By Jeff McDonald, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-02-02 15:17:04
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。
田纳西州孟菲斯——当马刺中锋文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)第一次了解到NBA交易截止日的概念时，他觉得这像是他喜欢阅读的反乌托邦奇幻小说里的情节。
“很难想象你竟然可以像一件物品一样被交易，”文班亚马说道，“这太奇怪了。”
就像过去一年半里他融入NBA所经历的其他一切一样，文班亚马很快就学会了适应这个想法。
周一，马刺队前往孟菲斯，开启了他们一年一度的牛仔之旅的第一站。交易流言如同狂风般席卷着他们，文班亚马誓言准备好应对任何情况。
一个月后，当马刺队结束客场之旅时，文班亚马身边可能多了一位全明星级别的帮手，也可能和周日从圣安东尼奥国际机场出发时一样，或者介于两者之间。
“每个球队历史上都进行过交易，所以这一天迟早会到来，”文班亚马说。
随着周四交易截止日的临近，马刺队与萨克拉门托国王队就高得分后卫德阿伦·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox)的交易进行了更深入的谈判。福克斯表示，他不希望在2026年现有合同到期后与国王队续签一份长期合同。
出于个人和职业两方面的原因，福克斯倾向于加盟圣安东尼奥。一个显而易见的原因是：福克斯的妻子雷西(Recee)是圣安东尼奥本地人，曾在约翰逊高中就读。
马刺和国王一直在协商这笔潜在交易的具体条款，但目前还不清楚双方是否接近达成协议。
当然，身高7尺3寸的文班是马刺成为主要交易目的地的原因。
通过赢得2023年选秀大会状元签并选中这位法国天才球员，马刺也承担了最终围绕他打造一支冠军争夺者的责任。
为了实现这一目标，总经理莱特(Brian Wright)囤积了大量的未来选秀资产——9个可交易的首轮签，17个次轮签和4个首轮签互换权——此外，队内还有合同友好的球员，使得交易在数学上可行。
虽然文班表示他听说过马刺对福克斯感兴趣的传闻并表示支持，但他并不会被要求每天都了解谈判的进展。
“这是一个长远的事情，”文班用法语回答了一个问题。“他们不会把交易方案发给我（让我批准或拒绝）。但我们正在共同成长，并讨论着如何长期建设球队。”
如果说有什么事情的话，那就是马刺和其他NBA球队在周六都明白，不可能为所有事情做好准备。
就在马刺球员在以105-103惜败迈阿密后离开弗罗斯特银行中心的时候，达拉斯独行侠用MVP候选人卢卡·东契奇(Luka Doncic)与洛杉矶湖人交易得到包括另一位全明星安东尼·戴维斯(Anthony Davis)在内的一揽子球员的重磅消息爆出。
如果达拉斯也用博览公园换了圣莫尼卡码头，这个消息也不会更令人震惊了。
随着周四交易截止日的临近，文班亚马是马刺队名单上唯一绝对可以保证到周五还在队中的球员。
“我希望如此，”文班亚马笑着说。
新秀后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)——球队将他视为未来的基石——也几乎是不可触碰的。
其他任何球员都可能成为交易筹码。
这其中包括队内效力时间最长的球员，六年级前锋凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)。约翰逊还剩两年相对球队友好的3500万美元的合同，他的名字似乎经常出现在此类交易传闻中。
当被问及如何应对未来几天的不确定性时，25岁的约翰逊试图以哲学的态度看待未来的一切。
“我的意思是，有什么需要应对的呢？”约翰逊说。“我觉得当你谈论交易的时候，那是超出我职责范围的事情。我无法控制任何事情。我能控制的就是每晚都上场为我的队友们努力打球。”
马刺队的老将克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)和哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)都经历过几十年的交易截止日，他们的目标是在管理层进行操作的同时，让球队专注于眼下的任务。
对马刺来说，交易截止日通常发生在他们赛季中最长客场之旅的中期，这或许会增加球队的情绪负担。
今年的牛仔之旅从孟菲斯开始，然后前往亚特兰大、夏洛特、奥兰多、华盛顿和波士顿，之后便是全明星周末。
假期结束后，马刺将在奥斯汀的穆迪中心进行两场指定主场比赛，分别对阵菲尼克斯太阳和底特律活塞，然后将在新奥尔良进行两场比赛，在休斯顿和孟菲斯各进行一场比赛，以此结束客场之旅。
马刺队要到3月2日对阵俄克拉荷马城的比赛才会回到弗罗斯特银行中心。
巴恩斯给那些正在经历交易截止日的年轻队友的信息很简单。
“我告诉他们的最重要的事情是，你每天所做的事情并没有改变，”巴恩斯说。“你仍然需要上场打球，保持职业精神。无论结果如何，它都会按照它应该发生的方式发生。”
文班亚马周日离开圣安东尼奥时知道，到月底时，球队的面貌可能会大不相同。也可能根本没有任何变化。
他准备让马刺管理层做好自己的工作，尽管这可能有些反乌托邦的意味。
“即使我知道这是一次冒险，我们将与球队一起成长，但我仍然会扮演好球员的角色，”文班用法语回答了一个问题。“但当然，我已经准备好迎接所有可能发生的情况。”
Spurs center Victor Wembanyama might be the only San Antonio player whose status on the roster is completely safe as the trade deadline approaches.
The Sacramento Kings are looking to trade high-scoring guard De’Aaron Fox, and his preference is to join the Spurs in his wife’s hometown of San Antonio.
点击查看原文：As trade winds blow, Spurs hit the rodeo trail
As trade winds blow, Spurs hit the rodeo trail
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When Spurs center Victor Wembanyama first learned of the concept of the NBA trade deadline, it sounded to him like something out of the dystopian fantasy novels he favors.
“It’s hard to realize that you can be traded kind of like an object,” Wembanyama said. “It’s super weird.”
Like with everything else that has come with his indoctrination into the NBA over the past year and a half, Wembanyama has learned quickly to adapt to the idea.
As the Spurs headed out for the first stop on their annual rodeo road trip Monday in Memphis, with gale force trade winds swirling around them, Wembanyama vows to be ready for anything.
The Spurs could return from their month-long trip with an All-Star caliber sidekick for Wembanyama, or with the same plane load of players that flew out of San Antonio International Airport on Sunday or with something in between.
“Every team has made trades in their history, so for sure it is bound to happen one day,” Wembanyama said.
As Thursday’s trade deadline approaches, the Spurs have intensified talks with Sacramento surrounding high-scoring guard De’Aaron Fox, who has indicated he does not wish to sign another long-term contract with the Kings when his current one expires in 2026.
For reasons both personal and professional, Fox has tipped his preference to wind up in San Antonio. One obvious draw: Fox’s wife, Recee, is a San Antonio native who attended Johnson High School.
The Spurs and Kings have been negotiating he parameters of a potential deal, though it is unclear how close anything has come to being consummated.
Wembanyama, of course, is the 7-foot-3 reason the Spurs have bloomed as a prime trade destination.
By winning the right to draft the French wunderkind first overall in 2023, the Spurs also accepted the responsibility of eventually building a championship contender around him.
In that pursuit, general manager Brian Wright has stockpiled a bevy of future draft assets — nine tradable first-round picks, 17 second-round picks and four first-round pick swaps — plus have players on amenable contracts to make deals mathematically feasible.
Though Wembanyama said he had heard rumors of the Spurs’ interest in Fox and supports it, he won’t be asked to be kept in the negotiating loop on a day-to-day basis.
“It’s more of a long-term thing,” Wembanyama said, answering a question in French. “They’re not going to send me a trade proposal (to approve or reject). But we’re growing together and talking about building the team for the long term.”
If anything, the Spurs and the rest of the NBA learned Saturday it is impossible to prepare for everything.
At the moment Spurs players were leaving the Frost Bank Center following a last-second 105-103 loss to Miami, the bombshell news broke that Dallas had traded MVP candidate Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package that included fellow All-Star Anthony Davis.
The news wouldn’t have been any more stunning if it had turned out Dallas had also swapped Fair Park for the Santa Monica Pier.
As Thursday’s trade deadline nears, Wembanyama is the only player on the Spurs’ roster absolutely guaranteed to still be there come Friday.
“I hope so,” Wembanyama said with a grin.
Rookie guard Stephon Castle — who the team views as a building-block piece for the future — is close to untouchable as well.
Any other player is likely fair game.
That includes the longest-tenured player on the club, sixth-year forward Keldon Johnson. With two remaining on a relatively team-friendly $35-million contract, Johnson’s name seems to arise frequently in such trade chatter.
Asked how he plans to cope with the uncertainty of the days to come, the 25-year-old Johnson tried to remain philosophical about whatever lies ahead.
“I mean, what is there to cope with?” Johnson said. “I feel like when you talk about trade stuff, that’s business that’s above my pay grade. There’s nothing that I can control. What I can control is going out there and playing hard for my teammates every night.”
Having been around for decades of trade deadlines, Spurs veterans Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes aim to keep the team focused on the task at hand while the front office pulls its levers.
For the Spurs, the deadline typically hits each year in the middle of their longest road trip of the season, perhaps adding to the emotional toll.
This year’s rodeo trip begins in Memphis before heading to Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Washington and Boston before the All-Star break.
After the hiatus, the Spurs face Phoenix and Detroit in a pair of designated home games at the Moody Center in Austin before concluding the road trek with two games in New Orleans, one in Houston and one in Memphis again.
The Spurs are not back in the Frost Bank Center until a March 2 contest against Oklahoma City.
Barnes’ message to younger teammates navigating the trade deadline is simple.
“The biggest thing I tell guys is what you do on a day-to-day basis doesn’t change,” Barnes said. “You still have to go out there and play and be professional. However it shakes out, it will happen how it’s supposed to.”
Wembanyama left San Antonio on Sunday aware the team might look vastly different by the end of the month. Or it might not look different at all.
He is prepared to let the Spurs’ front office do its job, as dystopian as it might be.
“Even though I know this is an adventure in which we’re going to grow together with the franchise, I’m staying in my role as a player,” Wembanyama said, answering a question in French. “But of course, I’m prepared for all eventualities.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News