By Michael C. Wright | ESPN, 2026-02-20 20:00:00
现在正处于职业生涯第三个 NBA 赛季的圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 已经超出了全明星周末新秀赛的参赛年龄。但这并没有阻止这位身高 7 英尺 5 英寸的超级巨星对上周五的活动产生巨大的影响。
在 2026 年新秀挑战赛第一场比赛跳球前，马刺队新秀迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 站在中场附近，为了卡位与新奥尔良鹈鹕队中锋德里克·奎因 (Derik Queen) 发生推搡，一名裁判赶忙上前干预。
奎因随即做出回应，但哈珀毫不退让。
当这位鹈鹕队新秀伸出左臂推向哈珀时，这位马刺队后卫一脸嫌恶地抓住对方的手臂并将其甩开，而此时球刚好被抛向空中。他在全明星赛场上展现出了罕见的竞争斗志——而这种斗志正是被文班亚马在洛杉矶期间对待活动的方式所点燃的。
一位马刺队工作人员随后开玩笑说，哈珀和他的队友斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 以及卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant)——这几位都是新秀赛的参与者——在飞往洛杉矶的航班上感受到了这位法国人的能量，并据此做出了反应。明尼苏达森林狼队球星安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) 也对文班的强度做出了回应，他表示这位两届全明星球员为今年的全明星正赛“奠定了基调”，使其成为了多年来竞争最激烈的一届。
“我一直对自己说，如果我参加（全明星赛），我绝不会为了输球或者不努力而去踏上球场，”文班亚马在周末开始前说道，“我不认为输球是可以接受的。既然我要上场，那我就要赢。”
文班和马刺队计划带着同样的心理状态进入赛季最后 27 场比赛，去争取球队自 2019 年以来的首个季后赛名额。周四晚上，这一征程在德克萨斯州奥斯汀的一场“主场”比赛中重新开启，马刺以 121-94 击败菲尼克斯太阳队。而就在大约一年前的这一天，夺冠的梦想差点在圣安东尼奥这座城市破灭。
据消息人士称，去年 2 月 20 日是一个充满恐惧、感性且令整个球队陷入混乱的日子。当时有消息爆出，在医生诊断出文班亚马的右肩患有深静脉血栓后，马刺队将停止他该赛季的所有比赛。
这一毁灭性的进展只是 2024-25 NBA 赛季重重逆境中的一角。那个赛季伊始，名人堂教练格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 在开赛不到 10 天的一场比赛前突发中风，使得当时 38 岁的助理教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 被迫接掌教鞭。随后在 1 月份，由于马里布和太平洋帕利塞德地区的山火浓烟蔓延，一场比赛被迫推迟，马刺全队只能在圣莫尼卡以及后来的洛杉矶市中心的酒店房间里徘徊待命。
除了让文班停赛，马刺队还收管了交易截止日引援德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)。福克斯在去年 3 月接受了赛季报销的手术，以修复他那变形的左手小指韧带损伤。球队最终以 34 胜 48 负的战绩收尾，连续第六年无缘季后赛。
一个赛季后，马刺队目前拥有联盟第三佳的战绩（39 胜 16 负），在面对联盟其他 9 支胜率在 60% 或以上的球队时，取得了 13 胜 7 负的战绩（底特律活塞是这组对手中圣安东尼奥唯一尚未碰面的球队）。本周六，他们将在德克萨斯大学校园内的穆迪中心对阵步履蹒跚的萨克拉门托国王队。马刺队的迅速崛起在所有人看来都不可思议——当然，文班除外。
“不难相信，一点也不，”他说，“因为我看到每个人都在付出努力。我看到每个人都在做出牺牲。（这）非常可信，但这并不意味着过程是轻松的。”
文班亚马的首次全明星周末经历并不愉快。去年休赛期前，圣安东尼奥在 6 场客场比赛中输掉了 4 场，而文班在旧金山的赛程安排也非常紧凑。在取代传统全明星赛的联盟迷你锦标赛决赛中，他在 7 投 5 中的情况下得到 11 分，尽管场上其他球员的努力程度实在不敢恭维。
文班曾表示，在马刺全明星赛前的最后一场比赛（103-116 负于波士顿凯尔特人队）后，他感到筋疲力尽。他在 2 月 3 日客战孟菲斯的旅程开始时就出现过类似的症状，但他当时以为那只是自己在试图抵御的某种感冒病毒。
“我认为那起到了一定影响，当然不是全部，”文班在周四战胜太阳队后说道，“但我的意思是，当时我只有 21 岁，还在学习，还在提高我的身体素质。所以，这并不能解释一切，但我认为它解释了很多。在确诊前的几周里，我感觉身体非常非常糟糕。”
全明星周末后在怀俄明州短暂休息期间，文班开始感到右臂不适且肿胀，并通知了球队医疗组。等他归队后，医疗组对他进行了一系列测试，发现了血栓。这一诊断让文班陷入了恐慌，让他开始思考自己在赛场内外的生命意义。
“我记得去年的全明星赛是我一生中在篮球场上感觉最差的一次，因为，我的意思是，我右臂的血流量可能只有 5%，”文班说道。
在服用抗凝药物、看医生以及忍受细致入微的康复计划期间，文班在经历了这次他称之为“创伤性”的体验后，决定通过一些非常规手段来挑战自己的身心。文班还想确保自己能够尽情享受巨星地位所带来的各种体验。
因此，除了夏天在法国勒谢奈的球场举办国际象棋比赛外，文班还去了哥斯达黎加和东京，并在那里踢了足球。他参观了美国宇航局 (NASA) 的约翰逊航天中心，并在中国郑州的少林寺度过了 10 天，在与僧侣们练习功夫和冥想的过程中寻找灵魂。
文班还与名人堂内线凯文·加内特 (Kevin Garnett) 和哈基姆·奥拉朱旺 (Hakeem Olajuwon) 会面，向他们讨教经验。
直到 10 月 6 日的季前赛揭幕战，他才正式再次为马刺披挂上阵。
“那真的是一段悲伤的时光，”约翰逊周三随队抵达奥斯汀后不久说道，“有太多的不确定性。在最初阶段，我们根本没讨论篮球。我们关心的是健康，是安危。那对我们来说真的是一个沉重的时刻。那时我们才刚得到德阿隆没多久，我想他们一共只在一起打了五场比赛。”
宣布文班报销消息的那个早晨阳光明媚，微风清冷，气温徘徊在 1 摄氏度左右。马刺队 CEO R.C. 布福德 (R.C. Buford) 独自站在奥斯汀穆迪中心的球馆里，看着球员们陆续进场，准备与太阳队比赛前的投篮训练。除了圣安东尼奥最高的那位球员，每个球员都到齐了。记者们立即开始提问。俱乐部的公关团队躲进另一个房间，讨论如何以最佳方式发布几分钟后即将揭晓的消息。
当晚，福克斯在加入球队后的第六场比赛中砍下 26 分，带领圣安东尼奥以 120-109 获胜。在离开球馆走向球队大巴的走廊里，福克斯表达了遗憾。
“我们本已准备好大干一场，结果却得到了那样的消息，”他说，“这绝对是一个难以克服的挑战，因为他为我们贡献了那么多的产出。”
圣安东尼奥在最后的 30 场比赛中输掉了 19 场，其中福克斯缺阵的 18 场比赛中输掉了 11 场。文班利用这段远离赛场的时间进行康复和反思，随后开启了一个旋风般的转型夏季，为本赛季做准备。
约翰逊最初加入圣安东尼奥是在 2016 年，担任马刺队奥斯汀发展联盟球队的助理教练，同年马刺用第 29 顺位选中了现鹈鹕队控卫德章泰·穆雷 (Dejounte Murray)。
约翰逊从穆雷 15 岁起就一直与他一起训练。因此，当马刺开始考察穆雷时，约翰逊也凭借其作为教练和沟通者的敏锐洞察力引起了球队的注意。
“他会在这支联盟担任很久的主教练，”穆雷告诉 ESPN，“他有职业道德、有头脑、有耐心。他打过球。他具备一切条件。他不羞涩，在任何场合都能游刃有余。我仍然和（马刺队的球员）保持联系，他们都很爱他。”
球队高层同样也看好他，因为他们见证了约翰逊如何应对波波维奇缺阵带来的动荡赛季，并在助理教练团队并不完整的情况下，带领圣安东尼奥挺过了文班和福克斯赛季报销的阴霾。据消息人士透露，一旦 2024-25 赛季结束，球队就对约翰逊充满信心，相信他在拥有完整的教练组、健康的福克斯和文班，以及一个完整的休赛期来实施自己的战略和打法后所能展现的能量。
马刺队在 5 月份去掉了约翰逊“代理主教练”的头衔，任命他为队史第 19 任主教练，并允许他组建由副主教练兼防守专家肖恩·斯威尼 (Sean Sweeney) 领衔的助教团队。
在所有动荡时期，甚至在波波维奇中风之前，约翰逊就已经赢得了球员们的信任，他像前任一样严格要求他们。在本赛季早些时候马刺客场负于孟菲斯的比赛中，声音沙哑的约翰逊在场边怒吼：“去他妈的抢个篮板！”
“波波总是实话实说，”前锋凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 说道，他是马刺队效力时间最长的成员，目前正处于他在球队的第七个赛季，“米奇对我也是百分之百坦诚，从不粉饰太平，我错了他就直说，但他也会给你赞美。我觉得这建立了信任。他赢得了那份信任，从而能够执教我们，批评我们，并得到正确的反馈和激励。”
这使得这位 39 岁的教练在他担任主教练的首个完整赛季就执教了自己的第一场 NBA 全明星赛事。但约翰逊表示，他认为如果圣安东尼奥没有经历过 2024-25 赛季那样的磨砺，他个人的成功或球队的成功都不可能实现。
“去年发生了太多事，这对我来说很新鲜，既没计划也没准备，我当时只想着怎么熬过那一天，或者怎么应对我们正在经历的事情，”约翰逊说。
尽管上赛季以落后附加赛区 5 场比赛的战绩收官，马刺管理层内部仍对圣安东尼奥与 NBA 任何球队竞争的能力保持着低调的信心。消息人士称，约翰逊在逆境面前坚韧不拔的领导力是原因之一。但更重要的原因，是球队两位球星的回归，尤其是那位寄托了未来希望的大个子。
去年马刺停止文班的比赛时，他在 NBA 年度最佳防守球员的评选中遥遥领先。尽管只打了 46 场比赛，他最终仍是联盟的总盖帽王。本赛季，他延续了此前的状态，场均贡献职业生涯新高的 24.4 分，投篮命中率 51.1%，三分命中率 36.3%，这两项数据也是他年轻职业生涯的最佳表现。
他与福克斯的化学反应也有了长足的进步。福克斯是从萨克拉门托转投而来的，他曾明确表示想和文班一起打球。上赛季文班和福克斯在马刺队一共只共同上场了 120 分钟（5 场比赛），那期间的净胜分为 -2.4。
根据 ESPN Research 的数据，本赛季当两人同时在场时，圣安东尼奥的战绩为 22 胜 9 负，文班和福克斯在 645 分钟内的净效率高达 +10.9。虽然马刺队每百回合的持球掩护和手递手配合频率排名联盟第 29 位，但根据 GeniusIQ 的数据，当文班为福克斯设置持球掩护或进行手递手配合时，马刺队平均每次直接进攻能得到 1.25 分。在所有合作超过 150 次的组合中，这一进攻效率排名联盟第四。
此外，还有 2024-25 赛季 NBA 年度最佳新秀卡斯尔的回归和持续进步。在上赛季打出 42.8% 的命中率后，他本赛季的命中率提升到了 46.4%，在场均出手次数不变的情况下展现出了更高的效率。凯尔登·约翰逊是年度最佳第六人的有力竞争者，而先发小前锋德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 正分别进入他们 26 岁和 25 岁的巅峰期。
圣安东尼奥 2025 年的新秀——2 号秀哈珀和 14 号秀布莱恩特——也贡献巨大。看起来，阵容中的大多数人都在发光发热，考虑到马刺队的轮换阵容中有 10 名球员本赛季出场超过 40 场。根据 ESPN Research 的数据，圣安东尼奥是本赛季仅有的四支拥有至少 10 名球员出场 40 场以上的球队之一，另外三支是犹他爵士、迈阿密热火和波士顿凯尔特人。
马刺队的深度减轻了文班不在场时球队所遭受的打击。上赛季全明星赛前，当文班不在场时，圣安东尼奥的净效率为 -7.9。而本赛季，文班不在场时马刺的净效率为 +1.0。在本赛季早些时候文班因左小腿拉伤缺席的 12 场比赛中，马刺取得了 9 胜 3 负的战绩。
“我一点也不觉得我们超前于计划，”布莱恩特说，“我觉得我们会继续保持这种势头。”
思考着接下来的 27 场比赛，文班显得志在必得——甚至有些兴奋——他已经带领马刺在面对目前排名西部前六的球队时取得了 11 胜 5 负的战绩。圣安东尼奥在对阵东部球队时仅遭遇了三场失利。
“只有一种方法可以揭晓答案，”他说，“就像任何事情一样，该发生的总会发生。会有好事，也会有坏事。关键在于我们如何应对一切。”
马刺队整个赛季都展现出了这种韧性，从灾难性的 2024-25 赛季中反弹。那个赛季曾让文班陷入沉思，也让球队高层在夏天反复推敲下一步行动。
但历经这一切，米奇·约翰逊依然坚信，如果没有那些艰辛的磨难，圣安东尼奥就不会有今天。
“我确实认为，而且随着时间的推移我会更加确定，（上个赛季）可能成了让这支球队变得像现在这样紧密的载体，”约翰逊说，“我们有过很多独特、罕见的经历。有些事让我们有很多时间待在一起，这些事件通常会引发或产生对话，也许是更深层次的对话；那些让你反思生活或经历的事情。所以，我确实认为这在这个团队的旅程中发挥了作用，尽管它并不一定直接涉及篮球。”
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：How Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs turned adversity into wins
How Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs turned adversity into wins
NOW IN HIS third NBA season, San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has aged out of the Rising Stars competition at All-Star weekend. That didn’t keep the 7-foot-5 superstar from imposing an outsized impact on last Friday’s festivities.
Spurs rookie Dylan Harper stood near half court for tipoff of Game 1 of the 2026 Rising Stars event, pushing and shoving New Orleans Pelicans center Derik Queen for position as an official rushed over to intervene.
Queen lunged in response. Harper wasn’t having it.
As the Pelicans’ rookie reached out to shove Harper with his left arm, the Spurs’ guard grabbed it with a look of disgust on his face and slammed it down, just as the ball was tossed, showing a competitive fire rarely seen at All-Star festivities – ignited by Wembanyama’s approach to the events in Los Angeles.
A Spurs staffer joked later that Harper and teammates Stephon Castle and Carter Bryant – all Rising Stars participants – felt the Frenchman’s energy on the flight to Los Angeles and reacted accordingly. Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards responded to Wembanyama’s intensity as well, saying the two-time All-Star “set the tone” for an All-Star Game that was the most competitive it had been in years.
“I’ve always thought to myself that if I was in [the All-Star Game], I’m never stepping onto the court to lose or not [play hard],” Wembanyama said before the weekend. “I’m thinking it’s [not] OK to lose. I’m going to be out there. I might as well win.”
Wembanyama and the Spurs plan to carry that same mentality headed into the last 27 games of the season on the hunt for the team’s first postseason berth since 2019. That quest resumed Thursday night in a 121-94 “home” win in Austin, Texas, against the Phoenix Suns, almost a year to the day that dreams of titles nearly died in the city of San Antonio.
On what sources described as a scary and emotional day full of confusion within the organization, news dropped last Feb. 20 that the Spurs would be shutting down Wembanyama for the rest of the season after doctors had diagnosed the young star with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder.
That devastating development registered as one sliver of adversity in a 2024-25 NBA season chock full of it. It started with Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich suffering a stroke before a game not even 10 days into the season that left then-38-year-old assistant Mitch Johnson in charge. Later came a game postponement in January that left the Spurs milling about hotel rooms in Santa Monica and later downtown Los Angeles, once smoke from wildfires in Malibu and Pacific Palisades started to encroach their location.
In addition to shutting down Wembanyama, the Spurs shelved trade deadline acquisition De’Aaron Fox, who underwent season-ending surgery last March to repair tendon damage in his gnarled left pinkie, leaving the team out of the playoffs for the sixth straight year on the heels of a 34-48 finish.
A season later, the Spurs hold the league’s third-best record (39-16) and a 13-7 mark against the NBA’s other nine teams with winning percentages of .600 or better (Detroit is the only team of this group San Antonio has yet to face) headed into Saturday’s matchup against the flailing Sacramento Kings at the Moody Center on the campus of the University of Texas. The Spurs’ rapid turnaround seems unbelievable – to everyone, that is, except Wembanyama.
“Not hard to believe, no,” he said. “Because I’ve seen everybody put in the work. I’ve seen everybody sacrifice things. [It’s] very believable but doesn’t mean it was easy by any means.”
WEMBANYAMA’S FIRST ALL-STAR weekend had not been particularly positive. San Antonio had lost four of six road games headed into the break last year, and Wembanyama’s schedule in San Francisco proved brutal. He had scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the championship of the league’s mini-tournament that replaced the traditional All-Star Game, though the effort level from the other players on the court left much to be desired.
Wembanyama said he felt exhausted coming off the Spurs’ final game before the All-Star break, a 116-103 loss to the Boston Celtics. He’d exhibited similar symptoms at the start of the trip on Feb. 3 in Memphis, but he’d chalked it up to a bug he had been trying to fight off.
“I think it played apart, not 100% of course,” Wembanyama said after Thursday’s win over the Suns. “But I mean I was 21 and still learning, still growing my conditioning. So, it doesn’t explain everything, but I think it explains a lot. I was feeling very, very bad the few weeks before I had diagnosis.”
While in Wyoming for a brief reprieve following All-Star weekend, Wembanyama started to feel discomfort and swelling in his right arm, and alerted the team’s medical staff. Once he returned, the staff ran him through a battery of tests, which detected a blood clot. The diagnosis sent Wembanyama reeling, leaving him to ponder his mortality both on and off the court.
“I remember the All-Star Game last year was the worst I had ever felt on a basketball court in my life because, I mean, I had 5% maybe of bloodflow in my right arm,” Wembanyama said.
In between taking blood-thinning medication, visits to doctors and grinding through a meticulous rehab regimen, Wembanyama decided after enduring this experience he described as “traumatic” that he’d embark on a journey to push himself physically and mentally through unconventional means. Wembanyama also wanted to make sure he was savoring many of the experiences that his superstardom afforded.
So, in addition to hosting a chess tournament at his court in Le Chesnay, France over the summer, Wembanyama visited Costa Rica and Tokyo, where he played soccer. He hung out at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and spent 10 days at a Shaolin temple in Zhengzhou, China, soul-searching while practicing kung fu and meditation with monks.
Wembanyama also met with Hall of Fame big men Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon to pick their brains.
He wouldn’t officially play again for the Spurs until the Oct. 6 preseason opener.
“It was really just a sad time,” Johnson said Wednesday, shortly after the team’s arrival in Austin. “There was so much uncertainty. At first stage there was no basketball being discussed. It was health. It was well-being. It was really a flat moment for us. It was not long after we acquired De’Aaron, and I think they played five games together.”
It was sunny on the morning of the Wembanyama announcement with a brisk wind and temperatures hovering in the mid-30s. Spurs CEO R.C. Buford stood alone in the gym at Moody Center in Austin watching as the players filed in for shootaround ahead of a matchup against the Suns. Every player was accounted for except for San Antonio’s tallest. Reporters asked questions immediately. The club’s public relations staff disappeared into another room to determine how to best deliver the news it would reveal minutes later.
A 26-point performance by Fox that night in only his sixth game with the team pushed San Antonio to a 120-109 win. In the hallway leaving the arena, Fox expressed regret leaving Moody Center headed toward the team bus.
“We were ready to hit the ground running and you get news like that,” he said. “It is definitely a tough thing to overcome because of the production he gave us.”
San Antonio would drop 19 of its last 30 games, including 11 of the 18 Fox sat out. Wembanyama would use the time away to rehab and reflect, before embarking on a whirlwind summer of transformation in preparation for this season.
JOHNSON FIRST JOINED San Antonio as an assistant in 2016 for the team’s Austin G League team the same year the Spurs drafted current Pelicans point guard Dejounte Murray with the 29th pick.
Johnson had been working with Murray since the point guard was 15. So, once the Spurs began vetting Murray, Johnson also caught the organization’s eye because of his acumen as a coach and communicator.
“He’s going to be a head coach in this league for a long time,” Murray told ESPN. “He’s got the work ethic, the brains, the patience. He played the game. He checks every box, man. He’s not shy. He’s comfortable in any room he’s in. I still keep in contact [with Spurs players]. They love him.”
So did the organization’s brass after watching how Johnson navigated the ups and downs of a chaotic season filling in for Popovich and leading San Antonio through the maladies that forced the early ends of the season for Wembanyama and Fox, even without a full complement of assistants. Once the 2024-25 season ended, the organization felt confident, according to sources, in what Johnson might be able to do with a full staff, a healthy Fox and Wembanyama, and an offseason to implement his own strategies and style of play.
The Spurs removed Johnson’s title of acting head coach in May, naming him the franchise’s 19th coach while allowing him to fill out the staff of assistants led by associate head coach and defensive specialist Sean Sweeney.
Throughout all the turbulent times, dating to even before Popovich suffered the stroke, Johnson had earned the trust of the players to coach them just as hard as his predecessor. During a Spurs loss earlier this season in Memphis, the gravel-voiced Johnson screamed from the bench: “Get a f—ing rebound!”
“Pop kept it honest,” said forward Keldon Johnson, the longest-tenured member of the Spurs who is in his seventh season with the team. “And Mitch would always keep it 100 with me, not sugarcoat it, tell me when I’m wrong but also give you that praise. I feel like that builds trust. He’s earned that trust to be able to coach us, get on us and get the right response and get us motivated.”
That has enabled the 39-year old to coach in his first NBA All-Star event in his first full season as head coach. But Johnson says he believes none of his personal success or the team’s would have been possible had San Antonio not been beaten down by the trying season of 2024-25.
“Last year there was so much, and it was new for me, unplanned or prepared by me that I didn’t know anything other than just trying to get through that day or what we were going through,” Johnson said.
DESPITE FINISHING FIVE games out of the play-in race a season ago, the organization remained quietly confident in San Antonio’s ability to compete with any team in the NBA. Sources within the organization over the summer pointed to Johnson’s unshakable leadership in the face of adversity as one reason. But the bigger reason was the return of the team’s two stars, particularly the big man on whom they’ve hung their hopes for the future.
When the club shut down Wembanyama last season, he was far and away the front-runner for NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Despite playing only 46 games, he still finished the season as the league’s leader in total blocks. This season he has picked up where he left off, averaging a career-high 24.4 points while shooting 51.1% from the field and 36.3% from 3-point range, both also the best marks of his young career.
And his chemistry with Fox, whom the Spurs acquired from Sacramento after he specifically said he wanted to play with Wembanyama, has been much improved. Wembanyama and Fox played a total of 120 minutes together last season over five games with the Spurs, notching a net rating over that span of minus-2.4.
This season, when the duo is on the court together, San Antonio’s record is 22-9 with Wembanyama and Fox producing a net efficiency of plus-10.9 in 645 minutes, according to ESPN Research. Although the Spurs rank 29th in on-ball screens and handoffs per 100 possessions, they average 1.25 points per direct play when Wembanyama sets an on-ball screen or handoff for Fox, good for the fourth-best efficiency among combinations to run 150 or more plays together, according to GeniusIQ.
Then, there’s the return and continued development of Castle, the 2024-25 NBA Rookie of the Year. After shooting 42.8% a season ago, he’s up to 46.4% this season, showing improved efficiency with the same number of shots per game. Keldon Johnson, a contender for NBA Sixth Man of the Year, and starting small forward Devin Vassell are entering their primes at age 26 and 25, respectively.
San Antonio’s 2025 draft picks – Harper at No. 2 and Bryant at No. 14 – are also contributing heavily. Seemingly, most of the roster is, considering the Spurs’ rotation features 10 players who have played 40-plus games this season. San Antonio is one of four teams that have had at least 10 players play at least 40 games this season, along with the Utah Jazz, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, according to ESPN Research.
The Spurs’ depth lightens the blow the club absorbs in the non-Wembanyama minutes. At the All-Star break last season, San Antonio produced a net efficiency of minus-7.9 with Wenbanyama not on the court. This season, the Spurs’ net efficiency without Wembanyama sits at plus-1.0. When Wembanyama sat out 12 games because of a left calf strain earlier this season, the Spurs went 9-3.
“I don’t believe we’re ahead of schedule at all,” Bryant said. “I think we’re going to just keep rolling.”
Pondering what lies ahead over the next 27 games, Wembanyama seemed eager – almost giddy – having led the Spurs to a record of 11-5 against teams currently in the top six of the Western Conference. San Antonio has suffered only three losses against Eastern Conference teams.
“Only one way to find out,” he said. “But just like anything, what’s gonna happen is gonna happen. There’s gonna be some good. There’s gonna be some bad. It’s about how we react to everything.”
The Spurs have shown as much all season, bouncing back from a disastrous 2024-25 campaign that eventually left Wembanyama soul-searching and the organization’s brass over the summer pondering the club’s next moves.
But through it all, Mitch Johnson remains convinced San Antonio wouldn’t be here now without those arduous experiences.
“I do think now, and I think probably more as time goes on, [last season] probably served as a vehicle for this team to be as close as we are,” Johnson said. “We’ve had a lot of unique, rare experiences. We’ve had some things that produce a lot of time together and they produce events that typically stir or produce conversations, and maybe a little bit more deeper conversations; things that make you reflect on life or things you’ve [gone] through. So, I do think it’s played a part in this group’s journey even though it isn’t necessarily directly involving basketball.”
By Michael C. Wright | ESPN, via ESPN