By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2024-09-27 14:00:14
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
2024 年 3 月 27 日，在盐湖城举行的 NBA 篮球比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)在下半场带球进攻，对手是犹他爵士队。（美联社照片/里克·鲍默）
马刺队后卫德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)在上赛季因右脚伤势缺席了最后八场比赛，他在休赛期给自己定下了一个最重要的目标。
“我想在下赛季打满 82 场比赛，”瓦塞尔在四月份说。“这是我的目标。”
但现在可以肯定的是，这个目标已经无法实现了。
瓦塞尔在接受手术修复右脚应力反应后，预计将缺席即将到来的赛季初。上赛季末，同样的伤病导致他提前结束了 2023-24 赛季。球队在周五的一份新闻稿中宣布了这一消息。
这算得上是一次挫折，但其严重程度取决于旁观者的看法，或者更确切地说，取决于旁观者的脚。
现年 24 岁的瓦塞尔即将迎来他的第五个 NBA 赛季，上赛季他是马刺队的二号得分手，场均得到 19.5 分，仅次于新秀球星维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)。在赛季最后两周被停赛之前，他总共参加了 68 场比赛，这是他职业生涯中第二多的。
瓦塞尔进入休赛期时信心满满，相信自己的身体状况足以度过一个正常的休赛期。他当时表示，手术不在他的计划之内。
“我的脚一直在好转，”当被问及他的脚伤时，瓦塞尔在四月份说。“现在只是需要更多的休息、冰敷和恢复时间。让它自己慢慢痊愈。”
然而，事实证明，瓦塞尔的脚只有通过手术才能痊愈。
球队表示，瓦塞尔已经开始了手术后的非接触性恢复训练，但仍在逐步恢复篮球活动。
他预计将缺席周二开始的训练营，以及球队全部五场季前赛。马刺队将于 10 月 24 日在达拉斯开始常规赛。
马刺队还没有给出瓦塞尔回归的时间表，但一位联盟消息人士表示，乐观估计他可能会在 11 月的第一周复出。
周五，还有两名在上赛季因伤缺阵的替补内线球员也传来了积极的消息。
扎克·科林斯(Zach Collins)在休赛期接受了手术，修复了他在 4 月 14 日马刺队赛季收官战战胜活塞队的比赛中撕裂的盂唇，他现在已经获准参加所有篮球活动。
同样，查尔斯·巴斯(Charles Bassey)在 12 月 10 日代表奥斯汀马刺队比赛时左膝前交叉韧带撕裂，目前他正在逐步恢复实战。虽然预计巴斯在整个训练营中仍将受到限制，但球队预计他将为 10 月 24 日的揭幕战做好准备。
现年 26 岁的科林斯上赛季出场 69 场，场均得到 11.2 分和 5.8 个篮板。现年 23 岁的巴斯出场 19 次，场均得到 3.3 分和 4 个篮板。
预计这两名球员都将在文班亚马的第二个赛季中扮演重要的替补角色。
点击查看原文：San Antonio Spurs' Devin Vassell expected to miss start of season
San Antonio Spurs’ Devin Vassell expected to miss start of season
San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell brings the ball up during the second half of the team’s NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
After missing the final eight games of last season with a nagging right foot injury, Spurs guard Devin Vassell entered the offseason with one personal aspiration set above all others.
“I want to play all 82 (games) next season,” Vassell said in April. “That’s my goal.”
It is a goal already guaranteed to go unrealized.
Vassell is expected to miss the start of the upcoming season after undergoing surgery to repair a stress reaction in the same right foot that caused a premature end to his 2023-24 campaign. The team announced the news in a Friday release.
It is a setback, but one where the magnitude of which is in the eye of the beholder. Or, perhaps, in the beholder’s foot.
The 24-year-old Vassell, who is entering his fifth NBA season, was the Spurs’ second-leading scorer last season at 19.5 points per game behind rookie star Victor Wembanyama. He appeared in a total of 68 contests – the second-most of his career – before being shut down for the final two weeks of the season.
Vassell headed into the summer confident he would be healthy enough to go through a normal offseason. Surgery, he said at the time, was not supposed to be in the cards.
“It’s been getting better and better,” Vassell said when asked about his foot in April. “It’s just more rest, ice, recovery time. Just letting it heal on its own.”
Instead, it turned out Vassell’s foot could only be healed by a surgeon’s hand.
Vassell has begun the non-contact portion of his recovery from surgery, the team says, but is still ramping up to basketball activities.
He is expected to miss the duration of training camp, which begins Tuesday, as well as the entirety of the club’s five-game preseason slate. The Spurs begin regular-season play Oct. 24 at Dallas.
The Spurs have provided no timetable for Vassell’s return, though there is optimism he might be able to play in games by the first week of November, a league source said.
Friday provided more positive news on the health front for a pair of backup big men who ended last season on the injured list.
Zach Collins has been cleared for all basketball activities after offseason surgery to repair the torn labrum he suffered in the Spurs’ season-concluding victory over Detroit on April 14.
Similarly, Charles Bassey is in the midst of ramping up to live play after tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament while playing for the Austin Spurs on Dec. 10. Though Bassey is expected to be still limited throughout camp, the team projects him to be ready for the Oct. 24 opener.
Collins, 26, appeared in 69 games last season, averaging 11.2 points and 5.8 rebounds. Bassey, 23, averaged 3.3 points and four rebounds in 19 appearances.
Both players are expected to figure prominently in the mix to back up Wembanyama in his second season.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News