By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-10-08 14:19:17
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。
圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫斯坦利·乌穆德 (17号) 在2025年10月6日星期一于圣安东尼奥举行的一场NBA季前赛下半场中，持球推进，对阵广州龙狮队。(美联社照片/埃里克·盖伊)
迈阿密电 – 马刺队后卫斯坦利·乌穆德 (Stanley Umude) 对此毫不掩饰。能为自己的家乡球队效力，他感到无比激动。
“这真是梦想成真，”他说道。“回到家乡，在我成长的城市里打球，这对我意义重大。”
今年九月初，马刺队与这位毕业于沃伦高中的球员签订了一份非保障的训练营合同。他上赛季以一份双向合同效力于密尔沃基雄鹿队，在三月份遭遇导致赛季报销的脚踝伤病前，共出战了22场常规赛。在为G联赛的威斯康辛鹿群队出战的13场比赛中，他场均上场28分钟，贡献17.5分、4.4个篮板和1.8次助攻。
现年26岁、身高6英尺6英寸的乌穆德，在2022年以落选秀身份从阿肯色大学毕业后与底特律活塞队签约，并在那里度过了他NBA生涯的前两个赛季。
以防守和速度见长的乌穆德，将他在马刺的这段经历——无论可能多么短暂——视为一个成长的黄金机会。
“我知道他们以善于培养球员而自豪，”他说道。“无论你背景如何，只要你来到这里，拥有正确的心态，用正确的方式打球，他们就会与你合作。”
乌穆德出生于俄勒冈州，父母是尼日利亚移民。在他的父母搬到圣安东尼奥后，他进入了沃伦高中就读。高二那年，作为入选赛区最佳阵容的球员，他是勇士队挺进季后赛区域赛阶段的关键贡献者。
“那次深入季后赛的经历是我在沃伦高中最美好的回忆，”乌穆德说道，他预计将在周三对阵热火的季前赛中替补出场。“我们没能打进州决赛，但那是我们那段时间走得最远的一次。”
乌穆德本有望在高三赛季成长为一名明星球员，但一次手腕骨折让他休战了六周。更不幸的是，他在十二月复出后不久又遭遇腿部骨折，这迫使他错过了大部分的AAU赛季，也失去了在大学球探面前宝贵的表现机会。
多年之后，当乌穆德回顾那些痛苦的伤病和随之而来的康复过程时，他将那个充满逆境的年份视作一种因祸得福。
“现在每当我在生活中遇到困难时，我都会回想起高三受伤的那段时光，并从那段可能是我人生中最艰难的一年里汲取力量，”他说。“它让我的意志更坚强，也更有耐心。它磨砺出了我坚韧的品格。现在无论我经历什么，我都会想，‘如果我能挺过那道坎，那我就几乎能克服任何困难。’”
挫折并未击垮乌穆德，他在高四赛季强势反弹，场均砍下23分，成为圣安东尼奥地区顶尖的得分手之一。
“我度过了一个非常棒的高四赛季，”他说。“沃伦高中对我来说是一所很棒的学校。在那里的四年，我过得非常愉快。”
在南达科他大学效力四年，并在大四赛季场均贡献21.5分、7.0个篮板和3.0次助攻后，乌穆德通过转学门户加盟了阿肯色大学。在为“野猪队”效力的唯一一个赛季里，他场均得到11.9分和4.6个篮板，并帮助球队闯入NCAA锦标赛的精英八强，最终负于杜克大学。
阿肯色大学在那趟征程的起点战胜了佛蒙特大学，那场比赛可以说是乌穆德大学生涯的最佳表现：他砍下全队最高的21分，并抢下赛季新高的9个篮板，同时成为“野猪队”队史上首位在NCAA锦标赛中打满40分钟且零失误的球员。
“我的大学生涯让我为适应不同环境做好了准备，”乌穆德说。“我从圣安东尼奥去了南达科他，然后又去了阿肯色，所以我必须适应不同的环境。此外，打法风格也不同。在南达科他，我更像是队里的头号球星或‘核心人物’。而到了阿肯色，我身边都是一群未来将进入更高水平联赛的队友，所以我必须调整打法，适应现在这种无球打法，并把防守看得比什么都重要。”
事实上，他为马刺队带来了他们在训练营中所期待的一切，或者用教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 的话来说，他展现了“你希望从一个为补全训练营阵容而签下的‘流浪’球员身上看到的一切”。
“他打球很努力，”约翰逊说。“他积极防守，并执行你要求的一切。他展现出了竞争精神，也展现出了团队精神，总是努力为球队的更大利益着想。我认为我们训练营里的所有球员都做到了这一点，这极大地提升了训练质量，也让教练们能轻松地专注于需要关注的重点……像他这样的球员非常有影响力。”
马刺队前锋凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 表示：“他能在攻防两端做出贡献。他打得极其努力，几乎无所不能。我觉得他就像一个火花塞。”
而他自己，正享受着梦想成真的每一分钟。
San Antonio Spurs Stanley Umude, right, defends the Guangzhou Loong-Lions’ Pang Yanjun in the Spurs preseason opener on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025 at the Frost Bank Center.
Arkansas guard Stanley Umude makes a jump shot as Duke guard Trevor Keels defends during the second half of their college basketball game in the Elite 8 round game of the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Chase Center in San Francisco, Saturday, March 26, 2022. The Blue Devils defeated the Razorbacks 78-69.
点击查看原文：Former San Antonio prep star Stanley Umude living 'dream' with Spurs
Former San Antonio prep star Stanley Umude living ‘dream’ with Spurs
San Antonio Spurs guard Stanley Umude (17) takes the ball up court against the Guangzhou Loong-Lions during the second half of an NBA preseason basketball game in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
MIAMI – Spurs guard Stanley Umude isn’t about to undersell it. He’s absolutely thrilled to be playing for his hometown team.
‘It’s a dream come true,” he said. “Being back home, playing in the city I grew up in, it’s a big deal for me.”
The Spurs signed the Warren graduate to a non-guaranteed, training camp contract in early September. He spent last season with Milwaukee on a two-way deal, logging 22 regular season appearances before suffering a season-ending ankle injury in March. In 13 games with the G League’s Wisconsin Herd, he averaged 17.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 28 minutes per game.
The 6-foot-6 Umude, 26, spent his first two NBA seasons with Detroit after the Pistons signed him as an undrafted rookie out of Arkansas in 2022.
Known for his defense and speed, Umude sees his stint with the Spurs – no matter how short it might be – as a golden opportunity to grow as a player.
“I know they take pride in developing guys,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what your background is, if you come in and you have the right mindset and you play the right way, they will work with you.”
Born in Oregon to parents who emigrated from Nigeria, Umude enrolled at Warren after his parents moved to San Antonio. He was a key contributor as an all-district performer on a Warriors team that advanced to the regional round of the playoffs his sophomore season.
“Making that deep run was my best memory of Warren,” said Umude, who was expected to see action off the bench in Wednesday’s preseason game against the Heat. “We didn’t make it to state, but that was the deepest run we had in a little bit.”
Umude was expected to blossom into a star as a junior, but a broken wrist sidelined him for six weeks. He suffered more misfortune when he returned in December only to suffer a broken leg, which forced him to miss much of his AAU season and cost him crucial playing time in front of college scouts.
Years removed from those painful injuries and the rehabs that followed, Umude views that adversity-filled year as a blessing in disguise.
“Every time I’m going through something in life now, I kind of go back to that moment when I was hurt in my junior year and gain strength from how it was probably the hardest year of my life,” he said. "It made me tougher mentally and more patient. It just built a lot of grit. Whenever I’m going through something now, I think, ‘If I can get through that, I can get through almost everything.’ "
Undeterred by his bad luck, Umude bounced back as a senior, averaging 23 points to rank as one of the leading scorers in the San Antonio area.
“I had a great senior year,” he said. “Warren was a great school for me. All four years, I had a great time there.”
Following four years at the University of South Dakota and averaging 21.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game as a senior, Umude moved on to Arkansas after entering the transfer portal. In his single season with the Razorbacks, he averaged 11.9 points and 4.6 rebounds and helped them reach the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Duke.
Arkansas started that run with a win over Vermont in which Umude had arguably his best game as a collegian, scoring a team-high 21 points and pulling down a season-high nine rebounds while become the first Razorback to play 40 minutes in an NCAA tournament game without a turnover.
“My college career prepared me for adapting to different environments,” Umude said. “I went to South Dakota from San Antonio and then went to Arkansas, so I had different environments I had to adapt to. And then were also different styles of play. At South Dakota, I was more of the best player or ‘The Guy’ there. When I got to Arkansas, I’m playing with a whole bunch of guys that were going to be next level players, so I had to adjust to how I’m kind of playing now, playing off the ball and taking pride in defense more than anything.”
Indeed, he’s given the Spurs what they were looking for in training camp, or as coach Mitch Johnson put it, “everything you’d want to see” from a journeyman added to round out the camp roster.
“He plays hard,” Johnson said. “He plays defense. He’s doing what you ask. There’s a competitive level, there’s a teammate level in terms of trying to do the greater good for the team. I think all of our guys have done that at this camp, which really elevates practice, which really makes it easy for coaches to focus on what you need to focus on. … Guys like that are very impactful.”
Said Spurs forward Keldon Johnson, “He plays both sides of the ball. He plays extremely hard. He could do a little bit of everything. I feel like he’s been a spark plug.”
And loving every minute of a dream come true.
By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News