on the stream sums up the modern culture of NBA groupies, who target players for what they can offer materially, rather than for their personality and romance.
The presence of women as a common distraction only complicates things further, as players often get drawn to those who offer the most attention, even when their intentions aren't genuine.
This kind of theme is nothing new, and it can only get worse from here if players don't start learning from incidents like this; if not, it will be their own.
Porter Jr. has been especially vocal about these situations across podcasts and media appearances since joining the Brooklyn Nets , often warning younger players about the risks, such as the aforementioned Instagram model.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on May 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
