By Jeff McDonald, Spurs Writer | San Antonio Express-News, 2024-04-20 12:55:42

由Gemini Pro人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。

维克托·文班亚马的下一步是踏上他的本土篮球场。

维克托·文班亚马结束了令人印象深刻的第一个 NBA 赛季，他仍然是年度最佳新秀的头号人选，但马刺队却跌到了 22-60 的战绩。文班亚马的下一站是 7 月份的巴黎奥运会。

这位 20 岁的小伙子文班亚马说：“我的一个梦想就是在奥运会上打球”。“当我在球场上，我会使出 200% 的力量。但我也会像个孩子一样，只是享受那一刻。”

文班亚马是东道主国家最闪亮的球星，这位 20 岁的小伙子很可能成为夏季奥运会的化身，至少从篮球的角度来看是这样。

在那之后，文班亚马将返回马刺队，他希望自己的 NBA 球队能够在他的第二个 NBA 赛季中实现质的飞跃。

对于文班亚马马刺队来说接下来会发生什么？

以下有五个关于马刺队休赛期的紧迫问题，可能会带来答案：

**1. 马刺队常规阵容中的 15 名球员中有多少人会在下个赛季回归？**

对于一支在 500 场比赛中输了 19 场，但在赛季结束时却取得了 11 场中的 7 场胜利的球队来说，这个问题的答案并不明确。

总经理布莱恩·赖特说：“这是一个问题的两个极端”。

一方面，他说：“继续努力，因为你看到了进步，什么都不要改变。”

另一方面：“嘿，我们只赢了 X 场比赛，所以我们需要改变一切。”

赖特说：“现实情况是，你的答案介于两者之间。”

这是一个漫长的说法，即休赛期正在发生变化，但这可能不是大规模的变化。

马刺队只有一名球员成为不受限制的自由球员——替补前锋杰迪·奥斯曼。还有两名——替补大个子多米尼克·巴洛和桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利——将成为受限制自由球员，这意味着球队保留与他们匹配外部报价的权利。

三名球员——德文特·格雷厄姆、朱利安·香槟和查尔斯·巴塞——下个赛季的合同没有得到保证或部分保证，如果球队需要腾出名册空间或工资帽空间，那么他们将可供球队支配。

除非进行某种形式的交易，否则马刺队的其他核心球员——主要是德文·瓦塞尔、凯尔登·约翰逊和杰里米·索汉——预计将在 2024-25 赛季回归球场。

**2. 说到交易，马刺队是否有一场大交易即将举行？**

由于文班亚马已经证明自己是 NBA 的顶级球员之一，因此比赛正在进行中，目的是为他提供高级别的帮助。

实现这一目标最可能的方法是通过交易。鉴于马刺队的工资帽情况和即将到来的众多选秀权，他们有能力在几乎任何时候达成明星交易。

诀窍是等待合适的明星。

到目前为止，许多谈话似乎都集中在特雷·杨身上，如果老鹰队决定结束他们的阵容，他将成为亚特兰大走出的首批全明星球员之一。

这位 25 岁的杨连续五个赛季场均得到至少 25 分，肯定会给马刺队带来一位顶级得分手，与文班亚马搭档。获得杨的成本可能过高，特别是考虑到马刺队需要在 2026 年与他重新签署一份最大合同，才能让这笔交易对任何人都有意义。

马刺队随后将被锁定在文班亚马-杨组合中多年，而没有力量补充阵容。

马刺队没有排除与杨或其他明星就今夏进行讨论的可能性，但他们的最大打击更有可能在以后出现。

**3. 选秀是否可以提供即时缓解措施？**

好消息是马刺队可能会在 6 月的选秀中拥有多达两个前 10 的选秀权。坏消息是这有可能是近些年来“糟糕”的选秀之一。

马刺队在 5 月 12 日的选秀乐透中获得第一顺位选秀权的几率为第五高——10.5%。这略低于他们去年夏天获得文班亚马的 14% 的几率。

这支球队有 44.3% 的机会获得前 5 的选秀权，而且排名不会低于第 9 位。

马刺队也可能在 2023 年 2 月雅各布·珀尔特尔交易后从多伦多获得一个选秀权。如果这一选秀权落到前 6 位之外，猛龙队欠这一选秀权——这种情况发生有 54.6% 的可能性。

一旦马刺队的选秀位置确定，他们将从一群没有文班亚马的球员中挑选，甚至可能没有布兰登·米勒。

法国 7 英尺高的亚历山大·萨尔、肯塔基后卫罗布·迪林厄姆和里德·谢泼德、康涅狄格后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔和中锋多诺万·克林根、田纳西神射手达尔顿·克内希特和塞尔维亚控球后卫尼古拉·托皮克都应该出现在马刺队的雷达上。选秀前列。

**4. 特雷·琼斯在训练营开始时仍然会是球队首发控球后卫吗？**

从客观上讲，琼斯是本赛季阵容中表现最好的控球后卫。当他替补出场时，马刺队的战绩为 5-28，当他担任首发时，战绩为 16-32，进攻和防守评分更高。

尽管马刺队将琼斯视为场上将军和竞争者，但很明显，球队管理层更希望他们的长期先发控球后卫比 6 英尺 1 英寸的琼斯个头更大。这就是索汉这个赛季一开始就倒霉地搬到那里的部分原因。

预计马刺队将评估自由市场中相对薄弱的控球后卫市场，其中包括老将迈克·康利和凯尔·洛瑞、中级选择蒙特·莫里斯和马克尔·富尔茨——以及最令人着迷的琼斯的哥哥泰厄斯，这些人会出现在球队的球员名单中可用。

马刺队可以在选秀中寻找满足这一需求的其他途径，迪林厄姆、卡斯尔和托皮克将成为其中的首选。

**5. 文班亚马的替补们恢复健康的速度有多快？**

由于伤病，马刺队在休赛期中锋位置上比较薄弱。扎克·柯林斯在对阵底特律的赛季最后一场比赛中右肩盂唇撕裂，需要手术修复。

球队希望 26 岁的柯林斯能在下个赛季开始前做好准备，但沿途的任何挫折都可能使这一时间表陷入危险。

与此同时，巴塞在 12 月份左膝十字韧带断裂，这种伤病可能需要长达一年的时间才能完全康复。

如果巴塞在秋季训练营中无法竞争球队位置，马刺队可能会完全放弃他。

无论哪种方式，马刺队在 7 月份自由球员市场开放时寻求文班亚马身后的锋线深度，这并不奇怪。

原文如下：

Will the Spurs pursue Trae Young, and other burning questions

The next time Victor Wembanyama steps on a basketball court, it will be on his home turf.

Having completed an inaugural NBA season for the ages, one in which he remains a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year honors even as the Spurs stumbled to a 22-60 record, Wembanyama’s next stop is the Paris Olympics in July.

“It’s one of my dreams to play in the Olympics,” the 20-year-old Wembanyama said. “When I’m on the court, I’m going to give 200%. But I am going to be like a kid too, and just enjoy the moment.”

The brightest star playing for the host country, the 20-year-old Wembanyama is likely to serve as an avatar for the summer Games, at least as far as basketball is concerned.

After that, Wembanyama will return to the Spurs, where he hopes his NBA team will make a Wemby-sized leap forward in his second NBA season.

What comes next for the Wembanyama Spurs?

Here are five burning questions for the Spurs’ offseason that might lead to an answer:

1. How many of the 15 players on the Spurs’ regular roster will be back next season?

The answer to this question isn’t clear cut for a team that finished 19 games under .500 but also ended the season winning 7 of 11.

“There’s two ends of the spectrum,” general manager Brian Wright said.

On one end, he says: “Run it back because you saw progress and don’t change anything.”

On the other: “Hey, we only won X number, so we need to change everything.”

“The reality,” Wright said, “is your answer is somewhere in between.”

That’s a long way of saying changes are in the offing this offseason, but probably not of the wholesale variety.

The Spurs have only one player set to become an unrestricted free agent — reserve forward Cedi Osman. Two others — backup big men Dominick Barlow and Sandro Mamukelashvili — will be restricted free agents, meaning the team retains the right to match outside offers for them.

Three players — Devonte’ Graham, Julian Champagnie and Charles Bassey — have contracts for next season that are non- or partially guaranteed, making them expendable should the team need to clear roster or salary cap space.

Barring a trade of some sort, the rest of the Spurs’ core players — prominently Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan — can be expected to return in 2024-25.

2. Speaking of trades, do the Spurs have a blockbuster on tap?

With Wembanyama having already shown himself to be one of the NBA’s top players, the race is on to get him high-level help.

The most likely way to make that happen is via trade. Given the Spurs’ salary cap situation and wealth of upcoming draft picks, they have the means to pull off a swap for a star almost whenever they want to.

The trick is waiting on the right star.

Much of the talk so far seems to be centered on Trae Young, who would be one of the first All-Stars out of Atlanta should the Hawks decide to blow up their roster.

The 25-year-old Young, who has averaged at least 25 points for five consecutive seasons, would certainly give the Spurs an elite scorer to pair with Wembanyama. The cost of acquiring Young might prove too steep, especially considering the Spurs would need to re-sign him to a maximum contract in 2026 to make the deal worth anyone’s while.

The Spurs would then be locked into the Wembanyama-Young pairing for years, without the wherewithal to add to it.

The Spurs haven’t ruled out engaging in discussions about Young or another star this summer, but it is more likely their biggest swing comes later.

3. Might the draft provide immediate relief?

The good news is the Spurs could own as many as two top 10 picks in the June draft. The bad news is this is shaping up to be one of the most “meh” draft pools in recent memory.

The Spurs have the fifth-best odds of landing the No. 1 pick in the May 12 draft lottery — 10.5%. That is slightly worse than the 14% odds they cashed in last summer to land Wembanyama.

The team has a 44.3% chance of hitting a top-5 pick, and can come in no worse than No. 9.

The Spurs also could have a pick on the way from Toronto stemming from the Jakob Poeltl trade in February 2023. The Raptors owe that pick if it falls outside the top 6 — a scenario that stands a 54.6% shot of happening.

Once the Spurs’ draft positioning is settled, they will be culling from a collection of prospects that does not feature a Wembanyama — and probably doesn’t even feature a Brandon Miller.

French 7-footer Alexandre Saar, the Kentucky guard duo of Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard, the Connecticut pair of guard Stephon Castle and center Donovan Clingan, Tennessee sharpshooter Dalton Knecht and Serbian point guard Nikola Topic are all players who should be on the Spurs’ radar near the top of the draft.

4. Will Tre Jones still be the starting point guard heading into training camp?

By all objective measures, Jones was the best point guard on the roster this season. The Spurs were 5-28 with him coming off the bench, and 16-32 with him as a starter with better offensive and defensive ratings to boot.

Though the Spurs value Jones as a floor general and competitor, it is clear the powers that be would prefer their long-term starting point guard to come with more size than the 6-foot-1 Jones. That is part of the reason for the ill-fated move of Sochan there to start the season.

Expect the Spurs to evaluate a relatively thin point guard market in free agency, with veterans Mike Conley and Kyle Lowry, mid-tier options like Monte Morris and Markelle Fultz and — perhaps most intriguing of all — Jones’ older brother, Tyus, highlighting the list of players available.

The Spurs could otherwise look to fill that need through the draft, where Dillingham, Castle and Topic will be among the top options.

 5. How fast can Wemby’s backups get well?

The Spurs enter the offseason thin in the frontcourt due to injury. Zach Collins suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder in the season finale against Detroit an injury that requires surgery to repair.

The team expects the 26-year-old Collins to be ready for the start of next season, but any setback along the way could place that timetable in jeopardy.

Bassey, meanwhile, ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in December, an injury that can take up to a full year to properly heal.

If Bassey isn’t well enough to compete for a roster spot in fall camp, the Spurs could cut bait with him completely.

Either way, it wouldn’t be surprising for the Spurs to seek frontcourt depth behind Wembanyama when the free agent market opens in July.

By Jeff McDonald, Spurs Writer, via San Antonio Express-News