By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-03-26 16:14:43
圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) (1) 在反思球队于圣安东尼奥 Frost Bank 中心逆转战胜洛杉矶快船队的比赛时做出反应，时间为 2026 年 3 月 6 日，星期五。马刺队在落后 25 分的情况下奋起直追，最终以 116-112 击败快船队。
两年前的夏天，在巴黎，在几乎空无一人的球馆装卸区边缘，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 挺直了脖子。
他的脖子上挂着一枚银牌，但这并不是文班亚马想要的奖牌。他双眼通红，声音沙哑。
尽管如此，他仍确保篮球世界的其他人知道接下来会发生什么。
“我正在学习，”文班亚马说，“我为几年后的对手感到担心。”
正如你可能记得的那样，他并没有就此止步。当被问及他指的是未来奥运会的对手还是 NBA 的对手时，他回答说：“无处不在。”即便带着迷人的法国口音，这种级别的超级巨星自我推销，也是自穆罕默德·阿里 (Muhammad Ali) 时代以来鲜有人见的。
难道这孩子不知道，年轻球员不该这样说话吗？难道他没有意识到，这些话可能会激怒那些才华横溢、成就斐然的对手，让他们现在更加坚定地要给他点颜色看看？
如此不谦虚，他不仅是在自找麻烦，还在自己背上贴了一个靶子吗？
2024 年 8 月 10 日，星期六，在法国巴黎举行的 2024 年夏季奥运会男子篮球金牌争夺战中，法国队的维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) (32) 做出反应。（美联社照片/Michael Conroy）
嗯，这些担心在当时的文班亚马看来毫无意义，显然现在依然如此。仔细想想，这合情合理。
毕竟，一个身高 7 英尺 4 英寸（约 2.24 米）的人，为什么要费心假装低调呢？他背上的靶子，到底还能变得多大？
这些问题在本周浮现在脑海中，当时文班亚马采取了不同寻常、且极具非马刺风格的举动——公开为自己竞选 NBA 常规赛最有价值球员 (MVP) 奖项。
明确地说，他只是在回答一个关于为什么他认为自己配得上这个奖项的问题。值得称赞的是，他诚实地回答了。而且考虑到所有因素，他提出了一个相当有力的论据。
但文班亚马的“竞选演说”之所以引起如此大的关注，原因之一是此前从未有候选人发表过类似的言论。这本身与谦逊无关。没有人会指责从拉里·伯德 (Larry Bird) 到迈克尔·乔丹 (Michael Jordan)，再到科比·布莱恩特 (Kobe Bryant) 和詹姆斯·哈登 (James Harden) 这些前 MVP 们过于谦虚。
只是这些球员大多意识到，直接自吹自擂是有弊端的。尤其是乔丹，众所周知，他擅长从对手的每一句话中寻找所谓的轻视，无论那句话多么温和。他是否曾梦想过给潜在的季后赛对手提供这种可以贴在更衣室告示板上的激励材料？
这正是文班亚马所做的，他正确地指出，马刺队在常规赛中三次“统治”了俄克拉荷马城雷霆队，并且在五次交手中几乎横扫了对手。
如果西部前两号种子最终在 5 月底相遇，争夺进入 NBA 总决赛的资格，这段视频会在全国电视上播放多少次？在雷霆队的更衣室里又会播放多少次？
考虑到总经理萨姆·普雷斯蒂 (Sam Presti) 曾在马刺队待过，那是蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 对 MVP 竞争的兴趣和对名牌西装的兴趣一样小的年代。文班亚马说雷霆队被“统治”的视频，可能已经在训练设施的每个电视屏幕上循环播放了。
但文班亚马对此的反应基本上是：
那又怎样？
他的采访中最令人耳目一新的地方之一，就是他对陈词滥调的厌恶。他质疑别人眼中的惯例，尤其是当这些惯例对他来说毫无意义时。
如果每个球员都梦想成为 MVP，如果赢得这个奖项能保证他在下一份合同中多拿数千万美元，他为什么要假装这不重要呢？
他想知道，为什么承认显而易见的事实会被认为是不礼貌的？
而且，自青少年时期起就被全世界誉为“下一个划时代的巨星”，他还能给自己招来多少额外的关注？雷霆队到底还能有多想击败他，尤其是如果他们必须击败他才能赢得另一个 NBA 总冠军？
在文班亚马看来，竞选 MVP 并不是对谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)、尼古拉·约基奇 (Nikola Jokic) 或卢卡·东契奇 (Luka Doncic) 的侮辱。在他看来，声称自己根本不在乎这个奖项，才是对所有人智商的侮辱。
因此，尽管一些球迷可能会担心这种狂妄自大可能会适得其反，尽管像邓肯这样的老将可能会对这孩子毫不掩饰的胆大妄为摇头叹息，但文班亚马意识到了两年前在巴黎时同样的道理。
他当年的警告被证明是有预见性的。如果现在有人听到更多大胆的言辞，并认为他在不必要地自找麻烦？
他们错了。
这种锋芒其实一直都在。
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：Victor Wembanyama’s MVP campaign harks back to an old warning
Victor Wembanyama’s MVP campaign harks back to an old warning
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts as he reflects on his team’s comeback victory over the LA Clippers at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, March 6, 2026. The Spurs rallied from a 25-point deficit to defeat the Clippers, winning the game 116-112.
Two summers ago in Paris, near the edge of a mostly empty arena loading dock, Victor Wembanyama stuck out his neck.
A silver medal hung from it, but that wasn’t the medal Wembanyama wanted. His eyes were red. His voice cracked.
Still, he made sure the rest of the basketball world knew what was coming.
“I’m learning,” Wembanyama said, “and I’m worried for the opponents in a couple of years.”
As you might recall, he didn’t stop there. When asked if he was referring to opponents in future Olympics or in the NBA, he answered, “Everywhere,” and even with the charm of a French accent, this was a level of superstar self-promotion few had seen since the days of Muhammad Ali.
Didn’t the kid know this wasn’t how young players were supposed to talk? Didn’t he realize these words had the potential to rile up all of the talented, accomplished rivals now even more determined to put him in his place?
With this lack of modesty, wasn’t he not only sticking out his neck, but also slapping a target on his back?
Victor Wembanyama (32), of France reacts during a men’s gold medal basketball game at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Well, none of those concerns made sense to Wembanyama back then, and it’s clear they still don’t. When you think about it, this makes sense.
After all, why would a 7-foot-4 human ever bother pretending to keep his head down? How much bigger, really, could the target on his back get?
These were among the questions that came to mind this week, when Wembanyama took the unusual and specifically un-Spursian step of mounting his own public campaign for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award.
To be clear, he was just answering a question about why he thinks he deserves it. To his credit, he answered it honestly. And all things considered, he made a pretty strong case.
But one of the reasons Wembanyama’s stump speech garnered so much attention is that no candidate ever had made one quite like it. It’s not about humility, per se. Nobody would accuse former MVPs from Larry Bird to Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant to James Harden of being overly humble.
It’s just that most of those guys recognized the downside of coming right out and tooting their own horn. Jordan, in particular, famously thrived on finding a perceived slight in every comment the opposition made, no matter how benign. Would he ever have dreamed of giving a potential playoff foe the same type of bulletin-board material?
That’s what Wembanyama did when he noted, correctly, that the Spurs “dominated” Oklahoma City three times during the regular season, and nearly swept the Thunder in their five meetings.
If the top two seeds in the West wind up meeting in late May for the right to go to the NBA Finals, how many times will that clip get played on national TV? How many times will it get played in the Oklahoma City locker room?
Knowing general manager Sam Presti, who was around the Spurs during the days when Tim Duncan showed about as much interest in the MVP race as he did in designer suits, the video of Wembanyama saying the Thunder were “dominated” might already be on an endless loop on every TV screen in the practice facility.
But here, essentially, is Wembanyama’s response to this:
So what?
One of the most refreshing things about his interviews is his aversion to clichés. He questions what others see as convention, especially when to him the convention makes little sense.
If every player dreams of becoming MVP, and if winning that award would guarantee him tens of millions of extra dollars on his next contract, why should he pretend it doesn’t matter?
Why, he wonders, is it considered impolite to acknowledge the obvious?
And after being hailed around the world as the next big thing since he was a teenager, how much more attention is he really going to draw to himself? How much more can the Thunder really want to beat him, especially if they have to beat him to win another NBA championship?
The way Wembanyama sees it, campaigning for MVP isn’t insulting to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, or to Nikola Jokic, or to Luka Doncic. The way he sees it, the insulting thing — to everyone’s intelligence — would be claiming he didn’t care about the award at all.
So even as some fans might worry about how bravado might backfire, and even as old-timers like Duncan might shake their heads at the kid’s unabashed audaciousness, Wembanyama recognizes the same thing he did in Paris two summers ago.
His warning back then proved prophetic. And if anyone hears more bold words now and thinks he’s needlessly sticking out his neck?
They’re wrong.
It’s been out there all along.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News