By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-03-04 14:57:30
2026年3月3日（星期二），在费城举行的一场NBA常规赛下半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队的维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)（中左）在费城76人队的注视下扣篮。(美联社照片/Chris Szagola)
费城 —— 其他人都回家了，哪怕只是短暂停留。他们照看孩子，陪伴宠物，睡回自己的床。即使是忙碌的新秀迪兰·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)，在全明星周末期间时间紧迫，也回到了圣安东尼奥，匆匆腾空行李箱并塞满新衣。
然而，直到周三凌晨，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 依然在外奔波，他是马刺2026年“牛仔节客场之旅”中唯一一位真正离家23天的旅行者。当有一个短暂的休息机会让他能坐下来放松时，他却选择去追逐更多的刺激、启迪，或是某种驱动他从中国寺庙走向北极雪堆，再走向NBA篮筐上方那片稍纵即逝的高空领域的东西。
在文班亚马尽己所能重振全明星赛活力、为其他天赋异禀的球员树立榜样，让他们像他一样投入和竞争的那个夜晚，一辆车已经在直觉穹顶球馆（Intuit Dome）外候命，而一架飞机也已在洛杉矶机场准备就绪。马刺队曾提议安排额外的安保措施，但被他婉拒了。
他直接飞往了阿拉斯加。在那里，人们成群结队地伸长脖子，敬畏地仰望某样事物，而那样事物并非一名身长7英尺4英寸的法国篮球运动员。天文爱好者说二月是观赏北极光的最佳月份之一，当文班亚马亲眼目睹极光时，他简直不敢相信那是真的。
“它看起来就是……那么格格不入，你知道吗？”文班亚马说道。他无意中为体育作家们提供了一个篮球史上最显而易见的隐喻。
由 Victor Wembanyama
(@ wemby) 分享的贴子
偶尔忘记世人也是这样看他的，感觉一定很棒。能待在一个自己不是那个让人们指指点点、互相用手肘示意，并脱口而出“老天，孩子，你可真高啊，亲爱的”（正如上周日他抵达麦迪逊广场花园时一名女性球馆工作人员所惊呼的那样）的外星人景点，一定是一种解脱。
尽管在马刺最劳顿的客场旅途中，在自己的床上睡上两个晚上可能会对他大有裨益，但听文班亚马说，穿上厚重的派克大衣，骑着雪地摩托远离城镇和城市灯光，与每一个仰望同一片天空的地球凡人建立联结，反而让他获得了更多活力。
“这让你理解了所有的传说和民间故事，”文班亚马说，“以及人们几千年来一直持有的信仰。”
很少有球员在 Xfinity 移动球馆（Xfinity Mobile Arena）大胜40分后会提到古老的传说和民间故事，文班亚马在周二晚上做到了。很少有最有价值球员 (MVP) 候选人会选择在阿拉斯加的荒野度过赛季中期的喘息机会，而不是去卡波圣卢卡斯或坎昆的海滩。很少有争冠球队的核心会在 Instagram 上发布自己身处冰雪之中、手握活鱼的照片。
但如果这就是文班亚马保持动力的源泉？马刺队应该对此心存感激。
当球队的基石球员突然出现在日本的野球足球场，或者出现在少林寺的踢拳比赛中时，管理层中有人感到焦虑是可以理解的。他们有时可能希望他不要尝试溜出球队酒店，独自在深夜的街道上徘徊，而没有安保人员来阻挡围观者的目光。
但如果这些小小的远足能让他精神焕发、保持灵感、保持快乐？
在一项赛季漫长到往往会把激烈的竞争者磨损殆尽的运动中，快乐难道不是一件好事吗？
“我看到的（北极光）表演是历史性的——甚至对极光追逐者来说也是一生难得一见的奇景，”文班亚马说，“这是我一生中见过最美丽的事物。”
距离再次见到这种景象还需要一段时间。在阿拉斯加停留不到48小时后，文班亚马直飞奥斯汀，马刺队将在那里开启牛仔节客场之旅的第二部分。他的每一位队友和教练都在家短暂停留过，但谁能说他们是否像文班亚马那样神采奕奕呢？
在接下来的两周里，他并没有统治马刺参加的每一场比赛，但他统治了几乎所有比赛的特定时段。在他离家的23天里，他成为其所属分部的月最佳球员，而他所在的球队也脱颖而出，成为西部最顶尖的两支球队之一。
当他终于在周二深夜启程回家时，有什么事是他所期待的。
“回到正常的日常工作，”文班亚马说，“正常的生活。”
仿佛这可能存在于一个处于如此高处、看起来……那么格格不入的人身上，你知道吗？
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 Alaska trip had Wemby gazing in wonder, the way others gaze at him
How Alaska trip had Wemby gazing in wonder, the way others gaze at him
San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, center left, dunks the ball as the Philadelphia 76ers look on during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
PHILADELPHIA — Everybody else made it home, at least for a little while. They checked in on their kids, their pets, their beds. Even the busy rookie Dylan Harper, pressed for time over All-Star weekend, got back to San Antonio long enough to empty his suitcase and refill it with fresh clothes.
Until the wee hours of Wednesday morning, though, Victor Wembanyama had stayed out in the world, the one true 23-day traveler of the Spurs’ 2026 rodeo road trip. Given a brief chance to take a break and put his feet up, he opted instead to chase more thrills, or enlightenment, or whichever pursuit it is that propels him from Chinese monasteries to Arctic snowbanks to that ephemeral airspace above NBA rims.
The evening Wembanyama did his part to reinvigorate the All-Star game, setting the tone for other ridiculously talented men to show they could care as much and compete as hard as he did, a car was waiting for him outside the Intuit Dome, with a plane standing by down the road at the Los Angeles airport. The Spurs had offered to arrange extra security, which he declined.
He flew straight to Alaska, a place where people flock to crane their necks and gape up in awestruck wonder at something, without having that something be a 7-foot-4 French basketball player. Stargazers say February is one of the best months of the year to witness the Northern Lights, and when Wembanyama saw them he could not quite believe they were real.
“It’s just something that looks so … out of place, you know?” Wembanyama said, unwittingly offering sports writers one of the most obvious metaphors in basketball history.
A post shared by Victor Wembanyama
It must be nice to forget sometimes that the world sees him that way. It must come as such relief to spend time in a place where he’s not the extraterrestrial attraction that has people pointing and elbowing each other in the ribs and blurting out things like, “Boy, you is TALL, sugar,” as a female arena worker exclaimed upon his arrival at Madison Square Garden last Sunday.
And even if a couple of nights in his own bed might have served him well during the Spurs’ most grueling stretch of travel? To hear Wembanyama tell it, more rejuvenation came from putting on a huge parka, riding a snowmobile away from town and city lights, and connecting with every other Earthbound mortal who’d stared up at the same sky he did.
“It makes you understand all the legends and all the folklores,” Wembanyama said, “and the beliefs that people have had for thousands of years.”
Not many players have referenced ancient legends and folklores after rolling to a 40-point victory at Xfinity Mobile Arena, as Wembanyama did Tuesday night. Not many Most Valuable Player candidates have chosen to take their midseason respite in an Alaskan wilderness instead of on a beach in Cabo or in Cancun. Not many championship contenders have posted Instagram photos of themselves holding a live fish while surrounded by snow and ice.
But if that’s what keeps Wembanyama going? The Spurs should be grateful for it.
It might make some in the organization understandably nervous to see their franchise player turn up out of nowhere on a pickup soccer field in Japan, or in a kickboxing match at a Shaolin temple. They might wish sometimes he wouldn’t try to slip out of the team hotel to wander late-night streets on his own, without security guards to keep gawkers at bay.
But if these little excursions keep him invigorated, keep him inspired, keep him joyful?
In a sport with seasons that tend to grind fierce competitors to a nub, how can joy not be a good thing?
“The (aurora borealis) show I had was a historic — maybe even once in a lifetime — event, even for the Northern Lights chasers,” Wembanyama said. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life.”
It will be a while before he sees it again. After less than 48 hours in Alaska, Wembanyama flew straight to Austin, where the Spurs were set to begin the second portion of their rodeo trip. Each of his teammates and coaches had made a stop at home. But who could say if any were as refreshed as Wembanyama was?
He didn’t dominate every game the Spurs played over the next two weeks, but he dominated stretches of almost all of them. During his 23 days away, he became his conference’s player of the month, on a team that separated itself as one of the two best in the West.
And when he finally was headed home late Tuesday night? There was something he was looking forward to.
“Getting back into the normal routine,” Wembanyama said. “The normal life.”
As of that could exist for someone way up there, looking so … out of place, you know?
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News