Team Cavaliers Wins NBA All-Star Skills Challenge Over Team Warriors
Perhaps the least-loved of All-Star Saturday night’s festivities, the Kia Skills Challenge, is now in the books for 2025. In San Francisco’s Chase Center, four starry two-man squads did what they could to enliven a fairly listless event. Cleveland Cavaliers All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, San Antonio Spurs All-Star center Victor Wembanyama and former All-Star point guard Chris Paul,
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and Moses Moody, and the top two picks in the 2024 NBA Draft – Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher and Washington Wizards big man Alex Sarr (dubbed “Team Rooks”) – competed in what is essentially a grade-school obstacle course for a crowd of indifferent fans checking their phones until the 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest could tip-off. The Spurs went first by trying to skimp on the jump-shooting component of the contest –
heaving 3-point attempts with no intention of aiming in an effort to more expediently run through the course. They were promptly disqualified, as Ben Golliver of The Washington Post reports. Teams have to force up at least three valid shot attempts while running through the course. Paul, true to form, protested the ruling on the sidelines while the other teams competed. TNT’s Allie LaForce attempted to score an interview with Paul and Wembanyama on the sidelines but was denied by a league official.
