For an aging NBA superstar, his IQ is often his biggest weapon. And there are not many better in that department than Chris Paul. As per Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, CP is the “best leader” in the league today. However, the Point God’s genius basketball mind turned into his biggest enemy tonight as he, along with his partner, Victor Wembanyama’s unprecedented strategy of hacking the Skills Challenge, backfired miserably.

As the Chase Center crowd erupted in anticipation to see Wemby and Paul’s chemistry during Saturday’s event at the All-Star Weekend, The French Sensation shocked everyone when he speed ran through the entire challenge by throwing the shots up quickly without even looking at the basket. Most of his attempts didn’t even hit the rim. As expected, his teammate, CP, used the same time-saving strategy and just got the balls off the rack with no legitimate shot attempt.

While they finished the round at lightning-fast speed in only 47.9 seconds, the arena was filled with deafening boos, expressing their displeasure. But it didn’t matter as long as they won the challenge, right? Wrong! Turns out, Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama were disqualified from the competition for not playing by the rules. Obviously, the Spurs duo was not pleased and pleaded their case to the judges. However, the disqualification stood as their shot attempts were ruled illegitimate and they were done for the night.

Heated after their controversial exit, Wemby and Paul even rejected TNT’s request for a live interview as reporter Allie LaForce was sent away from their seating area. Of course, the hoop community was also left shellshocked at what had just transpired and blasted Wemby and CP on social media.

NBA Superstar and Fans say the same thing about Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul’s Controversial Strategy

Well, it was evident from the crowd’s reaction that they did not appreciate the Spurs stars’ hack attempt. Even Donovan Mitchell, who was one of the participants in the Skills Challenge, expressed his displeasure by giving the duo a thumbs down after their controversial round. Moreover, ‘Spida’ also accused them of bending the rules, “They played to win… But it was definitely cheating though.”

Even fans shared a similar sentiment as one wrote, “I like how they thought cheating was a skill.”

Cheating or not, it surely brought a ton of criticism the duo’s way, as one netizen wrote, “This is embarrassing as an NBA player. Instead of winning the competition based on your SKILL. You’re out here trying to scheme your way through and hold that trophy up at the end like yeah! I schemed and won! Loser @wemby.”

Meanwhile, one furious fan even took a shot at Wemby’s global popularity, “Face of the league (Clown Emojis).”

However, most fans believe that Victor was not the mastermind behind this plan, as one wrote, “That was 100% CP idea.” Even the announcers on live commentary said the same thing, “This has Chris Paul’s fingerprints all over it.”

If that’s the case, it’s not surprising at all because Paul is always coming up with new strategies to bend the rules and using them to his advantage. Unfortunately, it did not work this time.

Some furious fans even blamed such incidents for the league’s recently declining viewership, “Google, show me a video to help me understand why NBA ratings out down and why players don’t care.” Had the league allowed Victor Wembanyama and CP to advance to the next round, it would have ruined the Skills Challenge forever because every participant would have used the same strategy going forward. And there might be no skills left in that competition. So, it was a smart decision to stop this move right in its tracks.

Do you agree?