By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-10-23 05:30:12
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。
圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在2025年10月22日，星期三，于达拉斯举行的NBA篮球赛上半场中对一次进攻做出反应。(美联社照片/LM Otero)
达拉斯电 — 他们看起来都像是一群小学生。
安东尼·戴维斯 (Anthony Davis)，这位千禧年来最具统治力的NBA大个子之一，在文班亚马戏耍他时，只能心不在焉地挥了挥手臂。那一刻，他仿佛只有12岁。
戴维斯的独行侠队友们，面对这股压倒性的力量同样束手无策，甚至无法理解，如同幼儿园的孩子般四散奔逃，漫无目的地旋转、跳跃。
而在马刺队的替补席上呢？一群笑得合不拢嘴、瞠目结舌的百万富翁们激动得东倒西歪，带着孩童般的好奇与惊叹，仿佛他们漫画书里的英雄在眼前化为了现实。
从某种意义上说，确实如此。
朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie)，那些笑逐颜开的百万富翁之一，简直不敢相信自己的眼睛。周三，在马刺以125-92大胜独行侠的赛季揭幕战中，文班亚马正在他砍下40分、15篮板、0失误的杰作之路上。当他在第二节走向记录台时，尚帕尼像个孩子一样，试图模仿他刚刚目睹的那个惊世骇俗的底线反身大风车扣篮。
文班亚马咧嘴一笑。
“很精彩，不是吗？”他说道。
如果他需要对此有任何确认，他只需环顾四周。
信服他的人无处不在。
是的，这只是一场比赛。但这是自八个多月前，文班亚马收到了那份曾让他短暂担忧自己职业生涯和长期健康的血栓诊断报告后，他所参加的第一场真正意义上的比赛。
他的医生们向他保证，那已不再是问题。而周三晚上，文班亚马着手证明，唯一需要为自身安危担心的，是联盟里其他29支在未来十年必须想方设法对付他的球队。
“他想证明自己，”尚帕尼说。“毫无疑问，他做到了。”
这就是文班亚马超凡脱俗表现的意义所在。在经历了那么长的休战期后，他本不必这么快就打得如此出色。他本不必将每一次空中接力都转化为扣篮，也不必摧毁独行侠试图在他防区内发起的所有进攻，更不必空心命中了一连串对于历史上任何一个身高7英尺4英寸的球员来说都匪夷所思的后撤步跳投。
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他本可以只打出“不错”的表现。考虑到他缺席了那么久的常规赛，“不错”就已经很了不起了。
但他没有，他打出了近乎完美的表现。
“我们每天都努力砌上一块砖，以建造一座宏伟的宅邸，今天感觉就像完成了当天的工作，”文班亚马说。“这就是我们一直为之奋斗的目标，是我们长期以来挣扎努力的原因，我感觉一切都恰到好处。”
“我感觉自己就属于这里。”
这仿佛是在提醒去年夏天周游世界的他，这里才是他的归宿。文班亚马看起来无处不适，休赛期间，他曾在日本与青少年踢足球，在中国与少林武僧切磋搏击。
至少那些武僧还有一战之力。
面对文班亚马增重后的身体和精进的进攻计划，独行侠就没那么幸运了。他们本场比赛派出了联盟最高的阵容之一，其中不乏多位经验丰富的防守者，他们过往至少能给文班亚马制造些麻烦。
但戴维斯，这位10届全明星和未来的名人堂成员，对这位21岁法国人的连串低位脚步无计可施。身高7英尺1英寸的德里克·莱夫利 (Derrick Lively) 也同样无能为力，独行侠派出的其他一连串防守者试图用包夹来限制他也都无功而返。
重申一次，这只是一场比赛。但如果这预示着文班亚马将他新练就的、专注的侵略性带向何方？
联盟，小心了。
他的动作不再有多余之处。文班亚马对一切都胸有成竹，所有动作背后都有清晰的目的，即使这个目的偶尔只是为了打出观赏性。他的运球远少于他前两个赛季的比赛——直到下半场那个时刻，他上演了一场交叉步过人教学，并最终命中一记高弧度的三分球。
“我看不出有谁能防住那一招，”尚帕尼后来摇着头说。
如今，当文班亚马身边围绕着一群同样清楚自己该做什么的球员时，要找到防守他的方案就更难了。如果这是在任何其他城市的任何其他赛季揭幕战，当晚的头条本该是卫冕年度最佳新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 发表的振奋宣言，他在贡献22分、7个篮板和6次助攻的同时，还展现了精英级别的防守和全场奔袭能力。
如果那样的表现也成为常态呢？如果榜眼秀迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 在他的第二场比赛中取得的进步能像他在本场比赛上下半场之间那样大呢？如果德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 回归后，能展现出为何马刺会让他成为队史薪水最高的球员？
那样一来，这支球队很可能会让其他对手也看起来像一群小学生。对于一支连续六年无缘季后赛的球队来说，周三晚上发生的这一切，已经让人期待已久。
“而这，也仅仅是个开始，”文班亚马说道。
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) drives against Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts near Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) is blocked by San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell (24) and forward Victor Wembanyama during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) defends Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
点击查看原文：Out to prove a point, Victor Wembanyama dazzles against Mavericks
Out to prove a point, Victor Wembanyama dazzles against Mavericks
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama reacts to a play during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
DALLAS — They all looked like school kids.
Anthony Davis, one of the most dominant NBA big men of the millennium, half-heartedly waved his arm as Victor Wembanyama toyed with him. He might as well have been 12 years old.
Davis’ Dallas teammates, no better equipped to stop or even to fathom the force that overwhelmed them, scattered like kindergartners, spinning and jumping with no clear purpose.
And over on the Spurs bench? Giggling, wide-eyed millionaires fell over themselves in childlike wonder, as though a hero from their comic book had come to life before their eyes.
In a way, he had.
Julian Champagnie, one of those giggling millionaires, couldn’t believe what he’d seen. When Wembanyama, on his way to a 40-point, 15-rebound, no-turnover masterpiece Wednesday in the Spurs’ 125-92 season-opening romp over the Mavericks, approached the scorer’s table in the second quarter, Champagnie tried like a kid to pantomime the astonishing reverse-windmill baseline dunk he just watched.
Wembanyama grinned.
“It was nice, wasn’t it?” he said.
If he needed any confirmation of that, all he had to do was look around.
Believers were everywhere.
Yes, this was just one game. But it was the first real one Wembanyama had played since more than eight months ago, when he received a blood-clot diagnosis that briefly made him worry about his career and his long-term health.
His doctors have assured him that’s no longer a concern. And Wednesday night, Wembanyama set about showing that the only people who should be concerned about their well-being are the 29 teams who have to figure out a way to deal with him for the next decade.
“He wanted to prove a point,” Champagnie said. “Well, point proven.”
That was the thing about Wembanyama’s otherworldly performance. After his layoff, he didn’t need to be this good, this soon. He didn’t need to turn every lob into a dunk, and he didn’t need to annihilate every play Dallas tried to run in his general vicinity, and he didn’t need to swish a flurry of the most unthinkable step-back jumpers any 7-foot-4 human in history has attempted.
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He could have just been good. Considering how long it had been since he played in a regular-season game, good would have been amazing.
Instead, he was darn near perfect.
“Every day we try to lay a brick to build a huge mansion, and it felt like the job was done for the day,” Wembanyama said. “This is what we’ve been working for. This is what we’ve struggled for, for so long, and I just felt like it fits.
"I felt like I was in my place.”
It was almost like the world he traveled last summer needed a reminder of that. Wembanyama looks like he belongs everywhere, and he spent part of his time off playing soccer with teenagers in Japan, and kickboxing with Shaolin monks in China.
At least those monks had a fighting chance.
With Wembanyama’s beefed-up body and refined attack plan, the Mavericks weren’t so lucky. They began the game with one of the tallest lineups in the NBA, featuring multiple accomplished defenders with a history of at least making Wembanyama work.
But Davis, a 10-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer, couldn’t do anything with the 21-year-old Frenchman’s flurry of post moves. Neither could 7-foot-1 Derrick Lively, or any of the string of other defenders Dallas tried to double-team him with.
Again, this was just one game. But if it was a sign of where Wembanyama’s new emphasis on focused aggression is headed?
Look out, league.
There were no wasted movements anymore. Wembanyama had a plan for everything, with a clear purpose behind it all, even if that purpose occasionally was scoring style points. He didn’t dribble nearly as much as he did in games during his first two seasons – until, that is, the moment in the second half when he put on a crossover clinic that led to a high-arcing 3-pointer.
“I don’t see nobody stopping that right there,” Champagnie said later, shaking his head.
It’s even harder to see a defensive solution for Wembanyama now that he’s surrounded by players who understand what they’re doing, too. If this had been any other season opener, in any other city, the story of the night would have been the rousing statement made be reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, who ran the floor and defended at an elite level while collecting 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
If that kind of performance becomes normal, too? If No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper makes as much progress between his first and second game as he did between his first and second half? And if De’Aaron Fox comes back and shows why the Spurs made him the highest-paid player in franchise history?
Chances are, that team will make other opponents look like school kids. For a franchise that has missed the playoffs six years in a row, what happened Wednesday was a long time coming.
“It’s also just the beginning,” Wembanyama said.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News