In a surprise to start the night on Saturday, San Antonio Spurs stars Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul were disqualified from the Skills Challenge after the duo attempted to exploit a loophole in the competition's rules.
The Skills Challenge course features a couple of circular obstacles that a player must pass the basketball through, shooting racks where the player must, in theory, drain a shot before advancing to the next station, then a speed portion at the end where the player must finish at the rim after dribbling several paces.
Both Wembanyama and Paul decided to test the theory that a shot actually had to be made, as both Spurs players chucked up wild attempts at the shooting racks before quickly completing the other portions of the course.
Here's the amusing video.
All eyes on NBA All-Star Saturday night to see if they’re able to resurrect the product, and the first event is Chris Paul & Wemby cheating the system by just launching balls off the rack instead of shooting them.pic.twitter.com/fiRIXB8LDu
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 16, 2025
At first, play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan and color commentator Reggie Miller seemed to think that the Spurs players had stumbled upon genius. But the fans, who booed, and the NBA, didn't think so, as an official informed the Spurs duo that they had been disqualified.
Chris Paul & Wemby being told they were disqualified. 😂😂
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 16, 2025
pic.twitter.com/ejQ3DDlSY6
Paul was not happy, and attempted to dispute the league's disqualification.
Chris Paul is actually really mad about this right now and is arguing his point that both he and Wemby cleared their strategy with multiple people before doing this. https://t.co/aBR5nQRYw1
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) February 16, 2025
At one point, the TNT broadcast even showed an NBA official letting Paul read what appeared to be a list of rules for the competition.
Adding to the intrigue:
Draymond said Wemby asked several NBA execs if he could use their no shooting process and they said he could. https://t.co/A8W2FSlV77
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) February 16, 2025
Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley of the Cleveland Cavaliers eventually won the competition, after which the former was asked if Paul and Wembanyama's strategy was genius or a cheating move.
After crediting the Spurs stars for playing to win, Mitchell admitted he felt the interesting gameplan was cheating.
"It was definitely cheating though" 🤣
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 16, 2025
Team Cavs caught up with @ALaForce before the final round of the NBA Skills Challenge 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/DlJnFhohdj
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Victor Wembanyama, Chris Paul Disqualified From Skills Challenge for Exploiting Rules.
