By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-02-22 15:30:57
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。
维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama) 想念阳光。
对于一个无法隐藏自己的人来说，在路上的生活会带走什么，这真是可笑。NBA球员的旅行奢华程度是普通人不敢想象的，但他们的奢侈品并不包括充足的阳光。
包机在深夜驶入私人机场航站楼。早上投篮训练的大巴直接从五星级酒店门口开到宽敞的球馆地下装卸区。赛后，则是在灯柱照亮的街道旁的高级餐厅享用球队晚餐。
如果你是一个好奇心强、有探索精神的人，或许可以在下午压低棒球帽，像 马努·吉诺比利(Manu Ginobili) 那样，漫步在美国最繁华的城市，与毫无察觉的游客擦肩而过。
但如果你穿着运动鞋身高7英尺5英寸，并且拥有世界上最容易辨认的面孔之一，那么悠闲地在公共场所散步是不存在的。安全始终是一个问题，即使只是在酒店泳池旁休息，也往往会引起过多的关注。
因此，在马刺队为期一个月的客场之旅的头几个星期，文班亚马向熟人提到他渴望能有简单地沐浴阳光的一两个小时，这并不令人惊讶。而现在，他正在接受可能使他到明年秋天都无法上场的血栓诊断吗？
当他在寻找光明面时，也许其中一个就在他头顶的天空中。
马刺队继续着他们的“牛仔竞技”客场之旅，周六从奥斯汀飞往新奥尔良，而文班亚马并不在飞机上。他有可能在本赛季结束前与球队一起旅行，但目前他正在圣安东尼奥的家中，大概可以自由地走进后院，享受下周逐渐变暖的温度。
显然，这不是文班亚马的首选。无论有没有阳光，他都更愿意乘坐那些飞机，乘坐那些去投篮训练的大巴，被困在那些酒店套房和更衣室里，尤其是那些没有窗户的球馆里。
正如本周另一位非常高大、非常知名的超级巨星所指出的那样，被告知你不能在一年中的大部分时间里打自己热爱的比赛，这在情感上可能是毁灭性的。 凯文·杜兰特(Kevin Durant) 在2019年NBA总决赛中跟腱断裂，最终缺席了超过18个月的比赛。
杜兰特表示，他认为文班亚马拥有“坚强的意志（和）强大的决心”来度过难关。他还就如何充分利用这段停赛时间提供了一些建议，这些建议对文班亚马的兴趣非常有针对性。
“更多地了解自己，”杜兰特说。“也许去找一些新的乐高来拼装。读几本新书。然后，当该回到球场上时，全身心投入。”
无论这些话是否是对这位21岁的中锋（许多人期望他成为NBA的下一个门面）的善意调侃，杜兰特确实提出了一个有价值的观点。长时间远离篮球并不一定要充满厄运和沮丧。
是的，文班亚马更愿意练习他的招牌背身单打，或是在运球训练中挥汗如雨，或者至少继续他的力量训练计划。但根据他右肩深静脉血栓的治疗方式，他可能需要一段时间才能做到这些。
所以他别无选择，只能放松一下，而这不一定都是坏事。追溯到2022年10月，当时18岁的文班亚马在美国打了他的第一场表演赛，他很少能得到休息。他从漫长的法甲赛季到NBA选秀，从选秀到夏季联赛，从夏季联赛到作为NBA年度最佳新秀的完整赛程的严酷考验，从那又到压力巨大的巴黎奥运会，然后几乎直接进入了他的第二个NBA赛季。
在过去的几个月里，尤其是在最近几周，文班亚马看起来完全精疲力竭。目前尚不清楚这仅仅是疲劳累积，还是由于席卷马刺队大部分球员的季节性疾病，甚至可能与医生本周发现的血栓有关。
但他可能确实需要休息一下，无论是在身体上还是精神上。他可能应该跳过一次训练，错过一次大巴车程，并且——而不是在深夜抵达另一个私人机场航站楼——睡一个完整的晚上。
而在他自己的床上醒来后呢？他可以走到阳光下。
记住，总有光明的一面。
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama stands on the court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) receives high-fives from his teammates during a timeout in the first half against the Memphis Grizzlies at Frost Bank Center on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas. The Spurs fell to the Grizzles, 129-115.
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) is shown in a hype video before the Spurs game against the Detroit Pistons at Moody Center on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, in Austin, Texas. The Spurs fell to the Pistons, 125-110, in the second game since the news broke that Wembanyama would not play the rest of the season.
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) is shown in a hype video before the Spurs game against the Detroit Pistons at Moody Center on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, in Austin, Texas. The Spurs fell to the Pistons, 125-110, in the second game since the news broke that Wembanyama would not play the rest of the season.
点击查看原文：On Victor Wembanyama's long road back, a bright side remains
On Victor Wembanyama’s long road back, a bright side remains
Victor Wembanyama missed the sun.
It’s funny what life on the road can take away from a fellow incapable of hiding in plain view. NBA players travel with the kind of extravagance most common folks never dare to imagine, but their luxuries do not include much daylight.
Chartered planes pull into private airport terminals in the dead of night. Buses for morning shootarounds head straight from the doors of five-star hotels to underground loading docks at cavernous arenas. Postgame, there are team dinners in fancy restaurants beside sidewalks illuminated by lampposts.
If you’re a curious sort with an explorer’s spirit, there are afternoons when it’s possible to pull a baseball cap down over your eyes and wander America’s most bustling cities alongside oblivious tourists, the way guys like Manu Ginobili used to do.
But if you stand 7-foot-5 in sneakers, with one of the most recognizable faces in the world, there is no such thing as a leisurely public stroll. Security always is a concern, and even lounging beside the hotel pool tends to draw more attention than it’s worth.
So it was no surprise during the first few weeks of the Spurs’ month-long travel fest that Wembanyama mentioned to acquaintances his longing for a simple sunbaked hour or two. And now that he’s coming to terms with a blood clot diagnosis that might keep him off the basketball court until next fall?
As he searches for a bright side, maybe one of them is right there above him, in the sky.
The Spurs, continuing their rodeo road trip, took a plane from Austin to New Orleans on Saturday, and Wembanyama was not on it. There’s a chance he’ll be able to travel with the team at some point before the end of this season, but for now he’s home in San Antonio, presumably with the freedom to step into a backyard and soak up next week’s warming temperatures.
That’s not Wembanyama’s first choice, obviously. Sun or no, he would much prefer to be on those plane rides, and in those buses to shootarounds, and stuck inside those hotel suites and locker rooms, and especially on the courts in those windowless arenas.
As noted by another really tall, really recognizable superstar this week, it can be emotionally devastating to be told you can’t play the game you love for the better part of a year. Kevin Durant tore his Achilles tendon during the 2019 NBA Finals and wound up sitting out more than 18 months.
Durant said he thinks Wembanyama has the “strong mind (and) strong will” to get through it. He also offered some advice about making the most of the down time, helpfully specific to Wembanyama’s interests.
“Get in tune with yourself a little bit more,” Durant said. “And maybe go find some new Legos to put together. Read a couple of new books. And then, when it’s time to get back on the court, lock in.”
Whether or not any of those words constituted a playful dig at the 21-year-old center who many expect to become the next face of the NBA, Durant did make a worthwhile point. An extended absence from basketball doesn’t have to be filled with doom and gloom.
Yes, Wembanyama would rather be working on a go-to post move, or sweating through ball-handling drills, or at least continuing his weight-training regimen. But depending on how the deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder is treated, it might be a while before he can do any of that.
So he’ll have no choice but to relax a little, and this isn’t necessarily all bad. Going all the way back to October 2022, when he played his first exhibition game in the United States as an 18-year-old, Wembanyama rarely has been able to take a break. He went from an extended French season to the NBA draft, from the draft to summer league, from summer league into the rigors of a full slate as the NBA’s rookie of the year, from that to the pressure-packed Paris Olympics, and then almost directly into his second NBA season.
There were times over the past couple of months, and especially in recent weeks, when Wembanyama looked completely exhausted. It’s unclear that was simply wear and tear catching up with him, or due to the seasonal illness that ravaged much of the Spurs’ roster, or possibly even related to the blood clot doctors discovered this week.
But he probably could use the break, both physically and mentally. He probably could stand to skip a workout, and to miss a bus ride, and to – instead of arriving at another private airport terminal in the dead of night – get a full night’s sleep.
And upon waking in his own bed? He can step out into the sun.
Remembering there’s a bright side.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News