SAN FRANCISCO — On a weekend when Adam Silver has stressed respecting the All-Star event and taking it seriously, the first thing most fans saw was the Spurs’ team of Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama trying to game the system.
CP3 and Wemby DISQUALIFIED after trying to hack the NBA Skills Challenge 😂 pic.twitter.com/LuSJy74oRc
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 16, 2025
It turns out that there is a rule book (well, a page) that governs the NBA All-Star Saturday Night Skills Challenge. Seriously. Paul and Wembanyama were disqualified for not making a “valid” attempt at shooting the ball — an NBA executive came out with a rules to show Paul where it said that.
Chris Paul: “We tried something that we thought could win -- to see if we had the best time. It was fun.”
— Michael C. Wright (@mikecwright) February 16, 2025
“If they weren’t disqualified, I think we probably would have just did the same thing to be honest with you,” the Cavaliers Donovan Mitchell said. “Play to win, I guess.”
With the Spurs out of the way, the Cleveland Cavaliers team of All-Stars Evan Mobley and Mitchell went on to win the event.
Team Cavs goes first in the Final Round of the #KiaSkills Challenge 🍿 pic.twitter.com/9FG6DVHCqB
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 16, 2025
In the event finals, it was the Cavaliers against the Warriors — Draymond Green and Moses Moody — in what was a fitting Finals throwback vibe. The bad news for the Warriors fans filling the Chase Center it was more reminiscent of 2016, when Green let the Warriors down — he did it again and Cleveland got the upset at home.
But all we’re going to be talking about is the Spurs trying to cheat their way to a win.
