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As has historically been the case during NBA All-Star Weekends of the very recent past, the level of effort and intensity displayed by its participants was bound to become a big story coming out of the weekend. So needless to say, the NBA couldn't have been thrilled when the first thing that fans saw when tuning in on All-Star Saturday night was San Antonio Spurs teammates Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul doing this:
Chris Paul and Victor Wenbanyama found the hack in the Skills Challenge. pic.twitter.com/lP5CzssATS
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) February 16, 2025
After a brief moment in which they believed they had successfully gamed the system, Wembanyama and Paul were then told they were disqualified from the competition. But even after the DQ, Victor Wembanyama remained steadfast in his belief that their strategy was a good one.
“I don’t regret it. I think it was a good idea,” Wembanyama said afterwards, per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press.
Wembanyama further explained his rationale afterward, stating that he and teammate Chris Paul were not looking to put in minimal effort, but instead, they believed they had found a loophole in the Skills Challenge format that allowed them to get the leg up over the other three teams in the competition.
“I mean, if the challenge let’s us do that, there’s a loophole. It means we’re not a problem,” Wembanyama stated, according to Michael C. Wright of ESPN.
In fairness to Wembanyama and Paul, there isn't any sort of time penalty for missed shots, so who's to say that “missing shots” in the way that he and Paul did should be disallowed?
The NBA. That's who's to say.
Playing by the rules, it was the Cleveland Cavaliers who prevailed in the final round over the hosts of All-Star Weekend, the Golden State Warriors.