By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-12-13 15:13:27
前圣安东尼奥马刺队控球后卫托尼·帕克（中）在2025年10月27日星期一，于圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心举行的马刺队本赛季第二个主场比赛中与一名马刺球迷交谈。
拉斯维加斯——这位著名的法国人已经有段时间没有上场打球了，但他一直在关注着。
关注着在他离开后，他的马刺队如何继续前行。
关注着他们如何像经验老道的职业球员一样赢下重要比赛，一步步迈向他深知他们所属的那个高度。
关注着两名意志坚定的年轻后卫如何一次又一次地冲击篮筐，展现出他们已准备好成为冠军级别的左膀右臂，甚至可能成长为独当一面的超级巨星。
但与维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 不同的是，这位著名的法国人拥有数十年的阅历，能够洞察这一切是何其相似。
“球队的基因仍在传承，”托尼·帕克 (Tony Parker) 在本周末告诉《Express-News》，谈及这支试图重现昔日辉煌的马刺队时说道。“这是我们20年来建立的文化和一切。但这是一种更现代的方式。”
可以肯定的是，这支充满现代气息的马刺距离那支传奇的复古版本还有很长很长的路要走，任何季中锦标赛的成绩都无法改变这一点。即便马刺在晋级周六NBA杯半决赛的过程中吸引了无数目光，但秋季几场比赛的压力和利害关系，终究无法与春季任何一轮系列赛相提并论。
然而，过去几周球队取得的进步也并非毫无意义。帕克，这位手握四枚总冠军戒指的名人堂成员，深知不能因一时成败而下定论，但他认为，当他指出自己在斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 身上看到的特质时，他并非反应过度。
回到圣安东尼奥，做出某些类比可能仍被视为一种“大不敬”。但是，当整个篮球界的目光都聚焦在文班亚马因伤缺阵12场后的回归时，帕克特意指出，马刺的崛起并不仅仅在于找到了另一位继蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 之后的建队基石级内线。
这同样关乎于这位卫冕年度最佳新秀和最近的NBA选秀榜眼，如何让他们的前辈们也感到骄傲。
“他们是如此无所畏惧，”帕克在谈到卡斯尔和哈珀时说。“我当年就是这样。马努（吉诺比利）也是如此。”
或许这份赞美，尽管听起来无比真诚，但仍为时过早，甚至有些不公。或许在我们看到卡斯尔和哈珀在四月底或五月初的关键时刻如何处理球之前，我们还无法真正了解他们的胆识，或者说无畏。
又或许，他们与文班亚马并肩作战所创造的一切，最终会与马刺上一个王朝的“三巨头”时常缔造的传奇截然不同。毕竟，这项运动自那时起已经发生了变化，圣安东尼奥主教练的身份也已改变。
但帕克说得没错，从马刺队史首冠到如今这支征战NBA杯的队伍，始终有一条传承的脉络。阵容中的大多数成员都曾或多或少地接受过格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 的执教。他们中的一些人还有幸与担任助教的邓肯共事一年。而且，所有人都曾在球队的训练设施中与这两位传奇以及吉诺比利有过交流。
这一点，再加上一个可以追溯到世纪之交的管理层，以及一位师从波波维奇本人的年轻主教练，意味着马刺拥有大多数球队梦寐以求的、长达数十年的传承。
“我们正努力在我们球队的光辉传统中，继续培育大量的根基、精神纤维和球队认同，”主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道。“我们明白球队会有一些现代化革新，一些改变，无论这些改变是源于比赛风格的演变，还是取决于我们最好的球员是谁。”
换句话说，有时候，这纯粹就是一种经典的马刺气质。一个绝佳的例子出现在周三他们战胜湖人队的杯赛四分之一决赛的最后时刻，当时Crypto.com球馆的观众为勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James) 的连续两个回合而陷入疯狂。
在球场一端，40岁的詹姆斯腾空而起，完成了一记仿佛梦回2005年的雷霆万钧般的扣篮。而在另一端，他又神兵天降般地送出一记盖帽。这无疑是当晚，乃至当月最耀眼的两个高光时刻。
马刺队作何反应？几乎和当年的邓肯、吉诺比利和帕克如出一辙。他们对此泰然处之，立刻回头向湖人队发起攻击，并带着12分的领先优势进入下半场。
当这一切发生时，场边的一位旁观者印象尤为深刻。
“我们一直以来所打出的篮球风格让我感到骄傲，因为在我看来，这正越来越接近理想中的篮球，”即将在周六从小腿伤势中复出的文班亚马说道。“人人有球打，人人有贡献。任何人都可以在任何时候挺身而出。每个人都能承担起责任。每个人都信任身边的队友。”
“看到这样的场面真是太美妙了。”
而这么想的，并非只有他一位著名的法国人。
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) puts up a shot under defense by Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura (28) during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (2) goes up for a basket during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (2) celebrates with San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
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 ‘fearless’ young Spurs have Tony Parker making heady comparisons
Why ‘fearless’ young Spurs have Tony Parker making heady comparisons
Former San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, center, talks to a Spurs’ fan during the Spurs’ second home game of the season against the Toronto Raptors at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
LAS VEGAS — The famous Frenchman hadn’t played in a while, but he’d been watching.
Watching his Spurs carry on without him.
Watching them win big games like seasoned pros, leaping ever closer to the level where he knew they belonged.
Watching two determined young guards get to the rim over and over again, showing they might be ready to become championship-level sidekicks, if not superstars in their own right.
But unlike Victor Wembanyama? This famous Frenchman had the decades of perspective to recognize how familiar it all looks.
“The DNA is still there,” Tony Parker told the Express-News this weekend of a Spurs franchise trying to revive its glory days. “It’s the culture and everything we built for 20 years. But it’s kind of a modern way.”
To be sure, the modern update still is a long, long way from the vintage version, and nothing that happens in an in-season tournament can change that. Even with as many heads as the Spurs turned on their way to Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinals, a few games in the fall don’t compare to the pressure and stakes of any series in the spring.
Still, the developments of the past few weeks haven’t been entirely meaningless, either. Parker, a Hall of Famer with four title rings, takes care not to become a prisoner of the moment, but he doesn’t think he’s overreacting when he points out what he sees in Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper.
Back home in San Antonio, it might still be considered sacrilegious to make certain comparisons. But while much of the basketball world focused on the return of Wembanyama from a 12-game injury absence, Parker made a point of noting that the Spurs’ rise isn’t just about finding another face-of-the-franchise big man to follow Tim Duncan.
It’s about the reigning Rookie of the Year and the most recent No. 2 pick in the NBA draft making their forebearers proud, too.
“They’re so fearless,” Parker said of Castle and Harper. “That’s how I was. That’s how Manu (Ginobili) was.”
Maybe that compliment, as earnest as it sounded, is premature, if not outright unfair. Maybe we won’t know enough about Castle’s and Harper’s fear, or lack thereof, until we see them try to make a play in late April or early May.
And maybe it will turn out that whatever they create alongside Wembanyama will look nothing like what the Big Three of the Spurs’ last dynasty conjured up on a regular basis. After all, the sport has changed since then, and so has the identity of San Antonio’s coach.
But Parker isn’t wrong when he says there still are through lines from the Spurs’ first championship to this NBA Cup squad. Most members of the roster were coached for at least a bit by Gregg Popovich. A few of them got to experience a year with Duncan as an assistant. And all have spent time with those two legends, plus Ginobili, at the team facility.
That, combined with a front office that dates back to the turn of the century and a young head coach who learned the job under Popovich himself, means that the Spurs have more decades-long carryover than most organizations could dream of.
“There’s a lot of foundation, a lot of fiber and identity that we’re trying to continue to grow in the light of our organization,” coach Mitch Johnson said. “We understand there will be some modernizing, some change, whether that comes from how the game is being played or who our best players are.”
In other words, sometimes it’s just a classic Spurs vibe. A great example of that came in the closing moments of their Cup quarterfinals victory over the Lakers on Wednesday, when the Crypto.com Arena crowd went crazy over back-to-back plays by LeBron James.
At one end of the floor, the 40-year-old James soared for a thunderous slam dunk straight out of 2005. At the other, he came out of nowhere to block a shot. These were the two most dazzling highlights of the night, and perhaps the month.
And how did the Spurs react? Pretty much like Duncan, Ginobili and Parker would have. They shrugged it off, went right back at the Lakers, and took a 12-point lead into halftime.
While it was happening, one onlooker on the sideline was particularly impressed.
“The brand of basketball we have been playing just makes me proud, because it’s getting closer to the ideal basketball, in my opinion,” said Wembanyama, who was set to return from a calf injury Saturday. “Everybody has something to eat. Everybody can step up at any time. Everybody can take up responsibilities. Everybody trusts their next teammate.
“It’s just beautiful to see.”
He wasn’t the only famous Frenchman who thought so.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News