By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-01-28 16:57:12
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12月6日星期五，在圣安东尼奥举行的一场NBA篮球比赛的上半场，萨克拉门托国王队后卫德文·布克(De’Aaron Fox)(5号)带球突破圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)的防守。（美联社照片/Eric Gay）
周四，文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)将首次入选NBA全明星阵容。如果那些带有偏见的沿海媒体能够如愿，他早就应该入选了。
那些光鲜亮丽的球队总是能得到最多的关注，不是吗？
文班亚马现在效力于这样一支球队。而且他永远都会如此，因为任何拥有他的球队都将成为焦点。如果你仍然认为某种成见会让一支在安静的圣安东尼奥的球队远离精彩集锦和头条新闻？
那么，你最好了解一下已经发生的事情。
并且做好迎接未来更多事情的准备。
周二下午，在一系列精心策划的关于一位心怀不满的球星的愿望转变的新闻稿中，多家媒体报道称，萨克拉门托国王队突然愿意听取关于后卫德文·布克(De’Aaron Fox)的交易报价。ESPN 率先报道，几分钟内其他全国性出版物也纷纷跟进。所有报道都表明，布克心中有一个偏好的——但未指明的——目的地。
多年来，这类故事的涌现让公众迅速做出了一些假设：
布克是想加入湖人队吗？
勇士队？
热火队？
这些猜测在过去十年，甚至一两年前可能更有道理。
但现在呢？每个有根据的猜测都始于一个有机会成为篮球宇宙中心的地方。
当然，布克想去圣安东尼奥。
有文班在，哪个想要赢球的球员不想去呢？
周二下午晚些时候，《The Athletic》成为首批点名马刺队的媒体之一，据联盟各地的消息人士透露，马刺队被视为布克“可能的首选目的地”，这很有道理。
布克27岁，他的许多巅峰赛季预计会与21岁的文班亚马重叠。他的比赛风格充满了控球后卫的组织能力、关键时刻的投篮以及防守的意愿，这正是马刺队渴望从文班亚马的长期搭档身上看到的。
他的德克萨斯州渊源——布克在休斯顿长大——更让人觉得他会在这里度过他的余下职业生涯。所有关于他性格的了解都表明，布克，这位可以在2026年成为自由球员的球星，是那种愿意在圣安东尼奥扮演 一位 球星的角色，而不是要求成为 唯一 的球星。
当然，这并不意味着马刺和国王的交易一定会在2月6日的交易截止日期前完成，甚至都不太可能。自从解雇教练迈克·布朗并由道格·克里斯蒂接任以来，萨克拉门托的状态有所回升，他们大概不想放弃这个赛季，除非能得到能够为季后赛之旅做出贡献的球员。即使布克想加入马刺，马刺也可能没有国王想要的筹码。
对于像布克这样级别的球员，肯定会有其他追求者。拥有大量首轮选秀权和像斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)、杰里米·索汉和德文·瓦塞尔这样的年轻球员的马刺，会想要出价超过所有人吗？也许吧。
了解他们的管理层后，马刺会发现这种情况比任何关于亚特兰大老鹰队特雷·杨的传闻都更诱人、更现实。这并不意味着他们一定会追求布克，但有一件事是清楚的：只要文班亚马在，圣安东尼奥的人们最好习惯这些流言。
还记得过去的日子吗？那时南德克萨斯州的每个人都抱怨媒体如何忽视蒂姆·邓肯、大卫·罗宾逊、马努·吉诺比利和托尼·帕克的伟大？
首先，这种说法从来都不准确。其次，马刺现在已经引起了所有人的注意。在本赛季全明星首发阵容的投票中，文班亚马在媒体中的排名（西部联盟前场球员第二名）实际上比在球迷和球员中的排名（第四名，落后于尼古拉·约基奇、勒布朗·詹姆斯和凯文·杜兰特）要高。
这种尊重带来了什么？各种各样关于如何将马刺变成超级球队的想法。
上周在雅虎体育，一位资深的NBA国家级作家详细而热情地论述了为什么马刺应该向金州勇士队的斯蒂芬·库里提出报价，以及为什么勇士应该接受它。
周二，在ESPN.com对即将到来的NBA交易截止日期的深度分析中，圣安东尼奥被列为市场上讨论最多的名字之一——新奥尔良鹈鹕队前锋布兰登·英格拉姆的“完美契合点”。
在此之前，《The Ringer》的一篇文章中，另一位国家级作家提出了他认为菲尼克斯太阳队应该交易凯文·杜兰特的理由，并想知道马刺队是否可能在交易这位两届总决赛最有价值球员的交易中“鱼与熊掌兼得”。
再说一次，这是大市场的东西。国家电视台的东西。辩论节目的东西。
其中只有一小部分会得到认真考虑，更不用说实现了。
但是，当全国各地的篮球迷都表明他们对这些疯狂的猜测乐此不疲时？
一个新的充满魅力的球队正在崛起，而这与地理位置无关。
SAN ANTONIO, TX - DECEMBER 6: De’Aaron Fox #5 of the Sacramento Kings is fouled by Stephon Castle #5 of the San Antonio Spurs in the second half at Frost Bank Center on December 6, 2024 in San Antonio, Texas.
SAN ANTONIO, TX - DECEMBER 6: Jeremy Sochan #10 of the San Antonio Spurs tries to drive by De’Aaron Fox #5 of the Sacramento Kings and Orlando Robinson in the second half at Frost Bank Center on December 6, 2024 in San Antonio, Texas.
Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, left, shoots against San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 01: De’Aaron Fox #5 of the Sacramento Kings goes up for a shot on Stephon Castle #5 and Chris Paul #3 of the San Antonio Spurs in the second half at Golden 1 Center on December 01, 2024 in Sacramento, California.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 01: De’Aaron Fox #5 of the Sacramento Kings tries to pass around Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs in the first half at Golden 1 Center on December 01, 2024 in Sacramento, California.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 01: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs and De’Aaron Fox #5 of the Sacramento Kings go for a rebound in the first half at Golden 1 Center on December 01, 2024 in Sacramento, California.
点击查看原文：De’Aaron Fox trade rumors pick up, could Spurs emerge as destination
De’Aaron Fox trade rumors pick up, could Spurs emerge as destination
Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox (5) drives to the basket against San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan, center, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
On Thursday, Victor Wembanyama will be selected to his first NBA All-Star team. If the biased coastal media had its way, he’d already be in.
The glamour franchises always get the most attention, don’t they?
Wembanyama plays for one of those now. He always will, because any franchise that employs him qualifies. And if you still think there’s some kind of stigma keeping a team in quiet San Antonio out of highlight reels and headlines?
It wouldn’t hurt to catch up with what’s already happened.
And brace for what’s still to come.
Tuesday afternoon, in one of those impeccably coordinated press barrages about the shifting desires of a disgruntled star player, multiple outlets reported that Sacramento suddenly has become willing to listen to trade offers for guard De’Aaron Fox. ESPN was first, but within minutes other national publications followed. All of them indicated that Fox had one favored – but unspecified – destination in mind.
Years of consuming these kinds of stories trained the public to make some quick assumptions here:
Did Fox want to join the Lakers?
The Warriors?
The Heat?
Those guesses might have made more sense in a prior decade, or even a year or two ago.
But now? Every educated guess begins with what has a chance to become the center of the basketball universe.
Of course, Fox wants to come to San Antonio.
With Wembanyama around, which player interested in winning doesn’t?
Later Tuesday afternoon, The Athletic became one of the first outlets to name the Spurs as the team seen by sources across the league as “the likely destination of choice” for Fox, and this makes a lot of sense.
At age 27, many of Fox’s prime seasons figure to overlap with the 21-year-old Wembanyama’s. His game, oozing with point-guard playmaking and clutch shooting and the willingness to defend, fits exactly what the Spurs covet in a long-term Wembanyama sidekick.
His Texas roots – Fox grew up in Houston – add to the feeling that he could commit to staying here for the rest of his career. And everything known about his personality suggests Fox, who can become a free agent in 2026, is the kind of star who would embrace a role as a star in San Antonio, without demanding to be the star.
Now, none of this means that a Spurs-Kings deal is guaranteed to happen before the Feb. 6 trade deadline, or that it’s even likely. Sacramento has been on a bit of a roll since firing coach Mike Brown and replacing him with Doug Christie, and presumably wouldn’t want to give up on this season without acquiring players who could contribute to a playoff run. Even if Fox wants to join the Spurs, the Spurs might not have the type of assets the Kings want.
For a player of Fox’s caliber, there will be other suitors. Will the Spurs – armed with loads of first-round draft picks and young players such as Stephon Castle, Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell – want to outbid everyone? Maybe.
Knowing their front office, the Spurs find this scenario more tempting and more realistic than any rumored interest in Atlanta’s Trae Young ever was. That doesn’t mean they’ll pursue Fox, but one thing is clear: As long as Wembanyama is around, people in San Antonio had better get used to rumors.
Remember the old days, when everyone in South Texas used to complain about how the media ignored the greatness of Tim Duncan and David Robinson and Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker?
Well, first of all, that never was accurate. But secondly, the Spurs have everybody’s attention now. In voting for this season’s All-Star starting lineups, Wembanyama actually fared better with the media (ranked second among Western Conference frontcourt players) than he did with the fans and the players (ranked fourth, behind Nikola Jokic, LeBron James and Kevin Durant).
And what comes with that respect? All kinds of ideas on how to turn the Spurs into a super team.
Last week in Yahoo! Sports, a longtime national NBA writer made a detailed, impassioned argument for why the Spurs should make an offer for Golden State’s Stephen Curry, and why Warriors should accept it.
On Tuesday, in ESPN.com’s in-depth breakdown of the upcoming NBA trade deadline, San Antonio was listed as “a perfect fit” for one of the most-discussed names on the market – New Orleans forward Brandon Ingram.
This followed a piece in The Ringer in which another national writer made his case that Phoenix should trade Durant, and wondered if the Spurs might “have their cake and eat it, too” in a deal for the two-time Finals most valuable player.
Again, this is big-market stuff. National-TV stuff. Debate-show stuff.
Only a fraction of it even will be seriously considered, let alone come to fruition.
But as a country of basketball fans shows it can’t get enough of the wild speculation?
A new glamour franchise emerges, realizing it has nothing to do with geography.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News