By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2025-11-21 11:00:10
圣安东尼奥电——大卫·琼斯-加西亚 (David Jones-Garcia) 无论身在何处，都带着他的父亲。从多米尼加共和国到G联赛，再到NBA，父亲的陪伴贯穿了他旅程的每一步。但这陪伴，仅存于精神之中。
大卫·阿波利纳尔·琼斯 (David Apolinar Jones) 于2023年2月在多米尼加共和国因心脏衰竭去世，没能亲眼看到儿子登上篮球世界的巅峰。但在他离世前，儿子向他承诺，总有一天，琼斯-加西亚会打进NBA。
父亲的离去，并不意味着他无法见证梦想成真的那一刻。于是，琼斯-加西亚将父亲的肖像纹在了自己的手臂上。从此，每一次投篮，无论命中与否，都有父亲的见证。
尽管老卫无法亲眼见证儿子周四在NBA的惊艳首秀，但他却参与了其中的每一个瞬间。每当儿子运球时，只要一低头，就能看到父亲正凝视着自己。
“我总是会想起他，”琼斯-加西亚说。“他就烙印在我的手臂上。”
周四，当马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 告诉他，由于后卫迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和乔丹·麦克劳克林 (Jordan McLaughlin) 受伤，他将获得在NBA的首次重要出场时间时，他想到了自己的父亲。
琼斯-加西亚很紧张，但他已经准备好了。
在周二对阵孟菲斯灰熊队的比赛中出场七分钟后，他赢得了约翰逊的信任，足以获得这次机会。尽管这位年轻的后卫有些焦虑，但他的教练相信他有能力实现突破。
“他有一种特质，让队友们都很喜欢他。他充满活力和个性，同时又富有竞争心和无畏精神，”约翰逊说。“我认为只要他能继续努力训练，并希望他能继续接受我们的理念，我们就能看到他不断成长。他今晚的表现太关键了。”
在马刺以135-126战胜亚特兰大老鹰队的比赛中，琼斯-加西亚贡献了12分（7投5中）、6次助攻、5个篮板和3次抢断。他在第四节抢断了老鹰队球星杰伦·约翰逊 (Jalen Johnson)并发动快攻，随后在关键时刻再次完成抢断，帮助球队重新掌控局势。在维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 缺阵的情况下，琼斯-加西亚成为了球队的点睛之笔，为马刺注入了他们亟需的防守特质。
他对阵老鹰的出场时间，比他本赛季之前的总出场时间还要多一分钟。马刺队顶住了亚特兰大队的反扑，将战绩提升至11胜4负，位列西部第二，这场胜利至关重要，琼斯-加西亚是其中的关键一环。目前他们距离丹佛掘金队仅差半个胜场，感恩节次日他们就将客场挑战掘金。这也是自从文班亚马因小腿拉伤被宣布将缺席十一月剩余所有比赛以来，圣安东尼奥马刺队取得的三连胜。
约翰逊开玩笑说，在琼斯-加西亚上一场比赛后，他告诉这位双向合同新秀，他看起来很紧张。他没说错。因此，约翰逊特意确保琼斯-加西亚在心理上为对阵老鹰队这个更大的机会做好了准备。
“我确实很紧张，”琼斯-加西亚说。“教练今天早上告诉我（我会上场），他只让我做自己，从替补席上带来我的能量。我今天在场上看起来放松多了。”
这正是球迷、队友和整个球队都想看到的。球迷们一直都盼着琼斯-加西亚上场。他们甚至为一个从未上场的球员编了助威口号。他就是这么令人兴奋。他在夏季联赛和季前赛中的每一次惊鸿一瞥，都让人好奇琼斯-加西亚是否有足够的火花在NBA立足。看到他在攻防两端影响着场上的每一个角落，很明显，马刺队手上又多了一位值得进入轮换阵容的后卫。
“我只把这看作一个帮助球队继续赢球的机会，因为我们今年想在这里干一番大事业，”琼斯-加西亚说。“这无疑会让你更有信心。它会激励你每天更加努力地训练，以达到你想要的目标。”
琼斯-加西亚在这支球队的处境微妙。作为一名双向合同球员，他在NBA级别的比赛中最多只能出场50场。其余时间，他将前往距离圣安东尼奥不远的奥斯汀马刺队征战G联赛。
他在圣安东尼奥的更衣柜就设在门口。比赛结束后，你必须绕过他才能进入更衣室。他比任何人都更靠近出口，一只脚已经踏回了通往G联赛的大门——那是一条许多球员一旦踏上就再也无法返回NBA的边缘之路。
但每当他在自己的储物柜前，他总是面带微笑，和房间里的某个人大声交谈。你永远不用猜测他是否在更衣室里。你一听便知。
琼斯-加西亚的生活就像他的球风——充满能量，充满谦逊，充满希望。
就在几天前，他还在G联赛打球。现在，随着马刺队人手短缺，他的时刻到来了。这个机会终将逝去，但当他回到G联赛时，至少他知道自己已经证明了能力。最终，重返NBA的机会还会再来。这是必然的。琼斯-加西亚毫无疑问具备这种能力。而且球迷们也毫无保留地喜爱他。
在周四获胜后，他就是那个手持麦克风的球员，用他的母语西班牙语向观众们高呼，而球迷们则报以山呼海啸般的欢呼。他就是大家想看、想听、想了解的那个人。他们想要更多的琼斯-加西亚。
“球迷们帮了大忙。没有他们，我们永远无法获胜，”琼斯-加西亚说。“他们的呐喊声越响亮，他们对球队展现的爱越多，就越能给我们赢下比赛所需要的额外动力……我也爱他们，因为他们从很早以前就给了我爱。”
他说，能和球迷们交流总是好的，这样就有人能听到他的声音。他为身边人的爱而战，为那种你在篮球场上能找到、而在世上其他地方几乎无处可寻的能量而战。但即使这一切来来去去，琼斯-加西亚也始终知道，他随身携带那份爱。
他所要做的，只是低头看看手臂上的纹身。
“我为自己感到骄傲，”琼斯-加西亚说。“我希望我的父亲也为我感到骄傲。”
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：David Jones-Garcia’s first big NBA performance driven by memory of late father
David Jones-Garcia’s first big NBA performance driven by memory of late father
SAN ANTONIO — David Jones-Garcia takes his father everywhere. From the Dominican Republic to the G League to the NBA, his father has been right there for every step of his journey. But only in spirit.
David Apolinar Jones died from heart failure in February 2023 in the Dominican Republic, before his son ever reached the top of the basketball world. But he moved on from this world with a promise from his son that one day Jones-Garcia would play in the NBA.
Just because his father was gone didn’t mean he couldn’t be there for that dream to come true. So Jones-Garcia got a tattoo of his father on his arm. Every miss, every make, his father would be a part of it.
Though the elder David couldn’t witness his son’s first big NBA game Thursday, he was a part of it, every moment. His son could look down every time he dribbled the ball and see his father looking right back at him.
“I always think about him,” Jones-Garcia said. “He’s right here on my arm.”
He was thinking of his father when Spurs coach Mitch Johnson told him Thursday he’d be getting his first big minutes in the NBA in light of injuries to guards Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle and Jordan McLaughlin.
Jones-Garcia was nervous, but he was ready.
After seven minutes against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, he earned Johnson’s trust enough to give him a shot. Even though the young guard was a bit anxious, his coach trusted his ability to break through.
“He has this way about him where the guys love him. He’s got tons of energy and personality, but he is also competitive and he’s also got some fearlessness,” Johnson said. “I think as long as he can continue to put the work in and hopefully keep buying what we’re selling, we can continue to see him grow. He was huge tonight.”
Jones-Garcia finished the Spurs’ 135-126 win over the Atlanta Hawks with 12 points (5-for-7 shooting), six assists, five rebounds and three steals. He pickpocketed Hawks star Jalen Johnson in the fourth quarter to set up a fast break, then did it again to regain control of the game in crunch time. Jones-Garcia was the exclamation point who gave a Victor Wembanyama-less Spurs team a defensive identity it sorely needed.
He played one more minute against the Hawks than he had in the entire season. He was a crucial part of the Spurs holding off Atlanta’s comeback to move to 11-4 and into second in the Western Conference, keeping them half a game back of the Denver Nuggets, who they visit the day after Thanksgiving. It marked San Antonio’s third win in a row since ruling out Wembanyama for the rest of November with a calf strain.
Johnson joked that after Jones-Garcia’s last game, the coach told his two-way rookie that he looked nervous. He wasn’t wrong. So Johnson made sure Jones-Garcia was emotionally prepared for an even bigger opportunity against the Hawks.
“I was nervous,” Jones-Garcia said. “Coach told me (I would play) this morning, and he just told me to be myself and bring my energy off the bench. I looked a little more loose today out there.”
This is what the fans, his teammates and the whole organization wanted to see. The fan base has been pining for Jones-Garcia. They have chants about a player who never plays. He’s just that exciting. Every flash of him in the summer league and the preseason made one wonder if Jones-Garcia had enough spark to make it in the NBA. Watching him affect every area of the floor on both ends of the court, it’s obvious the Spurs have yet another guard worthy of rotation minutes on their hands.
“I just look at it as an opportunity to help the team keep winning basketball games because we want to do something big here this year,” Jones-Garcia said. “Definitely build (your) confidence a little bit more. It just helps you (to) keep working every day harder and harder to get where you’re trying to get.”
Jones-Garcia lives in a precarious limbo with this team. As a two-way player, he’s only allotted 50 games at the NBA level. Otherwise, he’s up the road from San Antonio with the Austin Spurs in the G League.
His locker in San Antonio is situated right at the door. You have to step around him to enter the locker room after the game. He is closer to the exit than anyone, one foot in the door back to the G League, back to the fringes of the NBA from where many players never return.
But every time he’s at his locker, he’s there smiling and shouting at someone in the room. You never have to wonder if he’s in the locker room. You’ll know.
Jones-Garcia lives like he plays — full of energy, full of humility, full of hope.
Just a few days ago, he was playing in the G League. Now, with the Spurs depleted, he has his moment. It will fade away eventually, but he’ll go back to the G League at least knowing he’s proven what he can do. Eventually, the opportunity will come to play in the NBA again. It has to. Jones-Garcia is undeniably capable of it. And the fans unequivocally adore him.
After Thursday’s win, he was the player with the mic in his hand, yelling at the crowd in his native Spanish as fans showered him with cheers. He was the guy they all wanted to see, to hear, to know. They want more Jones-Garcia.
“The fans help a lot. We will never win without them,” Jones-Garcia said. “As loud as they get, how much love they show the team, it just gives us the extra that we need to get a W. … I love them too because they’ve (shown) me love since so many (sic).”
He said that it’s always good to talk to the fans so that somebody can hear his voice. He plays for the love of the people around him, for that energy you find on the basketball court and hardly anywhere else in this world. But even when that comes and goes, Jones-Garcia always knows he carries that love with him.
All he has to do is look down at the tattoo on his arm.
“I’m proud of myself,” Jones-Garcia said. “I hope my dad is proud of me as well.”
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic