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 final of the Kia Skills Challenge on Saturday night 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.
“I mean, if the challenge lets us do that, there’s a loophole,” said Wembanyama, who said Team Spurs’ non-shooting tactic was his idea. “It means we’re not a problem.”
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. His six appearances are two more than any other player and twice as many as any player besides retired Spurs legend Tony Parker, according to 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.”
According to Skills Challenge rules, players need to take a maximum three valid attempts or make a shot before moving on.
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Team Cavaliers wins 2025 Kia Skills Challenge
Cavaliers stars Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell team up to deny the hometown Warriors for the title.
Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell are too much for Draymond Green and Moses Moody in the final round.
The 2025 Kia Skills Challenge featured four NBA duos going head-to-head in the Bay Area as part of 2025 State Farm All-Star Saturday Night. Team Cavaliers (Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell) took home this year’s crown, becoming the first non-home team to win the Challenge since it was moved to a team event in 2022.
Team Spurs (Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul) tipped off the competition but was disqualified after throwing up shots quickly without intending to make any of them in Round 1.
Next up was Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher and Wizards center Alex Sarr representing Team Rookies. The No. 1 and No. 2 picks in the 2024 NBA Draft came up less than one second short of the eventual winners, finishing the Round 1 replay in 1:19.14.
Chase Center roared as its home team Warriors (Draymond Green and Moses Moody) advanced to the final round against Mitchell and Mobley. Green, however, missed all three chest passes and was unable to complete the remaining stations in time to beat the Cavs’ All-Star duo, who finished the Final Round in just over a minute.
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