Sure looked like NBA had something to hide after Wemby, Chris Paul skill competition DQ

In recent years, NBA players have taken a tremendous amount of criticism because they refuse to put in much effort at NBA All-Star Weekend. With that in mind, seeing San Antonio Spurs teammates Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul do seemingly whatever they had to in order to win the 2025 KIA Skills Challenge was certainly an eye-opener.

Knowing all they had to do was get around the course as quickly as they could, Wembanyama and Paul blindly hoisted "shots" aimed in the general direction of the basket instead of actually attempting to make their shot attempts.

Their devious attempt worked as they ran through the course in well under one minute, but later found out they were disqualified from the event altogether.

Based on their reactions to the news that they were being disqualified, Paul saw it coming, but Wembanyama was in utter shock. When a TNT reporter attempted to interview the San Antonio duo after they had heard the news, the representative who delivered the initial disqualification news said "we're not doing that." How often do you see an NBA representative attempt to stop a seemingly harmless interview from taking place?

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It sure looks like the NBA hid something after disqualifying Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul from Skills Challenge

Based on Wembanyama's reaction, it looked as if he was fully expecting the plan to work. According to Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who also participated in the Skills Challenge, Wembanyama asked officials if he could use the strategy beforehand. Knowing this, it isn't surprising that Wembanyama was as shocked as he was once he heard the news.

Taking everything we know into account, it feels as if there was either a mix-up somewhere, or the NBA realized its mistake and did what it could to remedy the situation. Could the NBA have told Wembanyama one thing and changed its mind after seeing what he and Paul did? Watching a player just chuck basketballs in the general direction of the hoop instead of actually shooting the ball isn't fun for fans, but it was clearly an effective strategy when it comes to winning the challenge at hand.

The NBA obviously didn't want others to follow suit, which is why they were disqualified, but its refusal to explain the situation and its desire to stop Paul and Wembanyama from answering questions is certainly a little bit fishy. If there was nothing to hide, chances are, the NBA would not have done what it could to stop the interview and would have, at the very least, explained why they were disqualified.

Now, NBA fans can only wonder what the league was hiding.