No one expected the skills challenge at the 2025 NBA All-Star weekend to be filled with controversy. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what went down when Spurs stars Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul were disqualified after taking advantage of the rules and purposefully missing shots so their team could finish with a quicker time.
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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
Draymond Green was asked about the incident by the media shortly after the Skills Challenge was completed. The four-time NBA Champion came to the defense of Wembanyama, stating that he saw The Alien asking numerous exec officials if the tactic was legal.
“So he asked. Now he may not have asked the right people,” Green said with a laugh. “But I will say in Wemby’s defense, he did ask a lot of people. I heard him ask maybe five or six people.”
Draymond Green says it was Victor Wembanyama who asked around and tried to beat the system in the Skills Challenge
Me: I thought that was a Chris Paul decision
Draymond: It was actually a Wemby decision pic.twitter.com/atQoXGk91W— Dalton Johnson (@DaltonJ_Johnson) February 16, 2025
So Wembanyama was the culprit. A few, including one reporter who was interviewing Green, assumed that Paul was the one who came up with the idea. Green later confirmed that it was indeed a “Wemby decision,” and that he even gave himself away during practice.
“When we was practicing, Wemby practice it a couple of times just throwing them. And C (Paul) was actually shooting. The old man followed the rookie right off the cliff.”
The irony of the situation is not lost. Wemby was actually mad at Anthony Edwards for not taking the Skills Challenge seriously enough in 2024. Ant-Man infamously only shot the ball with his left hand. Yet here Wemby is on All-Star weekend making headlines for cheating the system and getting disqualified. Oh, how the tables have turned.
