Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul tried to “hack” the Skills Challenge during All-Star Saturday night and were booed by the crowd at Chase Center thanks to it. Wembanyama was asked later in the night if he thought the fans were justified in booing him and hilariously claimed that only Paul was booed.
Reporter: “Do you think it was right for the fans to boo you in that spot?”
Victor Wembanyama: “Was I booed? I don’t think I was booed.”
Reporter: “You didn’t hear?
Wembanyama: “I wasn’t booed, right? Chris was. Was I booed?”
Reporter: “I guess at the end… Like the team.”
Wembanyama: “Was that right? I don’t know. If the challenge lets us do that, there’s a loophole. It means we’re not a problem.”
As part of the challenge, players are given three attempts to make a shot from specific zones. They are not required to make a basket to advance, however, and the San Antonio Spurs duo looked to exploit that loophole. Wembanyama and Paul just threw the ball up and were booed once they finished the challenge.
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
The TNT commentary team was convinced Paul was the mastermind but it was actually later revealed to be Wembanyama. The two stars were all smiles at the end there but their mood changed rather quickly. Wembanyama and Paul were informed that Team Spurs were disqualified from the Skills Challenge as they didn’t actually attempt shots.
They weren’t too happy about it and weren’t convinced even after an NBA official came to them with a rule book. The reason? Well, Draymond Green, who also took part in the Skills Challenge, revealed Wembanyama had asked multiple officials if he was allowed to just throw the ball up.
“What I will say is Wemby walked around the court asking everybody,” Green said. “They say, ‘Make one or three attempts.’ And Wemby said, ‘Oh, so I can just get all three of them up there?’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah.’ So, he asked. Now, he may not have asked the right people.
“But I will say in Wemby’s defense he did ask a lot of people,” Green continued. “I heard him ask five or six people that, ‘So, you sure I can just throw the ball?'”
NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson told Green he was sure that Paul came up with the idea. The Warriors star revealed that his former teammate certainly wasn’t the mastermind and was shooting normally in practice too.
“It was actually a Wemby decision,” Green stated. “But he probably should have went with the old vet. When we were practicing, Wemby practiced it a couple times just throwing them and C was actually shooting them. The old man followed the rookie right off the cliff.”
You have to think that Paul was ever so proud when Wembanyama told him about how they were going to hack it. It was a genius idea, but it backfired in the end with a disqualification.
Paul and Wembanyama could only watch on from the sidelines, as the Cleveland Cavaliers duo of Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley went on to win the Skills Challenge by beating the Golden State Warriors duo of Green and Moses Moody in the final.
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