By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-10-28 16:43:35
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10月27日，星期一，在圣安东尼奥的霜冻银行中心举行的一场NBA比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (1)（中）在进入暂停时与后卫迪伦·哈珀 (2) 交谈，后卫德文·瓦塞尔 (24) 在旁。马刺队以121-103击败了多伦多猛龙队。
这番话听起来像是书里写的。不一定是维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的首选读物——科幻小说，而或许是摘自某本自我提升类书籍，又或者是从少林寺寻得的百年哲学古籍。
“团队的成就，是个体荣誉的源泉，”这位21岁的法国人说道。
“你从哪里读到这句话的？”有人问他。
“不，”文班亚马回答。“这是我的原创。”
所以，现在，除了其他所有成就之外，这位NBA新赛季首周最具统治力的球员，已经开始撰写属于自己的格言了。
当然，一切不会永远如此轻松。不可能的。马刺队终将对阵上赛季战绩斐然的强敌，优秀的球队终将让这个年轻人明白，联盟里还有他尚未解开的谜题，他也终将需要应对连败的困境。
但是，如果我们迄今为止所见的文班亚马能说明什么的话，那就是：你恐怕不必担心他短期内会遭遇任何自信心危机。
超越所有的数据之最（这样的数据不胜枚举），也超越了那无数让百万观众揉着眼睛、难以置信的集锦片段，文班亚马在他第三个赛季里最引人注目的，是这一切背后所蕴含的强烈意图。
他不再需要在一场比赛、一节或一个回合中先去试探，看看对手会给他什么机会。他不再试图摸索哪些打法奏效，哪些不行。他也不再会在做出一次防守判断或接到一次传球后，花费哪怕一刹那的时间去犹豫下一步该怎么做。
如今的文班亚马，是那个做决定的人。他现在是让别人对他做出反应的人，而非反之。他现在不仅清楚自己要去向何方，更懂得如何抵达。
换句话说，这就像他周一晚战胜多伦多后在新闻发布会上引用的那句“格言”一样。
这份目标与计划并非借鉴于他人。
现在，这一切都源自文班亚马。
当然，这并不意味着他没有帮手来实现这一切。在马刺队豪取4胜0负的开局中，他受益良多，其中包括——卫冕年度最佳新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 的实力再上新台阶；榜眼秀迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 在新奥尔良率队逆转，又在对阵布鲁克林的比赛中遏制了对手的反扑；以及老将组合德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 和凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 在仿佛为他们的技术和个性量身定做的角色中大放异彩。
几乎一切都进行得顺风顺水，而这大概不仅仅是因为马刺队的前四个对手截至周一的总战绩仅为2胜13负。是的，正如文班亚马所指出的，这些都是圣安东尼奥理应击败的球队。但在不久之前，马刺队曾是那支谁都赢不了的队伍。
这种状况已经迅速改变，不知何故，每一次攻防转换，人们的期望都在飙升。浪费的运球、徒劳的传球和低命中率的投篮正变得越来越罕见。即使事情没有完全按照文班亚马的计划进行，他也毫不犹豫地让它成功，就像周一那次，他借助瓦塞尔的底角无球掩护迅速切入篮下，然后在空中完成360度转身，打板上篮命中。
“从没练过这一招，”文班亚马说，仿佛这根本不重要。
这近乎完美的一周是否意味着马刺队应该开始计划打到六月了？几乎可以肯定地说，不是。联盟历史上没有任何一支球队能在连续六年无缘季后赛后直接夺冠，从蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 到勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James) 再到斯蒂芬·库里 (Steph Curry)，每一位注定进入名人堂的超级巨星都必须先经历季后赛的磨砺，才能成为真正的争冠者。
但冒着过度反应的风险说一句，文班亚马在季前赛声称马刺队应期望避开附加赛——换句话说，在西部联盟中排名第六或更高——这个说法现在看来远没有一周前那么夸张了。
而随着马刺队的团队成就不断带来个人荣誉呢？
“这也展现了一种目标感，”文班亚马说道。
如果他能保持这种势头，那么书写历史的就将是他自己。
2025年10月27日，星期一，在圣安东尼奥的霜冻银行中心，马刺队赛季第二场比赛开始前，一名圣安东尼奥马刺队球迷举着维克托·文班亚马的巨幅照片。
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) and San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) high-five during the NBA game Toronto Raptors at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) and forward Carter Bryant (11) secure the defensive rebound during an NBA game against the Toronto Raptors at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) dunks on Toronto Raptors guard Ochai Agbaji (30) during the fourth quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Raptors, 121-103.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) goes up for a dunk on the Toronto Raptors during the fourth quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Raptors, 121-103.
Toronto Raptors forward Sandro Mamukelashvili (54) makes a shot over San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during the NBA game at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Raptors, 121-103.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) goes up for a shot over Toronto Raptors forward Sandro Mamukelashvili (54) at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Raptors, 121-103.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) keeps the ball away from the Toronto Raptors during the second quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots the ball over Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles (12) during an NBA game at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) is announced as a starter in the NBA game against the Toronto Raptors at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
点击查看原文：Finger: How with purpose and intention, Victor Wembanyama soars
Finger: How with purpose and intention, Victor Wembanyama soars
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1), center, talks to guard Dylan Harper (2) as they head into a timeout with guard Devin Vassell (24) during an NBA game against the Toronto Raptors at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Raptors, 121-103.
It sounded like it came out of a book. Not necessarily science fiction, which remains Victor Wembanyama’s first preference, but perhaps something taken from a self-help shelf, or maybe from a centuries-old philosophy tome found in a Shaolin temple.
“Collective results trickle down to individual rewards,” the 21-year-old Frenchman said.
“Did you read that somewhere?” he was asked.
“No,” Wembanyama answered. “That’s all me.”
So now, on top of everything else, the most dominant player of the NBA season’s first week is writing his own proverbs.
It won’t be this easy forever. It can’t be. Eventually the Spurs will play an opponent that had a winning record last year, and eventually a good team will remind the kid that the league contains riddles he has not yet solved, and eventually he’ll need to respond to a losing streak.
But if the Wembanyama we’ve seen so far is any indication? You probably shouldn’t count on him having to deal with a crisis of confidence anytime soon.
Above all the statistical superlatives (of which there have been many) and beyond all the highlight-reel footage viewed by millions in rub-your-eyes disbelief, what stands out the most about Wembanyama in his third season is the sense of intention behind it all.
No longer does he dip a toe into a game or a quarter or a possession to see what an opponent might give him. No longer is he trying to get a feel for what will work and what won’t. No longer does he make a defensive read or catch a pass and spend a single split-second looking unsure of what might happen next.
Wembanyama is now the guy who decides. He’s now the guy who makes others react to him, and not vice versa. He’s now the guy who knows not only where he’s going, but how to get there.
In other words, it’s like the ‘proverb’ he quoted in his press conference after a victory over Toronto on Monday night.
The purpose and the plan didn’t get borrowed from someone else.
It’s all Wembanyama now.
This doesn’t mean he doesn’t have help in fulfilling it, of course. As the Spurs have raced out to a 4-0 start, he’s benefited from — among other things — reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle hitting a new level, No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper spearheading a rally at New Orleans and staving off another by Brooklyn, and the veteran duo of Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson thriving in roles that finally seem tailor-made for their skills and personalities.
Almost everything has worked, and presumably that’s not just because the Spurs’ four opponents had combined for a 2-13 overall record through Monday. Yes, those are teams San Antonio is supposed to beat, as Wembanyama pointed out. But there was a time, not so long ago, when the Spurs weren’t supposed to beat anybody.
That’s changed in a hurry, and somehow the expectations are soaring with every trip up the court. Wasted dribbles, wasted passes and low-percentage shots are becoming rare occurrences. And even when things don’t go precisely according to Wembanyama’s plan, he shows no hesitation in making it work, like on Monday when he made a quick move to the basket off a corner pin-down screen from Vassell, then pirouetted 360 degrees in mid-air to finish a layup off the glass.
“Never worked on that,” Wembanyama said, as if it even mattered.
Should one near-perfect week mean that the Spurs should be planning to play until June? Almost certainly not. No franchise in league history ever has gone from missing the playoffs six years in a row to winning a title, and every Hall of Fame-bound superstar from Tim Duncan to LeBron James to Steph Curry had to take their postseason lumps before becoming true contenders.
But at the risk of overreacting, Wembanyama’s preseason claim that the Spurs should expect to avoid the play-in tournament — in other words, to finish sixth or higher in the Western Conference — seems a lot less outrageous than it did a week ago.
And as the individual rewards keep rolling in from the Spurs’ collective results?
“It also shows a purpose,” Wembanyama said.
If he keeps this up, he’ll be the one writing the book.
A San Antonio Spurs fan holds up a large picture of Victor Wembanyama before the start of the Spurs’ second game of the season at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News