Wembanyama, Paul DQ’d for not taking ‘valid’ shots in skills event
SAN FRANCISCO — Team Cavs (Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley) bested Team Warriors (Draymond Green and Moses Moody) in the finals of the Kia Skills Challenge with a time of 1:00.03, but the event didn’t end without mild controversy.
Team Spurs (Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama) thought it found a loophole in the rules in the obstacle course that features players speeding through stations with various passing and shooting drills. Instead, the duo found itself disqualified from the competition after the first round for failing to complete their sequence with three valid shot attempts.
Eschewing all shots but one (a Wembanyama dunk) in favor of concentrating on executing the passes, Paul and Wembanyama finished the opening round with a time of 47.9 seconds before officials disqualified the Spurs duo.
The opening-round drill consisted of a variety of passes, before the players reached a rack of balls to shoot. Instead of attempting to sink those balls, Team Spurs tossed them in the general direction of the basket without trying to connect. Their effort to speed up the finish to their opening round went for naught.
With the disqualification, Paul now has gone six times in the Skills Challenge without a win, and his six appearances are two more than any other player and twice as many as any player besides retired Spurs legend Tony Parker, per ESPN Research.
“We tried something that we thought could win to see if we had the best time,” said Paul, who pleaded Team Spurs’ case to officials in the aftermath of the disqualification.
Green mentioned that Wembanyama had asked multiple league officials before the competition about the legality of Team Spurs’ strategy of not taking shots.
“It definitely sucked to see them throwing the ball like that,” Green said. “What I will say is Wemby walked around the court asking everybody because they say make one or three attempts. So, Wemby said, ‘Oh, I can just get all three of them up there?’ So, he asked. He may not have asked the right people. But I will say in Wemby’s defense he asked a lot of people. I heard him ask five or six people.”
But according to Skills Challenge rules, players need to take a maximum three valid attempts and move on after a make or the three attempts.
“I mean, if the challenge lets us do that, there’s a loophole,” said Wembanyama, who said it was his idea to utilize Team Spurs’ non-shooting tactic. “It means we’re not a problem.”
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Chris Paul thought he figured out a way to skirt the rules of the NBA All-Star 2025 Skills Challenge, but he and his San Antonio Spurs teammate Victor Wembanyama were disqualified for their shenanigans.
The final stage of the three-part Skills Challenge involves shooting, but to get through the relay with as fast a time as possible, Wembanyama and Paul didn’t actually shoot the balls from the rack. Instead, they flung the balls quickly toward the basket, not engaging in any sort of shooting motion.
CP3 and Wemby were DISQUALIFIED after trying to hack the NBA Skills Challenge 😠pic.twitter.com/lXoyha5IQ4
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 16, 2025
TNT broadcasters Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller quickly zeroed in on Paul for being the mastermind, which wasn’t a bad guess considering he’s a 20-year NBA veteran. However, Wembanyama said afterward that not shooting was his idea, according to Draymond Green. Wembanyama also apparently claimed that he ran his hack by several NBA executives, who said it was all right.
The other two stages of the Challenge involve dribbling and passing drills. The tiebreaker is a half-court shootout. What did Paul and Wembanyama have in mind for that?
Team Spurs was booed by the fans at the Chase Center and received disapproval from their fellow competitors for trying to circumvent the rules and get through the relay quickly. Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell was seen giving the Spurs duo a thumbs-down — two thumbs-down, actually — for their attempt to create a loophole.
wemby looks genuinely sick over getting disqualified and CP3 looks like the kid who talked his little brother into cheating on a test only for him to immediately get caught pic.twitter.com/OtbxK8x4Di
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) February 16, 2025
The three other teams involved in the Challenge were Team Cavs (Mitchell with Evan Mobley), Team Warriors (Green and Moses Moody) and Team Rooks (Alex Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher). Honestly, with scandal affecting the competition, wouldn’t Green have been suspected as the culprit? Maybe he should have been allowed to mete out justice to his one-time teammate.
Paul tried to plead his case and get the disqualification overturned, but with no success. Will his actions end up ruining the All-Star Skills Challenge? If so, perhaps it’s time to revisit a H-O-R-S-E competition. Those shots would actually have to go in.
NBA 3-point contest live updates: Pistons’ Cade Cunningham eliminated after first round
Cade Cunningham’s second All-Star weekend is underway.
The Detroit Pistons’ budding superstar fell in the first round of the Starry 3-Point Contest Saturday night, finishing with 16 points. Miami Heat sharpshooter Tyler Herro won the contest with 24 points. The event began at 9 p.m., a day before making his debut in the main event, the All-Star game, on Sunday. Saturday’s events tipped off with the 8 p.m. with the Kia Skills Challenge and will conclude with the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest.
The G League guard and dunk contest specialist dazzled, clinching his third title in a row while fending off competition from San Antonio Spurs rookie Stephon Castle.
All three of McClung’s dunks were perfect 50s. He capped his performance by jumping over Cleveland Cavaliers 7-footer Evan Mobley and grabbing the ball with both hands, tapping it off of the front of the rim before slamming it in.
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Castle also received a perfect score for his final dunk, pulling off a 360 behind-the-back before cupping the ball in his left hand to finish it.
With 24 points in the second and final round, Herro became the fifth member of the Miami Heat to win the 3-Point contest. Hield, who went last in the order, fell just short with 23 points. He got hot late but missed his second-to-last shot, which would’ve secured the win.
Both Tyler Herro (19 points) and Jalen Brunson (18 points) topped Cunningham’s score of 16 in the 3-point contest, knocking the Pistons’ All-Star out of the contest. Buddy Field (31 points) topped Garland’s 24, and they were joined by Herro in the final round.
The 6-foot-6 guard got off to a slow start but got warm toward the end, knocking down four of his final five 3-pointers in his first 3-point contest. He failed to top Darius Garland, who tallied 24 points, but bested Cameron Johnson, who opened the contest with 14 points.
The first-time All-Star was all smiles as he was introduced among the eight competitors in this year’s 3-point contest. Brooklyn Nets forward Cameron Johnson led the group off with 14 points. Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland topped him next, with 24 points.
The Spurs’ superstar duo of Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama tried to skirt the rules in the Skills Challenge, intentionally missing all of their shots during the shooting portion to advance as quickly as possible. They were eliminated due to the lack of good faith behind the attempts.
Michigan State alumnus Draymond Green and Moses Moody represented the Golden State Warriors and proceeded to the second and final round, along with Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers went on to win it.
Cunningham will compete against New York’s Jalen Brunson, Cleveland’s Darius Garland, Miami’s Tyler Herro, the L.A. Clippers’ Norman Powell, Golden State’s Buddy Hield, Brooklyn’s Cameron Johnson and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard.
Each player will have 70 seconds to shoot 27 3-pointers — 25 divided across five racks along the line, plus two deep shots. Each rack has one “money ball” worth two points. The long-range “Starry balls” count for three points each. The three-highest scorers will advance to the second and final round.
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