By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-06-28 15:44:09
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。
2025年6月28日星期六，圣安东尼奥。圣安东尼奥马刺队在胜利资本训练中心举行2025届新秀新闻发布会。会上，球队首轮新秀迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 从总经理布莱恩·莱特 (Brian Wright) 手中接过了他的球衣。
一位出生于2006年的新秀，高举着他一直想要的号码球衣，眉开眼笑。
他没有冒犯任何人。授予他球衣的球队也无意冒犯。
这一幕丝毫没有不敬之处，很难想象远在1300英里之外，无论是身处海滩还是训练馆的某人会感到任何所谓的冒犯。
其实很简单。在一个男人背弃你并离开之后，你无法再当面羞辱他。
迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 现在为圣安东尼奥马刺队身披2号球衣，这是因为七年前科怀·伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard) 选择让出了这个号码。马刺队上一次夺得NBA总冠军时的最有价值球员，当时对他所做的事情没有任何幻想，他比任何人都清楚，他想要的彻底决裂是不可撤销的。
伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard) 在2017年选择离开有他自己的理由。那是他的权利。他选择了未来而非过去。
那么现在马刺队也做出同样的选择，又当如何？
有人可能会说，这真是“是时候了”。
岁月流逝，时代更迭，有时我们很难察觉，那些我们仍视为“时事”的事物何时已悄然滑入儿童历史读本。是谁把那些曾让我们惊叹的前卫音乐放到了经典摇滚电台？我最喜欢的“新”电影之一为什么会在特纳经典电影频道播出？
这就是生活。在蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 职业生涯末期，当对手球队的新秀在比赛中走近他，告诉他他们是看着他打球长大的时候，他会感到有些烦恼。他不想被提醒自己有多老了。
他也没意识到情况会变得更糟。周六，当马刺队举行新闻发布会，介绍他们两位最新的首轮新秀时，幸好邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 不在场。
19岁的卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 说：“蒂米·D是我叔叔最喜欢的球员。”
这其中的教训是，马刺队的冠军王朝对NBA球员来说，不再是模糊的童年回忆。它现在基本上已是祖辈故事般的存在，就像曾祖父讲的关于二战、登月或是拨号上网的故事一样，没什么两样。
所以马刺队翻开新篇章是理所当然的。这并非是要遗忘他们的历史，也并非要抹去那些将他们塑造成今日模范组织的贡献者。但如果他们想继续保持下去，这更多地将取决于迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)、卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant)、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)，而不是训练馆墙上悬挂的那些冠军旗帜。
那些旗帜是很好的提醒，也是极佳的激励。周六介绍的两位少年，迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 和卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 也承认了这一点，对他们新东家的历史表现出应有的尊重。
但当总经理布莱恩·莱特 (Brian Wright) 将一件印有伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard) 在马刺队时期所穿的2号球衣授予哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 时，在那些不了解圣安东尼奥或不了解伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard) 的网络角落里，引发了一些波澜。
尽管一些局外人可能试图将此事炒作成一场争议，但实际上并非如此。伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard) 曾是冠军球队不可或缺的一员，一个巨大的组织选秀和培养的成功案例，如果他愿意的话，他本会永远受到这里的喜爱。
然而，他并不想要那样的结果。他把这一点表现得非常清楚。尽管如今许多球员都会提出交易请求，但没有哪位球星像他那样在2017年拒绝圣安东尼奥。他也足够自知，明白没有任何合理的情境能让他看到自己的球衣在欢呼的马刺球迷面前高挂球馆上空。
情绪不再像以前那样激化。文班亚马 (Wembanyama) 时代的到来所带来的兴奋，抚平了一些最深的伤痕。但伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard) 在几次作客（圣安东尼奥）时，霜冻银行中心（Frost Bank Center）的球迷们仍然在他每次触球时发出嘘声。而当备受喜爱和尊敬的教练格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 恳请他们停止时呢？
他们甚至对波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 报以嘘声。
那是无法弥补的。但关键是，现在已不再需要去弥补。无论是哈珀 (Dylan Harper)、布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 还是文班亚马 (Wembanyama)，他们都不关心七年前伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard) 出了什么问题，因为这与他们现在努力实现的目标毫无关系。
这些年轻人希望向他们的前辈致敬。但当前辈们愿意成为马刺未来的一部分时，他们做到这一点会更容易。例如，本周哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 抵达圣安东尼奥并驱车前往训练馆后，他最先遇到的三个人就是波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich)、邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 和马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili)。
这些人能够将他们与昔日的辉煌连接起来。这些人也能为开创新的辉煌提供指导。
至于那些决定不参与球队未来发展的人呢？嗯，有些事情会自然而然地水到渠成。
一周前，圣安东尼奥几乎所有人都认为马刺队永远不会退役2号球衣。
如今呢？
在不冒犯任何人的前提下，他们都可以希望这一切最终能够实现。
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Carter Bryant receives his jersey from general manager Brian Wright during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Dylan Harper answers questions during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ Dylan Harper, front, and Carter Bryant greet fans as they enter the court during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft picks Dyan Harper, left, and Carter Bryant work with kids from various organizations across San Antonio in a basketball clinic following a press conference to introduce the Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Carter Bryant works with kids from various organizations across San Antonio in a basketball clinic following a press conference to introduce the Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Carter Bryant works with kids from various organizations across San Antonio in a basketball clinic following a press conference to introduce the Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
Spurs fans attend an outdoor player introduction of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft picks Carter Bryant, left, and Dylan Harper onstage during an outdoor fan introduction of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
Former Spur Sean Elliott, from left, interviews the Spurs’ first round draft picks Carter Bryant and Dylan Harper during an outdoor fan introduction of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Dylan Harper greets fans as he comes outside for a fan player introduction of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Carter Bryant greets fans as he comes outside for a fan player introduction of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
The Spurs Coyote greets fans at the outdoor introduction of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
The Spurs Coyote plays to the crowd at the outdoor fan introduction of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
Rafael Cruz holds his one-year-old daughter, Loa Cruz, above his head while waiting for the outdoor fan introduction of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Dylan Harper reacts to a question asking if he knows any Spanish during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Dylan Harper answers questions during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ Carter Bryant signs to members of the Sunshine Cottage school for Deaf Children sitting next to him during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Carter Bryant receives his jersey from general manager Brian Wright during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Carter Bryant answers questions at the table in front of children from Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Carter Bryant answers questions during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Carter Bryant answers questions during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ Carter Bryant greet fans as he enters the court during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs’ Dylan Harper, front, and Carter Bryant greet fans as they enter the court during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
点击查看原文：No disrespect to Tim Duncan or Kawhi Leonard, but Spurs look to future
No disrespect to Tim Duncan or Kawhi Leonard, but Spurs look to future
San Antonio Spurs’ first round draft pick Dylan Harper receives his jersey from general manager Brian Wright during a press conference to introduce the San Antonio Spurs’ 2025 Draft picks at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Saturday, June 28, 2025.
A rookie born in 2006 held up a jersey with the number he always wanted. He grinned from ear to ear.
He wasn’t insulting anybody. Neither was the team that gave it to him.
Nothing about this scene was disrespectful, and it’s doubtful that someone on a beach or in a practice gym 1,300 miles away felt the sting of any purported affront.
It’s simple, really. You can’t slap a man in the face after he’s turned his back on you and walked away.
Dylan Harper wears No. 2 for the San Antonio Spurs now, and that’s because seven years ago Kawhi Leonard chose to let him. The most valuable player of the Spurs’ last NBA Finals victory had no illusions back then about what he was doing, and he understood as well as anyone that the clean break he wanted was irrevocable.
Leonard had his reasons for wanting to move on in 2017. That was his right. He chose his future over his past.
And now that the Spurs have done the same?
Some might say it’s about dang time.
Year by year, era by era, it’s hard to notice sometimes when the stuff we still consider current events starts slipping into children’s history books. Who put the cutting-edge music that blew our minds on the classic rock station? Why is one of my favorite “new” films on Turner Classic Movies?
It happens. Near the end of his playing days, Tim Duncan would get mildly perturbed when opposing rookies would approach him during games and tell him they grew up watching him play. He didn’t want to be reminded of how old he was.
He also didn’t realize how much worse it could get. On Saturday, when the Spurs held a press conference to introduce their two newest first-round picks, it was a good thing Duncan wasn’t there.
“Timmy D,” 19-year-old Carter Bryant said, “was my uncle’s favorite player.”
The lesson here is that the Spurs’ championship dynasty isn’t the stuff of fuzzy childhood memories for NBA players anymore. It’s now basically ancestral, no different than a great-grandfather’s stories about World War II, or the moon landing, or accessing the internet with a dial-up modem.
So of course it makes sense for the Spurs to turn a page or two. This isn’t about forgetting their past, or about wiping away the contributions of those who turned them into the model organization they are today. But if they want to keep that going, it’s going to have more to do with Harper, Bryant, Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama than it will with the championship banners hanging on the wall of the practice facility.
Those banners serve as good reminders, and excellent inspiration. Harper and Bryant, the two teenagers introduced on Saturday, acknowledged as much, showing proper respect for their new franchise’s history.
But when general manager Brian Wright presented Harper with a jersey adorned with the same No. 2 worn by Leonard during his Spurs’ days, it caused something of a stir in the corners of the internet not populated with people who understand San Antonio or who understand Leonard.
As hard as some outsiders might have tried to turn this into a controversy, in reality it was anything but. Leonard was an integral part of a championship team, a huge organizational draft-and-development success story, and a guy who would’ve been beloved here forever if he wanted to be.
He didn’t want that, though. He made that quite clear. While it’s true that lots of players demand trades these days, no star player ever had rejected San Antonio the way he did in 2017. And he’s self-aware enough to realize that there was no plausible scenario in which he’d ever watch his jersey be raised to the rafters over a cheering Spurs crowd.
The emotions aren’t as raw as they used to be. The excitement over the Wembanyama era smoothed over some of the worst scars. But a couple of visits ago, fans at Frost Bank Center still were booing Leonard every time he touched the ball. And when beloved, admired coach Gregg Popovich implored them to stop?
They booed Popovich.
That wasn’t going to get fixed. But the point is, it doesn’t need to be anymore. Neither Harper nor Bryant nor Wembanyama cares about what went wrong with Leonard seven years ago, because it has no bearing on what they’re trying to accomplish.
The kids want to honor their predecessors. But it’s easier for them to do that when their predecessors want to be part of the Spurs’ future. For instance, after Harper landed in San Antonio this week and made the drive to the practice facility, three of the first people he saw were Popovich, Duncan and Manu Ginobili.
Those are the people who can provide a connection to the glory days. Those are the people who can offer guidance on creating new ones.
As for those who decided they wanted no part of what the franchise does next? Well, those things have a way of working themselves out.
A week ago, pretty much everyone in San Antonio agreed that the Spurs never would retire a No. 2 jersey.
Now?
Without insulting anybody, they all can hope it happens after all.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News