By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-03-13 16:29:11
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。
费城76人队中锋乔尔·恩比德与丹佛掘金队中锋尼古拉·约基奇于2023年1月28日星期六在费城对决。
在他们成为世界上最好的球员之前，他们曾彼此阻碍。而且其中一人根本没有让步的打算。
“我有点重，”一位名叫尼古拉·约基奇(Nikola Jokic)的略显肥胖的后起之秀在2019年的一个晚上说。“他需要付出很大的努力才能把我推开。”
约基奇口中的“他”指的是乔尔·恩比德(Joel Embiid)，他和约基奇有一些共同点。他们都出生在美国境外，身高都在7英尺左右，而且都以一种前所未有的创新方式打中锋。
五年前的那个晚上，他们在丹佛对决，他们看起来像是拥有成为联盟最有价值球员的天赋和动力的球员。
他们的球队都为拥有他们而感到幸运。
至少其中一支球队仍然这么认为。
即使伟大几乎是注定的，你也永远无法预料。你永远无法预料谁会抓住正确的机会，你永远无法预料谁会找到额外的东西，你也永远无法预料谁的身体能够支撑住。
有时会有一些线索。但即使一名球员发挥了他的潜力，这也不意味着他会一直保持在那里。即使有两个人赢得了“最有价值”的称号，这也不意味着两支球队会以同样的方式利用这种价值。
看看约基奇和恩比德本周的情况就知道了。如果你是像马刺队这样的球队，拥有一位像维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)这样的球员，那么这两位前MVP既是灵感也是警告。
这两种比较都不完美，因为30岁的恩比德和30岁的约基奇都不是像文班亚马那样起步的。恩比德在2014年选秀中以第三顺位被选中后，错过了他职业生涯的前两个赛季。约基奇在那次选秀的第二轮，臭名昭著地在塔可钟商业广告期间被选中，在接下来的几年里，他也几乎是隐形的。
2025年1月4日星期六，在圣安东尼奥的霜冻银行中心举行的NBA比赛上半场，丹佛掘金队中锋尼古拉·约基奇（15号）防守圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马（1号）。掘金队在加时赛中以122-111击败马刺队。
但到了2019年，越来越明显的是，他们是NBA下一代的超级巨星中锋。他们的球队拥有越来越现实的总冠军梦想，而且不难想象他们会在总决赛中像2019年11月一场激动人心的比赛中那样相互较量，当时约基奇在比赛后期吸收了恩比德的进攻犯规，并投中了制胜球。
在2021年、2022年和2023年，他们在联盟的MVP投票中每年都名列第一和第二，约基奇两次获奖，恩比德另一次获奖。
从某种意义上说，他们都实现了自己的承诺。
但在另一种意义上，只有一个人实现了。约基奇带领他的球队获得了NBA总冠军，约基奇保持了足够的健康状态，在2024年赢得了他的第三个MVP，约基奇现在看起来是第四个MVP的最有力竞争者，他的掘金队可以在这个赛季再次进入季后赛。
至于恩比德？当他在场上时，他表现得非常出色。但他再次因膝伤缺席，在他11个赛季的893场比赛中只参加了452场。他每年至少缺席14场比赛，而且他从未带领费城队突破季后赛第二轮。
现在，在“过程”（The Process）——即痛苦的重建，导致76人队从2013-14赛季到2016-17赛季平均每年输掉63场比赛——近十年后，他们再次在积分榜底部附近发现了绝望。而这一次，他们与恩比德、保罗·乔治和其他人的巨额合同紧密相连，这使得重建比上次更加困难。
而且，似乎也没有关于恩比德何时可能再次健康的可靠猜测。两周前，当76人队宣布他们将让他赛季报销时，他们说他“在医疗上无法上场”，但没有具体说明恩比德的恢复计划或时间表。
马刺队也被迫在没有他们的明星中锋的情况下结束本赛季，但至少公开表示相信文班亚马能够及时从右肩深静脉血栓中恢复，以便参加下个赛季的比赛。最近的NBA球员布兰登·英格拉姆和奥萨尔·汤普森的案例，他们都在大约八到九个月的时间内从血栓问题中恢复过来，这表明这个时间表是现实的。
但在约基奇和恩比德分道扬镳之间，仍然有很多种可能。健康起着巨大的作用。时机、建立正确的支持阵容以及弄清楚如何克服季后赛障碍等因素也很重要。
为了马刺队的利益，希望文班亚马在所有这些方面都能比恩比德获得更好的机会。当他准备好成为世界上最好的球员时呢？
谁知道呢？约基奇可能仍然在那里，像以往一样沉重。
仍然敢于挑战另一个大个子把他推开。
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) tries to block a shot by Denver Nuggets center Nkola Jokic (15) during the second half of their NBA game at the Frost Bank Center on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 in San Antonio. Denver beat the Spurs 122-111 in overtime.
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, right, looks to pass the ball as San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama defends in the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic argues for a call in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic dribbles during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Monday, March 10, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
点击查看原文：As paths of Jokic, Embiid diverge, whose will Wembanyama follow?
As paths of Jokic, Embiid diverge, whose will Wembanyama follow?
Philadelphia Sixers center Joel Embiid with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023, in Philadelphia.
Before they became the best in the world, they were in each other’s way. And one of them had no intention of moving.
“I’m kind of heavy,” a pudgy up-and-comer named Nikola Jokic said one night in 2019. “He needs to push a lot just to push me out.”
By “he,” Jokic meant Joel Embiid, with whom he shared a few things in common. Both were born outside the United States, both stood in the neighborhood of 7-feet tall, and both played center in an innovative way few NBA stars had attempted before them.
That night they dueled in Denver five and a half years ago, they looked like guys with the talent and drive to be the league’s most valuable player someday.
Their franchises felt lucky to have them.
At least one of them still does.
Even when greatness is all but guaranteed, you just never know. You just never know who’ll catch the right breaks, and you just never know who’ll find that something extra, and you just never know whose body will hold up.
Sometimes there are clues. But even if a player reaches his potential, it doesn’t mean he’ll stay there. And even if two guys earn the title of “most valuable,” it doesn’t mean two teams will capitalize on that value the same way.
Just look at where Jokic and Embiid are this week. If you’re a franchise like the Spurs, with a player like Victor Wembanyama, those two former MVPs provide both an inspiration and a warning.
Neither comparison is perfect, because neither the 30-year-old Embiid or the 30-year-old Jokic started out as Wembanyama did. Embiid missed the entirety of his first two pro seasons after being selected third overall in the 2014 draft. Jokic, infamously picked during a Taco Bell commercial in the second round of that same draft, might as well have been invisible for the next couple of years, too.
Denver Nuggets center Nkola Jokic (15) defends San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during the first half of their NBA game at the Frost Bank Center on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 in San Antonio. Denver beat the Spurs 122-111 in overtime.
But by 2019, it was becoming clear they were the superstar centers of the NBA’s next generation. Their teams had championship aspirations that were becoming more and more realistic, and it wasn’t hard to imagine them going at each other in the Finals the same way they did in a thrilling November game in 2019, when Jokic absorbed a late Embiid offensive foul and threw in a game-winner.
In 2021, 2022 and 2023, they finished first and second in the league’s MVP voting each year, with Jokic winning it twice and Embiid taking it the other time.
In one sense, they’d both lived up to their promise.
In another sense, though, only one had. Jokic led his team to an NBA title, and Jokic stayed healthy enough to win a third MVP in 2024, and Jokic now looks like the frontrunner for a fourth in a season in which his Nuggets can make another postseason run.
As for Embiid? When he’s been on the court, he’s been incredible. But he’s sidelined with a knee injury again, having played in only 452 of a possible 893 games in his 11 seasons. He’s missed at least 14 games every year, and he’s never taken Philadelphia past the second round of the playoffs.
Now, almost a decade after “The Process” — the painful teardown that saw the Sixers bottom out by averaging 63 losses per year from 2013-‘14 to 2016-‘17 — they’ve found hopelessness near the bottom of the standings again. And this time, they’re locked into huge contracts for Embiid, Paul George and others that make rebuilding much harder than it was last time.
There also don’t seem to be any educated guesses about when Embiid might be healthy again. Two weeks ago, when the Sixers announced they were shutting him down for the season, they said he was “medically unable to play,” but did not specify a plan or a timeline for Embiid’s recovery.
The Spurs, also forced to finish this season without their star center, at least have expressed public confidence that Wembanyama will be able to return from the deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder in time for next season. The recent cases of NBA players Brandon Ingram and Ausar Thompson, who both came back from blood clot issues in around eight to nine months, suggest that timeline is realistic.
But in between the diverging paths of Jokic and Embiid, there are still plenty of ways this can go. Health plays a huge factor. So do things like timing, and building the right supporting cast, and figuring out how to get over the playoff hump.
For the Spurs’ sake, Wembanyama hopefully will catch better breaks on all those fronts than Embiid did. And when he’s ready to become the best in the world?
Who knows? Jokic might still be there, as heavy as ever.
Still daring another big guy to push him out.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News