Saturday night at the NBA All-Star Game saw something you do not see every day: Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama being disqualified from the skills competition.
Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama disqualified for bending the rules at NBA Skills Challenge
Spurs stars Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama found quite the loophole at the NBA All-Star Skills Challenge
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
The San Antonio Spurs teammates were participating in the first portion of the NBA Skills Challenge, the Team Relay. Rather than trying to hit their shots during the relay, both Paul and Wembanyama simply tossed their shots from the spot toward the baseline, to get through the course as quickly as possible.
You can see their attempt at exploiting the loophole here:
You can see both Wembanyama first, and then Paul, simply flip each of their “shot” attempts from the spot, rather than try and make them.
The reason? The rules were changed this season to allow for three attempts from each shooting spot, rather than force players to stay at each spot until they converted. This was done to keep the competition moving, rather than everyone waiting as a player put up shot after shot for 30 seconds or more until a make.
However, it opened the door for someone to try a creative way of getting through the course as quickly as possible. Enter Paul and Wembanyama.
As the announcers noted, “this has Chris Paul’s fingerprints all over it.”
As both Paul and Wembanyama worked their way through the course, the boos started to rain down from the crowd.
Eventually, the league stepped in and disqualified the duo, despite Paul’s protests:
In addition, Allie LaForce tried to interview the pair, but was denied.
Incredible scenes at NBA All-Star Saturday Night.
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