The Spurs put the Skills Challenge back on the map with controversial disqualification

All press is good press, right?

NBA All-Star Weekend’s Saturday night events have become an afterthought in the greater landscape of the league. Some say what used to be a night for high-flying dunks and where superstars become legends has turned into a tired spectacle. If that’s true, the Skill Challenge event is the lowest of the low for the Saturday night showcase.

The San Antonio Spurs may have made the event the most interesting moment of the night.

Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul took the court in San Francisco for Team Spurs on Saturday night. Their task was to complete an obstacle course filled with flashing lights, hoops for passing, and racks of balls for shooting, which will become key to this story.

The Spurs went first and started things off strong. Their passes were crisp, and they moved quickly around the court. When Wembanyama got to the shooting rack, he tossed the balls away like they lacked sufficient air.

Quickly it became clear: The Spurs were trying to hack the Skills Challenge system and guarantee a win. You see, they get three shot attempts, and then they move onto the next rack. There is no penalty for missing the shots. Tossing them away quickly allows them to move through the course quickly. It’s a genius strategy. It’s also cheating.

Adam Silver quickly dropped the hammer and disqualified the Spurs who finished in record time. Their attempt at cheating the system overshadowed the rest of the event. Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell of The Cleveland Cavaliers went on to defeat Moses Moody and Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors. But no one really cares about that!

While the cameras were still rolling on the championship round of the Skills Challenge, TNT’s Allie LaForce was still trying to get the scoop on what was going on with Wemby and CP3. She was forcefully turned away by an NBA official trying to explain the rules to the Spurs.

Clearly the NBA wasn’t happy with the Spurs act of defiance. A true punk rock moment for your Silver and Black will be perhaps the most remembered moment of the night, and made a dull event interesting for once. The NBA should welcome this WWE-level heel turn, because it actually made fans talk about the event!

Paul declined to speak with the media after the event (hilarious), but Wembanyama talked about the controversy in his post-Skill Challenge presser. In a shocking turn of events, he took full responsibility for a strategy that had CP3’s name written all over it.

Is this the beginning of Wemby’s villain arc? He did say he wasn’t coming to All-Star Weekend to make friends. Did he mean by cheating the Skills Challenge? Probably not, but it’s funnier if he did. He’ll have another chance to get back in the NBA’s good graces during the All-Star game on Sunday.