By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-02-14 15:37:11
圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (1) 在2026年2月4日周三对阵俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的上半场比赛中，对一次得分做出反应。(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
在旧金山更衣室的一个折叠椅上，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 披上一件连帽衫，伸展着长腿。他即将离开大通中心 (Chase Center)，而这次的感觉与上一次截然不同。
距离文班亚马走出这块球场并撞进一场噩梦，已经过去了整整一年。当时他感觉身体不适，2025年全明星赛后的医疗检查显示，他的肩膀上出现了血栓。
一时间，许多原本被认为理所当然的事情都遭到了质疑：
他的健康、他的职业生涯，以及球队的未来。
但在周三深夜，当他坐在那张椅子上时，世界再次臣服于他那20.5码的大脚下。他结束了中国行归来。他重返赛场，并入选全明星首发阵容。他所在的马刺队重新点燃了家乡球迷的希望，赢得了建造新球馆的支持，且胜场数足以让他们跻身NBA顶级豪强的行列。
当被问及对这种转变的看法，以及一年前是否难以想象这一切时，文班亚马思索了片刻，然后摇了摇头。
“这完全合乎情理，”他说。
就在那一刻，文班亚马魔力的本质尽显无余。在他看来，非凡即是平常，史无前例即是例行公事。
除了失败，没有什么是不可以理解的。
马刺队过去12个月的历史飞逝而过，时至今日，人们很难完全领悟那种氛围的剧变。在文班亚马被确诊为深静脉血栓的消息传出的那个早晨，还有什么是确定的吗？
马刺队新的建队核心——那位他们指望在未来十年围绕其建队的基石——并不能保证重返赛场。
他们执教超过四分之一个世纪的主教练中风了，不太可能回归。
他们的阵容里充满了从未在NBA赢球的球员，没人确定他们是否能终结马刺队即将满六年的季后赛荒。
而且球迷们还面临着残酷的可能性：如果圣安东尼奥无法想办法替换老旧的霜冻银行中心 (Frost Bank Center)，或许其他城市会取而代之。
但看看从那以后发生了什么。一位年轻球星斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 凭借出色的表现锁定了年度最佳新秀。另一位潜力新星迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 则是通过马刺队最近一次的乐透签好运加盟。
米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 获得了正式主教练的职位以及格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 的祝福。文班亚马获得了重返赛场的医疗许可，并利用整个夏天将身心状态调整至巅峰。
当这一切在十月份汇聚在一起时，马刺队不仅开始赢球，而且赢球的效率和速度如此之快，以至于所有关于在2028或2029年左右再次开启夺冠征程的猜测都显得过于保守。
他们击败了火箭队，击败了掘金队，击败了湖人队。他们击败了卫冕冠军雷霆队，而且不是一次，是在五次交手中赢了四次。
他们赢得了选票，在全明星荣誉的收割上也硕果累累——无论是新秀、二年级生、教练，还是伤病替补和国际偶像。
“这绝不代表过程很容易，”文班亚马说道。
他只是让这一切看起来很轻松。无论他是轻描淡写地从屋顶高度接住空接传球并砸进篮筐，还是导演了这十年中NBA最令人印象深刻的单赛季大翻身，文班亚马都在迫使你重新思考“可能”的边界。
在整个联盟和马刺球迷圈中，这种转变正在发生。尽管半个世纪以来的季后赛经验告诉我们，像马刺这样缺乏经验的球队不可能在今年春天打进总决赛，但相比去年二月，如今这还是那么不可思议吗？
尽管困难时期终将来临——无论是在接下来的“牛仔之旅”长途客场中，还是在四五月份系列赛的关键时刻——但文班亚马能否像他在去年的自我救赎之后那样，带领马刺队走出困境？
也许不能。也许他和马刺队需要几年的季后赛试错，才能完成从乐透区常客到总冠军庆典的跨越，就像他之前绝大多数的冠军得主一样。
但如果这位22岁的法国人再次打破赔率，甚至打破所有合理的成长时间表呢？
无论发生什么，千万别再说这“不可思议”。
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) celebrates after a foul during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in San Antonio.
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) dunks during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) goes up for a shot around Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams (6) during the fourth quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. The Spurs defeated the Thunder, 116-106.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) signals to a teammate during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in San Antonio, Wednesday, February. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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：The essence of Victor Wembanyama’s magic? ‘It’s very believable'
The essence of Victor Wembanyama’s magic? ‘It’s very believable’
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts to a score against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Wednesday, February. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
On a folding locker-room chair in San Francisco, Victor Wembanyama threw on a hoodie and stretched his legs. He was about to leave the Chase Center, and it would be different than the last time.
It had been almost exactly a year since Wembanyama walked out of the same arena and ran smack into a nightmare. Something hadn’t felt right, and medical tests after the 2025 All-Star Game revealed a blood clot in his shoulder.
Immediately, it called into question so much that had been taken for granted:
His health. His career. The future of his franchise.
But as he sat in that chair late Wednesday night, the world was at his size-20.5 feet again. He’d been to China and back. He returned to the court, and became an All-Star starter. His Spurs re-instilled enough hope back home to win support for a new arena, and they’d won enough games to put them on the short list of the NBA elite.
Asked to reflect on this transformation, and whether it would have been difficult to imagine a year ago, Wembanyama thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“It’s very believable,” he said.
That, right there, is the essence of Wembanyama’s magic. The way he sees it, the extraordinary is normal. The unprecedented is routine.
And nothing is unfathomable but failure.
The last 12 months of Spurs history flew by so fast, it’s hard today to fully grasp the magnitude of the vibe shift. On the morning that news of Wembanyama’s deep-vein thrombosis diagnosis broke, was anything certain?
The Spurs’ new franchise player — the one they expected to build around for the next decade — wasn’t guaranteed to play again.
Their head coach of more than a quarter-century had suffered a stroke and wasn’t likely to return.
Their roster was filled with players who’d never won in the NBA, and who weren’t sure whether they’d ever end a Spurs playoff drought that was about to hit six years.
And their fans were facing the grim possibility that if San Antonio couldn’t come up with a way to find a replacement for the out-of-date Frost Bank Center, some other city might.
But just look at what happened since then. One young star, Stephon Castle, put the finishing touches on a Rookie of the Year campaign. Another, Dylan Harper, arrived via the latest stroke of Spurs lottery luck.
Mitch Johnson received a permanent head coaching job and Gregg Popovich’s blessing. Wembanyama gained medical clearance to come back to the basketball court, and spent his summer getting his mind and body in peak form.
And when it all came together in October? The Spurs didn’t just start winning. They started winning so much, so quickly, that all the speculation about possibly reeling off another championship run around 2028 or 2029 seemed pessimistic.
They beat the Rockets, they beat the Nuggets, they beat the Lakers. They beat the reigning champion Thunder, not just once, but four times in five tries.
They won at the ballot box. They won at collecting All-Star recognition, for rookies and sophomores and coaches and injury replacements and international icons.
“It doesn’t mean it was easy, by any means,” Wembanyama said.
He just makes it look that way. Whether he’s casually yanking lob passes out of the rafters and through the rim or orchestrating one of the NBA’s most impressive single-season turnarounds of the decade, Wembanyama forces you to rethink what’s possible.
Across the league, and across Spurs fandom, that’s what’s happening now. Even though more than a half-century of playoff results suggests there’s no way a team as inexperienced as the Spurs can reach the NBA Finals this spring, is it as unthinkable today as it was last February?
Even though a rough patch is coming, either during the rest of the rodeo road trip or during some pivotal moment during a seven-game series in April or May, can Wembanyama pull the Spurs out of it the way he did after last year’s moment of self-reckoning?
Maybe not. Maybe it will take him a few years of postseason trial and error for he and the Spurs to complete the ascent from lottery denizens to title celebrants, just as it took the overwhelming majority of champions before him.
But if a 22-year-old Frenchman beats the odds — and every rational timeline — again?
Whatever you do, don’t call it unbelievable.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News