By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-03-21 13:35:18
2025年10月6日，周一，在弗罗斯特银行中心举行的马刺队季前赛揭幕战对阵广州龙狮队的比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队的维克托·文班亚马 (1) 接受主教练米奇·约翰逊的祝贺。
维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 觉得自己有点像动物园里的动物。
三个夏天前，这位 NBA 状元秀走下从法国飞来的飞机抵达圣安东尼奥，渴望在这个陌生的地方开启新生活。
在马刺旧训练馆的一次早期训练中，文班亚马注意到了一些奇怪的事情。
当他进行枯燥的罚球练习时，六名助理教练在篮下穿梭——表面上是为了捡球，但可能也是为了围观这个刚刚降临在他们中间、身高 7 英尺 4 英寸的篮球“外星人”。
于是，文班亚马自然而然地决定逗逗这些围观者。
“我当时想，‘哇，我有五六个人专门为我服务？这太棒了！’”文班亚马最近回忆道。“‘每次我罚球，我都要你们每一个人都给我传球。’”
记录显示，文班亚马作为马刺成员提出的第一个“大牌”要求，被欣然满足了。
在文班亚马下一次投篮后，所有六名教练互相玩起了一场滑稽的“传炸弹”游戏，然后才将球传回站在罚球线上的他手中。
文班亚马仍然记得在那段核心记忆中担任领头人的那位助教。
“当时是米奇在带队训练，”文班亚马说道。
时光飞逝，三年半过去了，文班亚马已经两度入选全明星，并正在向 NBA 最有价值球员 (MVP) 的荣誉发起强力冲击。
2025年11月7日，周五，在圣安东尼奥举行的马刺对阵火箭的 NBA 比赛上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 与前锋维克托·文班亚马 (1) 交流。圣安东尼奥以 121-110 击败了休斯顿。
米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 已经从顶级的捡球手晋升为主教练，在他从名人堂成员格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 手中接过教鞭后的第一个完整赛季，他便带领马刺队步入了 NBA 精锐之师的行列。
如果马刺队如愿以偿，文班亚马和约翰逊可能会成为联盟下一对球员与教练的黄金搭档。
“他最优秀的品质之一是，不久前（作为助教）他还在和我们所有人一起在球馆里加班加点，进行所有的个人技巧训练，”文班亚马说道。“从他与球员们的互动中你可以看出来，尤其是那些在队里待了很多年的球员，他了解他们，也知道如何与他们沟通。”
圣安东尼奥已经见识过这种高效的超级巨星与教练互动模式。
在长达 19 个赛季的时间里，波波维奇拥有蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan)。在常规赛和季后赛中，两人联手赢下了 1001 场比赛——创下了联盟球员与教练组合的胜场纪录——并挂起了五面 NBA 总冠军旗帜。
NBA 历史上还有许多球员与教练在篮球天堂里“天作之合”的例子——波士顿的比尔·拉塞尔 (Bill Russell) 和里德·奥尔巴赫 (Red Auerbach)，洛杉矶的魔术师约翰逊 (Magic Johnson) 和帕特·莱利 (Pat Riley)，芝加哥的菲尔·杰克逊 (Phil Jackson) 和迈克尔·乔丹 (Michael Jordan)，以及金州的斯蒂芬·库里 (Stephen Curry) 和史蒂夫·科尔 (Steve Kerr)。
文班亚马和约翰逊甚至还没有一起打过一场季后赛，更不用说赢下一场了。
尽管如此，随着马刺队下个月即将开启文班亚马时代的首次季后赛征程，两人之间的协同效应将显得尤为重要。
“这种关系越好，你们对场上目标的愿景越一致，对球队就越有利，”马刺队中锋卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 说道，他是阵中两名曾在其他球队夺得过 NBA 总冠军的球员之一。“当双方在赢球和关心团队整体利益方面达成一致时，这对球队来说绝对是一种重要的动力。”
2024年11月11日，周一，在德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心举行的马刺主场对阵萨克拉门托国王队的比赛前，圣安东尼奥马刺队临时主教练米奇·约翰逊观察圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋维克托·文班亚马 (1) 进行热身。
文班亚马与约翰逊的联系在他抵达圣安东尼奥后几乎立即生根发芽。
当时 37 岁的助教约翰逊负责每场比赛前在场上陪同文班亚马进行热身。
这一过程一直持续到上赛季结束，甚至在 2024 年 11 月波波维奇中风后，约翰逊成为代理主教练时也是如此。
考虑到球队当时处于不确定状态，约翰逊认为维持日常运作的正常化至关重要。
“任何我能维持常规的事情，我都坚持了下来，”现年 39 岁的约翰逊说道。“（陪文班亚马热身）就是其中之一。”
本赛季正式出任全职主教练后，约翰逊发现不得不放弃陪文班热身的职责。
这一荣誉现在归属于球队球员发展总监迈克·诺伊斯 (Mike Noyes)。
“我有点怀念米奇陪我热身的日子，但显然情况发生了变化，”文班亚马说道。“他现在更忙了。”
约翰逊和文班亚马深情地回忆起过去两个赛季在开赛前一小时共处的独处时光。
正是在那里，他们如今的球员与教练关系得以锻造。
“我认为这让我了解了他的性格，”约翰逊说道。“观察一个人的思维方式、他的兴奋点、他的行事风格或对他而言重要的事情，真的非常、非常重要。”
这位超级巨星中锋与这位首年执教的主教练之间的默契，在激烈的竞争中得到了体现。
约翰逊可以像对待板凳末端的双向合同球员一样严厉地执教 22 岁的文班亚马。作为交换，文班亚马可以确信他的主教练会倾听他的想法。
“我必须让他承担起一定的责任，”约翰逊说道。“当你了解某人并有望与那个人建立信任时，这能让你与他们合作、建立伙伴关系，并以一种我认为可能比普通教练与球员沟通更深入的方式去推动他们。”
周四，在马刺队七年来首次季后赛席位悬而未决的关键时刻，约翰逊对文班亚马寄予了充分的信任。
在对阵菲尼克斯的最后时刻，马刺以 99-100 落后，约翰逊将球交到了他最好的球员手中，并相信他能做出正确的判断。
文班亚马在比赛还剩 1.1 秒时，面对太阳队大个子奥索·伊戈达罗 (Oso Ighodaro) 投中的 17 英尺后仰跳投，不仅锁定了胜局，也锁定了季后赛席位。
“他今年在进攻端表现出了一种不计较完美的侵略性，”约翰逊说道。“我认为今年看到他全力以赴，并在实战中不断摸索，真的很有趣。”
如果圣安东尼奥的一切都按计划进行，文班亚马和约翰逊可以期待在未来的许多年里共同探索。
并肩前行。
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：Could Wemby and Mitch Johnson be the NBA's next power couple?
Could Wemby and Mitch Johnson be the NBA’s next power couple?
San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama (1) gets congratulation from San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson in a Spurs preseason opener vs. Guangzhou Loong-Lions on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025 at Frost Bank Center.
Victor Wembanyama felt a little like a zoo animal.
Three summers ago, the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick arrived in San Antonio fresh off a plane from France, eager to begin his new life in a strange place.
During one of his first workouts in the Spurs’ old practice gym, Wembanyama noticed something peculiar.
As he went through a hum-drum free-throw drill, six assistant coaches milled underneath the basket — ostensibly to shag rebounds, but possibly to gawk at the 7-foot-4 basketball alien that had just alighted in their midst.
So Wembanyama naturally decided to toy with his rubberneckers.
“I’m like, ‘Wow, I’ve got five or six guys just for me? This is amazing!’” Wembanyama recently recalled. “‘Every time I shoot a free throw, I want every one of you to pass me the ball.’”
Let the record show Wembanyama’s first diva demand as a member of the Spurs was eagerly granted.
After Wembanyama’s next attempt, all six coaches played a jocular game of hot potato amongst themselves before delivering the ball back to him at the foul line.
Wembanyama still remembers the assistant coach who served as ringleader for that core memory.
“Mitch was leading the session,” Wembanyama said.
Flash forward 3½ years and Wembanyama is a two-time All-Star making a serious push for NBA Most Valuable Player honors.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson talks to forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during the first half of an NBA game with the Houston Rockets in San Antonio, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. San Antonio beat Houstoh 121-110.
Mitch Johnson has graduated from ace ball-shagger to head coach, having guided the Spurs into the realm of the NBA’s elite in his first full season after taking over from Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich.
If the Spurs get their way, Wembanyama and Johnson could emerge as the league’s next player-coach power couple.
“One of his best qualities is that not long ago (as an assistant), he was with all of us doing the extra hours of work in the gym and all the individual skills,” Wembanyama said. “You can tell with the interactions with the guys, especially the guys that’s been there for years, you can tell he knows them and he knows how to talk to them.”
San Antonio has already seen the model for how a high-functioning superstar-coach dynamic works.
For 19 seasons, Popovich had Tim Duncan. Between the regular season and playoffs, those two won 1,001 games together — a league record for a player-coach duo — and hung five NBA championship banners.
NBA history is rife with other examples of player-coach matches made in hoops heaven — Bill Russell and Red Auerbach in Boston, Magic Johnson and Pat Riley in Los Angeles, Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan in Chicago, Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr at Golden State.
Wembanyama and Johnson have yet to participate in a playoff game together, let alone win one.
Still, the synergy between the two will loom large as the Spurs approach the maiden postseason voyage of the Wembanyama era next month.
“The better that relationship is and the kind of vision of what you’re trying to do on the court, the better it is for the team,” said Spurs center Luke Kornet, one of two players on the roster to have won an NBA title elsewhere. “It’s definitely an important dynamic for the team when both people are aligned in terms of winning and also caring about the group as a whole.”
San Antonio Spurs interim head coach Mitch Johnson watches San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) warm up before the Spurs’ home game against the Sacramento Kings at Frost Bank Center on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas.
Wembanyama’s connection with Johnson took root almost immediately upon his arrival in San Antonio.
Then a 37-year-old assistant, Johnson was assigned the nightly charge of warming up Wembanyama on the court before each game.
That process continued through the end last season, even after Johnson became acting head coach following Popovich’s stroke in November 2024.
With the team in a state of uncertainty at the time, Johnson felt it imperative to keep daily operations as normal as possible.
“Anything I could do to keep my routine going, I kept,” said Johnson, now 39. “(Warming up Wembanyama) was just one of those things.”
Fully entrenched in his role as full-time head coach this season, Johnson found it necessary to surrender Wemby warm-up duties.
That honor now goes to Mike Noyes, the team’s director of player development.
“I miss Mitch doing my warmups a little bit, but obviously it’s changed,” Wembanyama said. “He’s busier now.”
Johnson and Wembanyama look back fondly on the solitary moments they spent together an hour before tipoff for two seasons.
That is where their on-going player-coach relationship was forged.
“I think it allowed me to understand his personality,” Johnson said. “To see how somebody’s wired or what’s their hot buttons or how they tick or what’s important to them is really, really important.”
The kismet between the superstar center and first-year head coach comes to bear in the heat of competition.
Johnson can coach the 22-year-old Wembanyama as hard as the two-way players at the end of the bench. In exchange, Wembanyama can feel confident his head coach will listen to what he has to say.
“There’s a level of accountability I have to hold him to,” Johnson said. “When you get to know somebody and then hopefully build trust with that person, it allows you to work with them, partner with them, push them in ways that I think probably could be a little bit deeper than just a coach trying to talk to a player.”
With the Spurs’ first postseason berth in seven years on the line Thursday, Johnson placed full faith in Wembanyama.
Down 100-99 in the waning moments against Phoenix, Johnson put the ball in his best player’s hands and trusted him to make the right play.
Wembanyama’s fading 17-footer over Suns big man Oso Ighodaro with 1.1 remaining clinched both the game and a playoff spot.
“He has attacked this year with an aggression that wasn’t concerned with being perfect,” Johnson said. “And I think that’s what’s been really fun to see him this year just going for it and still figuring it out on the fly.”
If all goes to plan in San Antonio, Wembanyama and Johnson can look forward to several years of figuring things out.
Together.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News