By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-11-18 15:16:55
2025年11月14日，周五，于圣安东尼奥霜冻银行中心举行的一场NBA季中锦标赛第一节中，圣安东尼奥马刺队的维克托·文班亚马（1号）被吹罚了一次进攻犯规，他的队友德阿龙·福克斯（4号）上前与其击掌。
周二上午的投篮训练中，当马刺队员们在训练馆里按部就班地进行训练时，队中身材最高的那个男人却独自站在球馆一个遥远的角落，心不在焉地拍着篮球。
维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的脸上写满了焦急与等待，一副跃跃欲试又不得不按捺的样子。
在接下来的几周里，球队将失去他们的头号得分手、篮板手、盖帽手以及集锦制造者，面对这一困境，文班亚马的队友们也感同身受。
这位21岁的文班亚马因左小腿拉伤被确定将缺席近期的比赛， 因为在涉及到这位队内最重要球员的健康问题上，球队的医疗团队选择采取极其谨慎的态度。
“伤病在所难免，”后卫德阿龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 说道。“无论谁在场上，我们都必须上场打出我们自己的篮球风格，并努力赢得比赛。”
然而，对于马刺队来说，这可能说起来容易做起来难，因为他们的篮球风格常常是围绕着一位7尺4英寸（约2.24米）的“外星人”展开的，而他总能做出NBA赛场上难得一见的超凡之举。
文班亚马已经错过了周日马刺以123-110战胜萨克拉门托的比赛，并预计将缺席周二对阵同样伤兵满营的孟菲斯队的比赛，他将在未来两到三周内接受复查。
在此期间，卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 将顶替文班亚马出任首发。这位7尺1英寸（约2.16米）的中锋是马刺去年夏天从波士顿签下的，正是为了应对此类紧急情况。
这对马刺队来说是一次挫折，他们本赛季取得了9胜4负的良好开局——这主要归功于状态复苏的文班亚马，他上赛季因血栓问题错过了最后30场比赛。
“正如我们最近在联盟中所看到的，小腿紧张这类问题绝非小事，你不能掉以轻心，”马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说。“我们不想在这方面冒险。”
到了2025年，小腿伤病对NBA球员出勤率的影响，就如同五年前的新冠疫情。
它已成泛滥之势。
除了文班亚马，在周二于霜冻银行中心举行的比赛中，还有三名球员因小腿拉伤而缺阵——孟菲斯全明星后卫贾·莫兰特 (Ja Morant)、关键替补泰·杰罗姆 (Ty Jerome)，以及马刺队的新秀红人迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)。
马刺队前锋杰里米·索汉 (Jeremy Sochan) 在夏天为波兰队征战国际比赛时也拉伤了小腿，直到11月5日才迎来自己的赛季首秀。
在赛季揭幕战中输给马刺一周后，达拉斯全明星球员安东尼·戴维斯 (Anthony Davis) 因小腿拉伤进入伤病名单，至今仍未回归。
在当今的NBA，小腿问题几乎等同于球员必须立即休战，这是有原因的。
通常，小腿拉伤可以被视为一个闪烁的红色警报，预示着更严重的跟腱伤病可能随之而来。
“你绝不希望它成为（更严重伤病的）导火索，”约翰逊说。
问问印第安纳的泰瑞斯·哈利伯顿 (Tyrese Halliburton)、波士顿的杰森·塔图姆 (Jayson Tatum) 和密尔沃基的达米安·利拉德 (Damian Lillard) 就知道了。这三位东部全明星球员都在上赛季的季后赛中遭遇了跟腱撕裂。
难怪各支球队都对此心有余悸。
医学专家表示，小腿拉伤很难评估，因为球员在身体真正准备好承受NBA比赛负荷之前，可能就已经感觉不到疼痛并认为自己可以复出了。
“你会很早就感觉良好，爆发力也恢复得相对较快，但肌肉的耐力还没有恢复，”圣安东尼奥 Airrosti 疼痛与康复中心的医学主管杰森·加勒特博士 (Dr. Jason Garrett) 说。
加勒特说，在这种情况下试图比赛的球员往往会过度使用尚未完全准备好的小腿肌肉，身体为了代偿，便会将负荷转移到跟腱上。
那就是灾难发生的时候。
2019年NBA总决赛，当时效力于金州勇士队的凯文·杜兰特 (Kevin Durant) 在遭遇小腿拉伤后仓促复出，结果在对阵多伦多的第五场比赛中跟腱断裂。
“凯文·杜兰特改变了球队医疗团队应对小腿拉伤的方式，”加勒特说。
从统计学上讲，文班亚马跟腱撕裂的风险很低。加勒特表示，那种最坏的情况通常发生在那些年近三十、身体消耗巨大的球员身上。
但在当今这个比赛节奏达到历史新高、每场比赛回合数更多、球员跑动和跳跃比以往任何时候都多的NBA时代，跟腱伤病也开始悄然侵袭二十多岁的年轻球员。
上赛季NBA总决赛第七场跟腱断裂的哈利伯顿年仅25岁。前马刺全明星、现效力于新奥尔良的德章泰·穆雷 (Dejounte Murray) 在去年一月跟腱断裂时也才28岁。
文班亚马独特的身体构造在评估其跟腱受伤风险时又增加了一个变量。
“他才21岁，跟腱撕裂的概率极低，”加勒特说。“但历史上也从未出现过像他这样的运动员，所以你真的无法确定。他是史无前例的。”
让文班亚马仓促复出的更大风险在于，他可能会再次拉伤小腿肌肉。加勒特说，第二次拉伤几乎肯定会更严重。
“那样的话，你就得面临四到八周的缺阵了，”他说。
并非所有的小腿拉伤都一模一样，也并非所有球员的恢复进程都完全相同。
当哈珀在11月2日客场输给菲尼克斯的比赛中拉伤左小腿时，他离开太阳队的抵押对决中心（Mortgage Matchup Center）时穿着保护靴，并且穿了一周多。
与此同时，文班亚马周二参加投篮训练时，脚上穿的是一双自己的签名款耐克鞋。
“他没有穿保护靴，这是一个好迹象，”加勒特说。
目前而言，文班亚马能穿着自己的普通球鞋四处走动，这本身就是个不错的积极信号。在接下来的几周里，他将继续留在场边，拍着篮球，耐心等待时机。马刺队明白，他们别无选择，只能等他完全康复。
“他感觉很好，他很年轻，身体柔韧性也好，而且马刺队很清楚自己在做什么，”加勒特说。“我认为不必太过担心。他是一个能改变联盟格局的球员，球队当然希望确保他尽可能地保持健康。”
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) claps as he walks back to the bench during an NBA Cup game against the Golden State Warriors at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) talks to referee Brian Forte (45) during an NBA Cup game against the Golden State Warriors at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) dunks over Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) and forward Jimmy Butler III (10) during an NBA Cup game at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. The dunk did not count because NBA referees ruled that Green fouled him before he had possession of the ball.
Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski (2) and San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) fight for the ball during an NBA Cup game at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. The Spurs fell to the Warriors 109-108.
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。
点击查看原文：Why the Spurs are wise to shelve Wembanyama due to his calf injury
Why the Spurs are wise to shelve Wembanyama due to his calf injury
San Antonio Spurs’ De’Aaron Fox (4) high-fives his teammate Victor Wembanyama (1) after an offensive foul was called on Wembanyama during the first quarter of an NBA Cup game at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025.
As the Spurs went through the paces at their practice facility during Tuesday morning’s shootaround, the tallest of them stood alone in a far-off corner of the gym, absent-mindedly dribbling a basketball.
Victor Wembanyama bore the distinct look of a man champing at the bit and biding his time.
Faced with navigating the next few weeks without their leading scorer, rebounder, shot-blocker and highlight-maker, Wembanyama’s teammates knew the feeling.
The 21-year-old Wembanyama has been ruled out for the near term with a left calf strain, as the team’s medical staff is opting to exercise an abundance of caution when it comes to the health of the most important man in the organization.
“Injuries happen,” guard De’Aaron Fox said. “Regardless of who is out there, we have to go out there and play our brand of basketball and try to win games.”
That could prove easier said than done for a Spurs team whose brand of basketball often revolves around a 7-foot-4 extraterrestrial doing otherworldly things seldom seen on an NBA court.
Wembanyama missed the Spurs’ 123-110 victory over Sacramento on Sunday, was slated to sit out Tuesday’s game against similarly injury ravaged Memphis, and is set to be reevaluated within the next two to three weeks.
Luke Kornet, the 7-foot-1 center the Spurs signed away from Boston last summer for just such an emergency, will start in Wembanyama’s place in the meantime.
It is a setback for the Spurs, who started a promising 9-4 – mostly behind a rejuvenated Wembanyama, who missed the final 30 games of last season with a blood clot issue.
“As we’ve seen around this league recently, the calf tightness thing is not something you want to take lightly,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “We don’t want to push it there.”
Calf issues have become to NBA player availability in 2025 what COVID-19 was five years ago.
It is an epidemic.
Three players in addition to Wembanyama were sidelined for Tuesday’s game at the Frost Bank Center with calf strains – Memphis All-Star guard Ja Morant and key reserve Ty Jerome, as well as Spurs rookie sensation Dylan Harper.
Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan pulled a calf while playing for Poland in international play over the summer, and was unable to make his season debut until Nov. 5.
A week after losing to Spurs in the season opener, Dallas All-Star Anthony Davis went on the shelf with a calf strain and has yet to return.
There is a reason calf issues have come to equal an automatic shutdown for players in the modern NBA.
Often, a calf strain can be viewed as a blinking red light presaging a much more serious Achilles tendon injury to come.
“You don’t want it to be a gateway thing,” Johnson said.
Just ask Indiana’s Tyrese Halliburton, Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard. All three Eastern Conference All-Stars suffered Achilles tears during the playoffs last season.
No wonder teams are spooked.
Medical experts say calf strains are tricky to assess, because a player will feel pain-free and ready to return before his body is actually ready to handle the workload of an NBA game.
“You start to feel good early, you get your explosiveness back relatively quickly, but the muscle doesn’t have the endurance,” said Dr. Jason Garrett, chief of medicine of Airrosti Pain and Rehab Centers in San Antonio.
A player trying to play in that situation will tend to overwork a calf muscle not quite prepared for it, and the body will shift the force to the Achilles tendon to compensate, Garrett said.
That’s when disaster happens.
In the 2019 NBA Finals, Kevin Durant – then playing for Golden State – rushed back from a calf strain only to rupture his Achilles in Game 5 against Toronto.
“Kevin Durant changed the way team medical staffs react to calf pulls,” Garrett said.
Statistically speaking, Wembanyama is at low risk for an Achilles tear. That worst-case scenario tends to happen to high-mileage players nearing their 30s, Garrett said.
In an NBA era in which the pace of play is at an all-time high, with more possessions per game and players doing more running and jumping than ever before, Achilles injuries are starting to creep into the 20-something set.
Halliburton, who blew out his Achilles in Game 7 of last season’s NBA Finals, is 25. Dejounte Murray, the former Spurs’ All-Star now with New Orleans, was 28 when his Achilles tendon ruptured last January.
Wembanyama’s unique body type adds another variable when it comes to evaluating his risk for an Achilles injury.
“At 21, the odds are extremely low for him to tear it,” Garrett said. “But there’s also never been an athlete like him, so you don’t really know. He’s unprecedented.”
The greater risk of rushing Wembanyama back is that he could reinjure the calf muscle. A second strain would almost certainly be worse, Garrett said.
“In that case, now you’re looking at four to eight weeks,” he said.
Not all calf strains are creating equal. Not all players heal the same.
When Harper strained his left calf in a loss at Phoenix on Nov. 2, he left the Suns’ Mortgage Matchup Center in a walking boot and remained in it for more than a week.
Wembanyama, meanwhile, showed up for Tuesday’s shootaround in a pair of his signature Nikes.
“The fact he is not in a boot is a good sign,” Garrett said.
For now, the fact Wembanyama is able to walk around in his regular shoes is as good of a silver lining as any. For the next few weeks, he will remain on the sidelines, dribbling a ball and biding his time. The Spurs see no choice but to wait for him.
“He feels good, he’s young, he’s flexible, and the Spurs know what they are doing,” Garrett said. “I don’t think there’s too much concern there. He’s a transformative player, and they want to make sure he stays as healthy as possible.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News