By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-13 04:50:10
2026年3月19日，周四，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心庆祝胜利。马刺队在最后一秒完成绝杀，以101-100获胜。
2023年5月的那个日子，德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 坐在自家的沙发上，心中没抱任何期待。
马刺队在那年的NBA选秀抽签中只有14%的概率抽中状元签。如果这是一份预测降雨概率的天气预报，瓦塞尔可能连伞都懒得带。
随后，NBA副总裁马克·塔图姆 (Mark Tatum) 揭晓了信封，显示马刺队赢得了选中那位来自法国的19岁天才少年——维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的权利。
在瓦塞尔兴奋得跳起来庆祝的一瞬间，铺天盖地的期待也随之释放。
“当他来到这里时，我们就知道他会接管一切，”马刺首发得分后卫瓦塞尔说道，“我们准备好了，他也要来了。”
当时没人能预料到，马刺的崛起会如此迅速。
本周，在文班亚马的带领下，马刺将开启自2019年以来的首次西部季后赛征程。
作为出人意料的西部2号种子，马刺将在首轮迎战附加赛第7和第8名之间的胜者（太阳、开拓者或洛杉矶快船中的一支）。
对于马刺而言，这标志着他们历经七个赛季的蛰伏后重返季后赛。而对于那位将球队带到这一高度的22岁核心来说，这是他一生的抱负。
“小时候这就是我的梦想，所以我已经在展望它了，”文班亚马说，“但我们必须活在当下。”
马刺上一次参加季后赛时，他们在七场大战中输给了当时初出茅庐、拥有尼古拉·约基奇 (Nikola Jokic) 的掘金队。
那时文班亚马才15岁，还在巴黎郊区参加青少年联赛。
随着职业生涯首次NBA季后赛即将拉开帷幕，文班亚马表示他并不满足于仅仅是浅尝辄止。
“这对我们来说是巨大的一步，但并非终极目标，”这位身高7英尺4英寸的两届全明星球员文班亚马说道，“我们不满足于仅仅打进季后赛。”
马刺即将开始的季后赛征程，也将是主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 的首次季后赛之旅。他在2024年11月格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 中风后，接替了这位五届NBA冠军教头的位置。
“我为这座城市、社区和整个球队感到高兴，”约翰逊说，“能成为这个过程的一份子是很有成就感的。”
促成马刺季后赛复兴的重建工程并不仅仅依靠文班亚马。
在2023年用状元签选中文班亚马的一年后，马刺又在第4顺位选中了另一位准年度最佳新秀——后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)。
2024年2月，马刺在交易截止日通过交易引进了全明星后卫德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)。
去年夏天，马刺在选秀抽签中顺位上升，用榜眼签选中了后卫迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)。
这四人组——文班亚马、福克斯、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔和哈珀，希望能开启圣安东尼奥的夺冠新时代。
福克斯在上赛季加盟了一支正处于连续第六个失利赛季阵痛中的球队，他表示圣安东尼奥的一切如此迅速地步入正轨让他感到惊喜。
“我以前不会想到（会发生得）这么快，”福克斯说，“我原以为可能要一年或两年之后。”
对于福克斯来说，时间表在10月份发生了变化。
他在赛季前八场比赛中因腿筋伤势恢复而作壁上观。马刺在开局阶段取得了五连胜。
“前八场我没打，”福克斯说，“我们拿到了五连胜，当时我想，‘我们可以变得非常非常优秀。’”
瓦塞尔也表示同意。
“我不认为有人想到我们会这么快达到这个高度，”他说。
马刺以自2月以来全联盟最佳战绩和最高净效率的姿态进入季后赛。
但他们也是今年季后赛中经验最欠缺的球队之一。
在马刺的首发五人组中，只有一名球员有过季后赛经验——福克斯，他在2023年曾代表萨克拉门托打过一轮七场系列赛。
阵容中只有五名球员拥有超过10场季后赛经验：哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes)、卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet)、俾斯麦·比永博 (Bismack Biyombo)、凯利·奥利尼克 (Kelly Olynyk) 和梅森·普拉姆利 (Mason Plumlee)。
“我们承认缺乏经验，因为这是事实，我们不会撒谎，”约翰逊说，“我们也不会像躲避阴影或乌云那样去回避它。”
提前完成目标，马刺挺进季后赛。弗罗斯特银行中心的期望值已经爆表。
无论是否准备就绪。
“我认为我们今年对自己的潜力是有预期的，”瓦塞尔说，“我们知道我们会变得很强。看到大家团结在一起并充满自信地打球，真的很令人兴奋。”
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：Ahead of schedule, the Spurs hit the postseason -- ready or not
Ahead of schedule, the Spurs hit the postseason – ready or not
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) celebrates a win at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. The Spurs won in the last second, 101-100.
Devin Vassell arrived at his couch that day in May of 2023 with zero expectations.
The Spurs had a 14% chance of landing the No. 1. pick in that year’s NBA draft lottery. Had it been a weather report predicting rain chances, Vassell might not have bothered to bring an umbrella.
Then NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum unveiled the card revealing the Spurs had earned the right to draft a 19-year-old wunderkind from France named Victor Wembanyama.
In the heartbeat it took for Vassell to leap to his feet in celebration, a deluge of expectations unleashed.
“We kind of knew as soon as he got here that it was going to be a takeover,” said Vassell, the Spurs’ starting shooting guard. “We were ready and he’s coming.”
What nobody could have known at the time was how quickly the Spurs were coming.
This week, with Wembanyama at the fore, the Spurs will launch their first foray into the Western Conference playoffs since 2019.
As an unexpected No. 2 seed, the Spurs are set to face the winner of the seventh and eighth place play-in game in the first round (either Phoenix, Portland or the Los Angeles Clippers).
For the Spurs, it will mark a playoff return seven seasons in the making. For the 22-year-old most responsible for getting them there, it is a lifelong aspiration.
“As a kid, this is something I dreamed of, so I’m already projecting on it,” Wembanyama said. “But we’ve got to stay in the moment."
The last time the Spurs were in the playoffs, they lost in seven games to an upstart Denver squad making its postseason debut with Nikola Jokic on the roster.
Wembanyama was 15 years old, playing youth league ball on the outskirts of Paris.
With his first NBA playoff experience on tap, Wembanyama says he won’t be content with simply dipping a toe in the waters.
“It’s a great step for us, but it’s not the goal,” said Wembanyama, a 7-foot-4 two-time All-Star. “We’re not satisfied just making the playoffs.”
The Spurs’ incoming playoff run will also be the first for coach Mitch Johnson, who took over from five-time NBA champion Gregg Popovich following his stroke in November 2024.
“I’m happy for the city, the community and the organization,” Johnson said. “To be a part of that process is rewarding.”
The construction project that led to the Spurs’ playoff renaissance goes beyond Wembanyama.
A year after selecting Wembanyama with the No. 1 pick in 2023, the Spurs took another would-be Rookie of the Year in guard Stephon Castle with the No. 4 pick.
In February 2024, the Spurs made a trade deadline swap to lure All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox from Sacramento.
Last summer, the Spurs rose in the draft lottery to take guard Dylan Harper with the No. 2 pick.
Together, the quartet of Wembanyama, Fox, Castle and Harper hope to usher in a new championship era in San Antonio.
Having joined a team in the throes of its sixth consecutive losing campaign last season, Fox said he has been pleasantly surprised with how soon everything has come together in San Antonio.
“I wouldn’t have said (it would happen) this quickly,” Fox said. “I think maybe a year or maybe two down the line.”
For Fox, the timeline changed in October.
He watched the first eight games of the season from the sidelines while recovering from a hamstring injury. The Spurs opened the campaign by winning their first five games.
“I was out the first eight games,” Fox said. “We won five in a row and I was like, ‘We can be really, really good.’ ”
Vassell agreed.
“I don’t think that anybody thought that we were going to be here this fast,” he said.
The Spurs enter the playoffs with the NBA’s best record and top net rating since February.
They are also one of the least battle-tested teams in this year’s playoff tournament.
Among the Spurs’ starting five, only one player has appeared in the postseason — Fox, who played in one 7-game series for Sacramento in 2023.
Only five players on the roster own more than 10 games of playoff experience — Harrison Barnes, Luke Kornet, Bismack Biyombo, Kelly Olynyk and Mason Plumlee.
“We’ve acknowledged our lack of experience because we know it’s there, so we’re not going to lie,” Johnson said. "We’re also not going to avoid it like it’s some shadow or dark cloud looming over us.”
Ahead of schedule, the Spurs are headed to the playoffs. Expectations are through the roof of the Frost Bank Center.
Ready or not.
“I think that we had an expectation this year of what we could be,” Vassell said. “We knew we were going to be good. It’s just exciting to see everybody come together and just play confident.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News