By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-02-19 15:34:27
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。
亚利桑那州，菲尼克斯 - 2024年12月03日：在亚利桑那州菲尼克斯太阳银行球馆举行的阿联酋航空NBA杯比赛上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队1号 文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)在菲尼克斯太阳队35号 凯文·杜兰特 (Kevin Durant)面前进行低位进攻。
奥斯汀—— 凯文·杜兰特 (Kevin Durant)，两届NBA总冠军、四届奥运会金牌得主、15次全明星球员以及一次NBA最有价值球员，本周早些时候在奥斯汀四处游览，那时距离他的菲尼克斯太阳队前往穆迪中心挑战马刺还有几天时间。
在他游览的某个时刻，他又变回了那个17岁的 凯文·杜兰特 ，一个驾驶着雪佛兰骑士，努力适应大学生活的大学新生。
“当我在这座城市里四处走动时，我总是会感到一丝怀旧，” 杜兰特 周三略带伤感地说。
对于马刺队来说，周四的比赛标志着他们又一次回到德州首府。过去两个赛季，他们每年都在这里进行了两场比赛，试图将他们的商业版图扩展到210区号以外。俱乐部将于周五再次回到穆迪中心迎战底特律活塞队。
对于现年36岁，正处于通往奈史密斯篮球名人堂的火箭之旅最后阶段的 杜兰特 来说，这是一次回家的机会。
某种意义上的。
杜兰特 在2006-07赛季于德克萨斯大学度过了他唯一的大学赛季，与长角牛队和奥斯汀市建立了深厚的联系，这与他短暂的校园时光并不相符。
“我爱奥斯汀，” 杜兰特 说，“我喜欢在这里。我在这里有一些朋友。我只是喜欢在这里闲逛，每次来这里都感觉很棒。”
周四的比赛将是 杜兰特 在奥斯汀的首次NBA常规赛亮相。2009年，作为俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的一员，他曾在已经拆除的欧文中心参加了一场对阵马刺队的季前赛。
从比赛公布的那天起， 杜兰特 就在他的个人日历上圈出了这场比赛。在周日的NBA全明星赛结束后，他直接从旧金山飞往奥斯汀，以便享受更多在他大学校园里闲逛的时间。
“我非常兴奋能回到这里，” 杜兰特 说。
杜兰特 在华盛顿特区地区出生和长大，2006年秋天他踏入40英亩土地时，是长角牛队历史上排名最高的招生球员，至今仍是。他避开了全国所有篮球名校，加入了 里克·巴恩斯 (Rick Barnes)的新兴项目。
即使拥有这样的血统， 杜兰特 仍然记得自己对新环境感到有些大开眼界。
“我来自一所高中，在那里我与12个人一起毕业，并且我的大部分高中生涯都是在教堂礼堂里打球，” 杜兰特 说，“所以这对我来说是一个进步，一个巨大的进步。感觉就像我在NBA球馆里打球一样。”
杜兰特 作为全国最年轻的大学球队之一的代表人物来到奥斯汀。
未来的NBA全明星 拉马库斯·阿尔德里奇 (LaMarcus Aldridge)在前一个赛季帮助德克萨斯大学进入精英八强后，离开了学校进入职业联赛。 丹尼尔·吉布森 (Daniel Gibson)，另一位潜在的NBA选秀球员，也离开了。还有 P.J.·塔克 (P.J. Tucker)，卫冕大十二联盟年度最佳球员。
相比之下， 杜兰特 的长角牛队首发阵容中有四名新生（包括他自己）和一名二年级生。
年轻和缺乏经验是 杜兰特 ——场均得到25.8分并获得一致认可的全国年度最佳球员称号——的唯一一个大学赛季在NCAA锦标赛第二轮结束的原因，他们输给了实力更强、年龄更大、更精明的南加州大学队。
这也是 杜兰特 仍然认为他在奥斯汀的12个月是他一生中最美好时光的原因。
“我们是一个关系紧密的团队，” 杜兰特 说，“我们一起体验着许多第一次。我们第一次体验大学生活。我们一起做所有事情，这种情谊将我与学校和城市联系在了一起，达到了另一个层次。”
这就是 杜兰特 本周再次抵达奥斯汀时涌上心头的记忆：在一个周六下午，他与UT队友 贾斯汀·梅森 (Justin Mason)和另一个朋友 兰迪·威廉姆斯 (Randy Williams)挤进一辆车，一群大学生前往购物中心。
“我们过去常常每个周末都去购物中心，为我们要去的地方（外出）购买衣服，” 杜兰特 回忆道，“然后在周六比赛结束后，我们会沿着第六街闲逛。我们就在第六街闲逛，从一辆雪佛兰骑士里涌出来。
“那些是最难忘的时光，” 杜兰特 说，流露出他之前提到的怀旧之情，“只是和那些伙计一起在第六街闲逛。”
在他的篮球生涯中， 杜兰特 走遍了世界各地，将比赛带到了比2006-07赛季的德克萨斯大学队的任何一位朋友都更远的地方。
控球后卫 D.J.·奥古斯汀 (D.J. Augustin)在NBA打了14个赛季，拼凑出了一份合格的职业生涯，于2022年退役。前锋 达米安·詹姆斯 (Damian James)在联盟中短暂效力，其中包括在2013-14赛季为马刺队打了五场比赛。
那支球队的其余成员—— 梅森 、 A.J.·艾布拉姆斯 (A.J. Abrams)、 马特·希尔 (Matt Hill)、 康纳·阿特奇利 (Connor Atchley)、 克雷格·温德 (Craig Winder)、 J.D.·刘易斯 (J.D. Lewis)——在篮球历史上大多已被遗忘。
然而， 杜兰特 并没有忘记他们。
伊恩·穆尼 (Ian Mooney)是一名很少上场的三年级球员，他在2006-07赛季为长角牛队出场5次，在全明星赛前的太阳队在休斯顿的比赛中， 杜兰特 邀请他作为自己的客人。
“那是德克萨斯的另一部分，伙计，” 杜兰特 说，“我们都保持着联系。每个人都彼此相爱。”
毫无疑问，奥斯汀仍然爱着 杜兰特 。这一点肯定会在周四晚上得到证实。
这种感觉是相互的。
杜兰特 毫不掩饰这一切的起点：冠军奖杯、奥运奖牌、全明星提名、NBA MVP奖。
“这有点像基础，” 杜兰特 说，“一旦你离开家，进入真实的世界，这就是我的第一个入口点。我成长为一个人类，这帮助我在篮球场上成长。这是我生命中至关重要的时刻，一个重要的时刻，我珍藏着它。”
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 03: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs drives against Kevin Durant #35 of the Phoenix Suns during the first half of the Emirates NBA Cup game at Footprint Center on December 03, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 03: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs posts up on Kevin Durant #35 of the Phoenix Suns during the first half of the Emirates NBA Cup game at Footprint Center on December 03, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.
点击查看原文：In Austin to face Spurs, Kevin Durant back where it began
In Austin to face Spurs, Kevin Durant back where it began
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 03: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs posts up on Kevin Durant #35 of the Phoenix Suns during the first half of the Emirates NBA Cup game at Footprint Center on December 03, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.
AUSTIN – Kevin Durant, two-time NBA champion, four-time Olympic gold medalist, 15-time All-Star and one-time NBA Most Valuable Player, was tooling around Austin earlier this week, days before his Phoenix Suns’ visit to the Moody Center to face the Spurs.
At some point in his excursion, he became Kevin Durant, 17-year-old college freshman just trying to figure out the world in a Chevy Cavalier.
“I get a little nostalgic when I ride around the city a bit,” a wistful Durant said Wednesday.
For the Spurs, Thursday’s game marks another return to the state capital, where they have played a pair of games in each of the two previous seasons as they attempt to expand their corporate footprint beyond the 210 area code. The club will return to the Moody Center again on Friday to face Detroit.
SPURS VS SUNS: How to watch the game, notable stats, player news
For Durant, now 36 and on the final leg of a rocket ship ride to the Naismith Hall of Fame, it is a chance to go home.
Of sorts.
Durant played his lone college season at the University of Texas in 2006-07, forging a connection with the Longhorn program and the city of Austin that belies his short time on campus.
“I love Austin,” Durant said. “I love being here. I got a few friends here. I just like hanging out here and it’s always great when I come here.”
Thursday’s contest will be Durant’s first regular-season NBA appearance in Austin. As a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2009, he played in a preseason game against the Spurs at the since-demolished Erwin Center.
It is a game Durant circled on his personal calendar from the day it was announced. He flew to Austin directly from San Francisco after Sunday’s NBA All-Star festivities in order to savor extra time in his college stomping grounds.
“I’m extremely excited just to come back here,” Durant said.
Born and raised in the Washington D.C. area, Durant was the top recruit in Longhorns history at the time he stepped foot on the 40 Acres in the fall of 2006, and remains so. He eschewed every blue-blooded basketball factory in the country to join Rick Barnes’ upstart program.
Even with that pedigree, Durant recalls being a bit wide-eyed at his new digs.
“I’m coming from high school where I graduated with 12 people and I played in a church auditorium for most of my high school career,” Durant said. “So it was a step up from that, a huge step for me. It felt like I was playing in an NBA arena.”
Durant arrived in Austin as the face of one of the youngest college teams in the country.
Future NBA All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge left school to go pro after helping guide Texas to an Elite Eight finish the season before. So did Daniel Gibson, another would-be NBA draft pick. Also gone was P.J. Tucker, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year.
Durant’s Longhorn team, by contrast, started four freshmen (including himself) and one sophomore.
Youth and inexperience were the reasons Durant – who earned consensus national player of the year honors after averaging 25.8 points – saw his only college season end in the second round of the NCAA tournament, against a tougher, older and savvier USC squad.
It was also a reason Durant still considers his 12 months in Austin to be the halcyon days of his life.
“We were a tight-knit group,” Durant said. “We were experiencing things for the first time together. We were experiencing life in college for the first time. We did everything together, and that camaraderie just connected me with the school and with the city on another level.”
This was the memory that came flooding back to Durant as he touched down in Austin again this week: Crowding into a car with UT teammate Justin Mason and another friend, Randy Williams, on a Saturday afternoon, a bunch of college kids headed to the mall.
“We used to go to the mall every weekend, buy our clothes for where we were going (out),” Durant recalled. “Then we would walk around on Sixth Street on the weekends after our Saturday games. We were hanging out on Sixth, just piling out of a Cavalier.
“Those are the most memorable times,” Durant said, oozing the nostalgia he had spoken of earlier, “just hanging out with those dudes roaming around Sixth Street.”
Durant has roamed around the world in his basketball career, taking the game a greater distance than any of his buddies on the 2006-07 Texas team.
Point guard D.J. Augustin went on to play 14 seasons in the NBA, piecing together a yeoman’s career before retiring in 2022. Forward Damian James had a cup of Folgers in the league that included five games with the Spurs in 2013-14.
The rest of that team – Mason, A.J. Abrams, Matt Hill, Connor Atchley, Craig Winder, J.D. Lewis – has been mostly forgotten on the pages of basketball history.
Durant, however, has not forgotten them.
Ian Mooney, a little-used junior who appeared in five games for the Longhorns in 2006-07, was a guest of Durant’s at the Suns’ game in Houston just before the All-Star break.
“That’s another part of Texas, man,” Durant said. “We all just stay connected. Everybody got love for one another.”
Austin, no doubt, still has love for Durant. That is sure to be borne out Thursday night.
The feeling is mutual.
Durant makes no bones about where it all began: the championship trophies, the Olympic medals, the All-Star bids, the NBA MVP award.
“This was kind of the foundation,” Durant said. “Once you leave home and kind of jump into the real world, this was my first entry point. I grew as a human being, which helped me grow on the basketball court. It was a vital time in my life, an important time in my life, and I hold onto it dearly.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News