By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2026-04-19 09:30:06
圣安东尼奥——环顾球馆，马刺队黄金时代的记忆在墙壁上熠熠生辉。但这不仅仅是悬挂在训练馆窗边的冠军旗帜。
胜利资本训练中心 (Victory Capital Performance Center) 的双球场被灰色软垫包围，这是在季后赛级别的对抗训练失控时必要的保护。在这一片灰色之中，嵌入了一些小壁龛，即供人坐下观察的包厢。这里可以容纳从旁观的工作人员到球队特邀嘉宾的任何人。
在马刺队重返季后赛前的最后一次全员训练中，名人堂成员马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili) 和格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 坐满了包厢。他们坐着、观察着，注视着这个由他们亲手打造、成为成功代名词的球队新纪元。有时，蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan)、托尼·帕克 (Tony Parker)、鲍里斯·迪奥 (Boris Diaw) 以及其他马刺传奇球星也会在周围出没。大卫·罗宾逊 (David Robinson) 则经常坐在场边。在圣安东尼奥，马刺的历史不仅仅是回忆。
但在这一天，在所有行动的中心，是维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)。就像之前的邓肯一样，年仅 22 岁的他肩负着领导一支争冠球队的重任。这种压力很少会落在如此年轻的肩膀上。但他似乎已经准备好带领这支 21 世纪最顶尖的特许经营球队之一，在缺席六个赛季后重返季后赛。
“我已经做好了万全的准备，”文班亚马说道。“这一刻，正是你一整年、乃至整个职业生涯都在为之奋斗的目标。”
“在来到这里之前，我们还是孩子时就在梦想着季后赛了。”
他声称自奥运会以来还没有打过真正高水平的比赛，但今年的某些时刻表明，文班已经为季后赛做好了准备。
一月在休斯顿的一场比赛是转折点，那一刻他展示了自己能在短时间内如何强有力地应对逆境。一周前，他在同一个球馆打出了赛季最糟糕的表现，火箭队的侧翼球员整晚都在将他挤出位置，并对他进行包夹。他看起来束手无策，这引发了人们的担忧：他本赛季作为一股身体力量的崛起，对于季后赛篮球来说可能还为时过早。
马刺队在八天后重返休斯顿，文班亚马在下半场打出了他职业生涯中最具统治力的时刻。
“我正努力在球场上做一些无人能及的事情，”文班亚马那天晚上说。“所以我必须以一种无人能及的方式去努力。”
他完全打乱了火箭队的比赛计划，他从开阔空间顺下，而不是在拥挤的内线争夺低位。他打出了此前未曾展现的斗志。甚至他的精准度和投入度也达到了新的高度，为了确保球队在教练挑战的情况下拥有球权，他甚至会飞身去救死球。
“目标是每晚都保持这种投入程度，”文班亚马说。
这是大多数年轻球员必须通过艰苦的方式才能学到的特质。通常情况下，一位前途无量的年轻球星来到季后赛，会被决策疲劳所压倒，并最终被那一刻所吞噬。大多数季后赛级别的防守都能限制你的主要得分手段，让你只能捡漏。文班亚马的这个赛季一直在扩展他的进攻广度，为他和马刺队提供了像芝士蛋糕工厂 (Cheesecake Factory) 菜单一样丰富的选择。
他在低位、罚球线延长线、中路挡拆中游刃有余，你永远不知道他在某个夜晚会从哪里发起进攻。马刺队在那场休斯顿的比赛后打出了全联盟最佳的表现，自那晚起他在场时球队取得了 29 胜 3 负的战绩，这其中有很多原因。斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 找到了三分手感。朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 在除夕夜取代了哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 进入首发阵容，并从那时起投出了 40% 的三分命中率。甚至卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 也成为了有价值的轮换颗粒。
但文班亚马每晚的进化才是核心驱动力。到赛季结束时，马刺队似乎不仅拥有了多种使用这位球星的方式，而且看起来他们真正理解了他，而他也终于理解了自己。他们在年初尝试的所有东西，现在都成了他们的核心竞争力。现在，每个持球者都能很好地感知他何时处于空接范围（也就是说，只要他站在场上）。外线防守者会将进攻球员引导至他能清晰观察对方主要战术和隐藏次要选择的区域。
马刺队已经描绘出了一幅清晰的夺冠蓝图，而他就是核心。对于一支赛季初目标仅仅是打进季后赛的球队来说，走到这一刻其实并没有什么悬念。几个月前，季后赛荒的结束就已显而易见。甚至在文班亚马揭幕战摧毁达拉斯独行侠队时，这一点可能就已经很明确了。
本赛季的悬念在于评估文班亚马是否真的准备好了迎接这段征程。意志的较量，战术调整的博弈，以及即便面对最强硬的防守也无法被限制的杀招和战术。
前方会有决定他成败的时刻。为了迎接这些时刻的到来，他到目前为止已经做好了所有的准备。
“我当然忍不住会去憧憬它，”文班亚马说。“但我们必须脚踏实地，活在当下。”
现在，这一刻已经到来。
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 on the verge of his first playoffs: 'I’m as ready as you can be'
Victor Wembanyama on the verge of his first playoffs: ‘I’m as ready as you can be’
SAN ANTONIO — Looking around the gym, the memories of the Spurs’ golden era are living along the walls. But it’s not just the banners hanging by the window in the practice facility.
The dual courts at the Victory Capital Performance Center are surrounded by gray cushions, a needed protection for when practicing playoff basketball gets off the rails. Embedded within the sea of gray are little alcoves, booths for sitting and observing. These will house anything from onlooking staff to special guests of the team.
At the Spurs’ final full practice before their return to the playoffs, Hall of Famers Manu Ginobili and Gregg Popovich filled the booths. Sitting, observing, watching over the new era of the franchise that they made synonymous with success. Sometimes Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and other Spurs legends are lurking around. David Robinson is often sitting courtside. The history of the Spurs is not just a memory in San Antonio.
But on this day, in the middle of all of the action, is Victor Wembanyama. Just like Duncan before him, he is tasked with leading a championship team at just 22 years old. This is the kind of pressure that is rarely thrust on such young shoulders. But he appears to be ready to lead one of the premier franchises of the 21st century back to the postseason after a six-season absence.
“I’m as ready as you can be, Wembanyama said. “This moment, it’s really what you work on all year, but also your whole career.
“We’re dreaming of the playoffs as kids before coming here.”
He claims he has not played in a truly high-stakes game since the Olympics, but there have been occasions this year that show Wembanyama is ready for the playoffs.
A January game in Houston was the turning point, the moment he showed how powerfully he can respond to adversity in a short period of time. A week earlier, he was in the same arena, having his worst game of the season as the Rockets’ wings shoved him off his spot and swarmed the ball all night long. He looked like he had no answers, fueling concerns that his emergence as a physical force this season was still a little premature for playoff basketball.
The Spurs returned to Houston eight days later, and Wembanyama had a second half that is right up there for the most dominant moments of his career.
“I’m trying to do things on the court that nobody does,” Wembanyama said that night. “So I have to work in a way that nobody does.”
He completely blew up the Rockets’ game plan by getting downhill from open space rather than trying to fight for post position in traffic. He played with a level of fire he hadn’t shown earlier. But there was even a level of precision and dedication all the way down to diving for a dead ball just to ensure the team had possession in the event of a coach’s challenge.
“The goal is to have, every night, this level of dedication,” Wembanyama said.
This is the ethos most young players have to learn the hard way. Typically, a promising young star arrives in the postseason, gets overwhelmed by decision fatigue and gets swallowed up by the moment eventually. Most playoff defenses can take away your main thing, your bread and butter, and force you to eat scraps. Wembanyama’s season has been about building out the breadth of his butter, giving him and the Spurs a list of options as long as a Cheesecake Factory menu.
He operates from the post, the elbow, the middle pick-and-roll, and you never know where it’s going to come from any given night. There were many reasons the Spurs went on the league’s best run after that game in Houston, going 29-3 with him in the lineup starting that night. Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper found their 3-point shot. Julian Champagnie replaced Harrison Barnes in the starting lineup on New Year’s Eve and shot 40 percent from deep there on out. Even Carter Bryant became a valuable rotation piece.
But it was the nightly evolution of Wembanyama that was the driving force. By the end of the season, it looked like the Spurs didn’t just have a plethora of ways to use their star. It appeared that they truly understood him and he finally understood himself. All the things they experimented with in the beginning of the year are now their core competencies. Every ballhandler now has a good sense of when he’s in lob range (i.e., he is standing on the court). Perimeter defenders steer the ball into spaces where he has a clear view of the offense’s primary action and the hidden secondary option.
The Spurs have painted a clear picture of how they can win a title, and he is the centerpiece. For a team that entered the season aiming to simply make the playoffs, there has actually been a lack of suspense getting to this moment. It was apparent months ago that the playoff drought was over. It might have been clear even as soon as Wembanyama destroyed the Dallas Mavericks on opening night.
This season’s suspense has been in evaluating whether Wembanyama really is ready for the run. The battle of wills. The adjustments chess match. The go-to moves and actions that cannot be taken away by the most imposing defenses.
There will be moments ahead that will make or break him. He’s done it all up to this point to prepare himself for when they come.
“I can’t really help but dream about it, of course,” Wembanyama said. “But we have to stay grounded, stay in the moment.”
Now the moment has arrived.
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic