By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-21 13:45:51
2026年4月21日，星期二，在圣安东尼奥胜利资本训练中心（Victory Capital Performance Center）的投篮训练期间，圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 被评为NBA年度最佳防守球员后接受记者采访。这位22岁的法国人是获得该奖项最年轻的球员，也是首位全票当选的球员。
八年后，这个故事听起来有些荒谬，甚至令人难以置信。
当时维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 年仅14岁，正效力于法国俱乐部楠泰尔92队 (Nanterre 92)，那是他职业篮球生涯的第一年。
现在，最令人难以置信的部分来了。
“我当时的声誉是‘不防守’，”文班亚马说道。
周一，22岁的文班亚马成为了NBA历史上首位通过全票当选年度最佳防守球员 (DPOY) 的球员。
他也成为了NBA历史上获得该奖项最年轻的球员。
然而，在法国早期的日子里，这位马刺未来的盖帽巨星竟然被认为是一个视防守为可选项的球员，这简直令人匪夷所思。
文班亚马特别记得早期的一场比赛，当时对方教练指示球员直接在禁区内挑战他。
“对方教练说，‘噢，是的，他是NBA的前景新秀，但他不会防守，’”在周二马刺备战对阵波特兰开拓者队第二场比赛的赛前走位训练后，文班亚马回忆道，“‘所以，去攻击他。’”
文班谈到为什么他如此渴望DPOY投票是全票通过：
“这对我来说非常有意义。这意味着没有争论的空间。这意味着每个人都达成了一致。这令人印象深刻……这里面没有星号（水分）。这就像它不再是一个主观的问题。” pic.twitter.com/0fYViScOLs
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) April 21, 2026
无论那位教练是谁，如果马刺队还没这么做的话，他们真的需要找到他并向他致谢。
那番言论让文班亚马走上了成为NBA史上最具破坏力的防守力量之一的道路。
“剩下的就是历史了，”文班亚马说。
文班亚马从全球媒体评审团中获得了全部100张年度最佳防守球员的第一顺位选票，俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren) 和底特律活塞队的奥萨尔·汤普森 (Ausar Thompson) 分列二、三位，但票数差距悬殊。
全票当选对文班亚马意义重大。
“这意味着没有争论的空间，”文班亚马说，“这不是一个主观的问题。”
确实，在这个连100个人是否都觉得冰淇淋好吃都很难达成共识的分裂世界里，大家似乎在这一点上达成了一致：文班亚马是这个星球上最好的防守球员。
终于，他捧起了以他的篮球偶像之一命名的哈基姆·奥拉朱旺 (Hakeem Olajuwon) 奖杯来证明这一点。
这位身高7英尺4英寸的文班亚马已连续三个赛季领跑NBA盖帽榜，本赛季场均贡献3.1次盖帽，同时作为防守核心镇守马刺队的防线，使其防守效率排名全联盟第三。
除了数据之外，文班亚马仅凭其存在感就能覆盖球场的大片区域。非官方数据显示，他也领跑了另一项统计：对方后卫运球杀入禁区，看到埃菲尔铁塔般高大的文班亚马后，立即掉头折返。
“如果那些家伙心想‘管他呢，我还是要冲进去’，他可能会盖掉更多的球，”马刺后卫达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 说道，“他甚至让人们不敢出手投篮。”
作为2023年的全票年度最佳新秀——当时他再次击败了获得第二名的霍姆格伦——文班亚马被认为是NBA历史上第一位以全票方式赢得两项大奖的球员。
自2016年金州勇士队的斯蒂芬·库里 (Stephen Curry) 赢得所有最有价值球员 (MVP) 选票以来，文班亚马是唯一一位哪怕只做到过一次这一成就的球员。
对于马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 来说，文班亚马全票当选年度最佳防守球员完全符合视觉观察。
“当维克托在防守端摆好架势时，”约翰逊说，“他可能是联盟中最具影响力的防守球员，与我们见过的任何球员相比都非常独特。”
凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 打断了文班的DPOY发布会 pic.twitter.com/8IvZdkpS7p
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) April 21, 2026
尽管文班亚马年纪轻轻，但可以预见的是，他的第一座年度最佳防守球员奖杯其实早已迟到了。作为新秀，文班亚马在投票中仅次于明尼苏达森林狼队的鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert) 排名第二，获得了99张第一顺位选票中的19张。
上个赛季，由于2月份发现的血栓问题，文班亚马的二年级赛季被迫缩短，未能达到评选所需的65场出场要求。尽管他在总盖帽数上领跑全联盟，但他依然失去了评选资格。
既然文班亚马终于在壁炉架上摆放了一座哈基姆·奥拉朱旺奖杯，他的目标指向了更多。
忘掉年度最佳防守球员吧。文班亚马想要成为“十年最佳防守球员”。
“这是许多奖项中的第一个，”文班亚马说。
这种局面的转变，可能是文班亚马在八年前还在法国青训体系中成长时所未曾预料到的。
在那里，他很快学到了防守的价值。
“当你像我一样在欧洲的职业学院打球时，当你开始随职业队训练时，你只有一项工作，”文班亚马说，“你必须防守，你必须抢篮板，你必须做好防守。如果你做不到这些，你基本上就没有位置。你不属于那里。”
作为NBA历史上最年轻且唯一一位全票当选的年度最佳防守球员，文班亚马并不需要一座哈基姆·奥拉朱旺奖杯来证明他已经跻身联盟史上最伟大的防守者之列。
但它肯定锦上添花。
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 reacts to DPOY selection: 'No place for debate.'
Victor Wembanyama reacts to DPOY selection: ‘No place for debate.’
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama talks to reporters after being named NBA Defensive Player of the Year during shootaround at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. The 22-year-old Frenchman is the youngest player to win the award and the first to win it unanimously.
Eight years later, the story seems ridiculous. Unbelievable, even.
Victor Wembanyama was 14 years old, in his first year playing professional basketball for the French club Nanterre 92.
Now, here comes the unbelievable part.
“I had the reputation to not play defense,” Wembanyama said.
On Monday, the 22-year-old Wembanyama became the first player in NBA history to earn a Defensive Player of the Year award via unanimous vote.
He also became the youngest player in NBA history to win one at all.
In his earliest days in France, however, the Spurs’ future star shot-swatter — incredulously — was viewed as a player who considered defense to be optional.
Wembanyama remembers one early game in particular, when an opposing coach instructed his players to go right at him in the paint.
“The opponent’s coach said, ‘Oh yeah, he’s an NBA prospect, but he can’t play defense,’” Wembanyama recalled Tuesday, after the Spurs’ walkthrough in preparation for Game 2 against Portland. “So attack him.”
Wemby on why he wanted so badly for the DPOY vote to be unanimous:
“It’s just very meaningful to me. It means there is no place for debate. It means that everybody agrees upon something. It’s impressive. … There is no asterisk in it. It’s like it’s not a subjective matter.” pic.twitter.com/0fYViScOLs
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) April 21, 2026
Whoever that coach was, the Spurs need to find him and thank him, if they have not already.
That comment set Wembanyama on the path toward becoming one of the most destructive defensive forces the NBA has ever seen.
“The rest is history,” Wembanyama said.
Wembanyama received 100 out of 100 Defensive Player of the Year votes from a global media panel, with Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and Detroit’s Ausar Thompson checking in at a distant second and third.
The unanimous part meant much to Wembanyama.
“It means that there’s no place for debate,” Wembanyama said. “It’s not a subjective matter.”
Indeed, in a divided world in which it is difficult to get 100 people to agree on the question of whether ice cream tastes good, everyone seems to agree on this: Wembanyama is the best defensive player on the planet.
At last, he has a Hakeem Olajuwon trophy — named after one of Wembanyama’s basketball idols — to show for it.
For the third straight season, the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama led the NBA in blocks, averaging 3.1 per game while anchoring a Spurs’ defense that finished with the league’s third-best rating.
Beyond the numbers, Wembanyama’s ability to take away large swaths of the court simply by virtue of his presence. Unofficially, he also led the league in opposing guards driving into the paint, seeing an Eiffel Tower-sized Wembanyama there and immediately reversing course.
“He would probably block more shots if guys were like, ‘Nah, I’m going in there anyways.’ ” Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox said. “He deters people from even shooting the ball.”
A unanimous Rookie of the Year in 2023 — again besting Holmgren as the runner-up — Wembanyama is believed to be the first player in NBA history to win two major awards in unanimous fashion.
Wembanyama is the only player to accomplish that even once since 2016, when Golden State’s Stephen Curry earned every available Most Valuable Player vote.
For Spurs coach Mitch Johnson, Wembanyama’s unanimous selection for Defensive Player of the Year passed the eye test.
“When Victor is in his stance defensively,” Johnson said, “he is maybe the most influential defensive player in the league and something very unique compared to anything we’ve seen.”
Keldon Johnson interrupts Wembys DPOY conference pic.twitter.com/8IvZdkpS7p
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) April 21, 2026
Despite Wembanyama’s tender age, it could be argued that his first Defensive Player of the Year award was already overdue. As a rookie, Wembanyama finished second to Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert, earning 19 of 99 first-place votes.
Last season, a blood clot issue discovered in February cut short Wembanyama’s sophomore campaign before he could reach the 65 appearances required to remain on the ballot. He was ineligible despite leading the NBA in total blocks.
Now that Wembanyama at last has one Hakeem Olajuwon trophy on his mantle, he is aiming for more.
Forget Defensive Player of the Year. Wembanyama wants to be Defensive Player of the Decade.
“It’s the first of many,” Wembanyama said.
It is a turn of events Wembanyama might not have seen coming eight years ago, when he was still coming up through the French youth system.
There, he quickly learned the value of playing defense.
“When you play in Europe in a professional academy, as I was, you have one job when you start practicing with the pros,” Wembanyama said. “You have to guard, you have to rebound and play defense. And if you’re not able to do that, you basically don’t have the spot. You don’t belong.”
The youngest and only unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in NBA history does not need a Hakeem Olajuwon trophy to prove he already belongs among the league’s all-time great defenders.
But it certainly doesn’t hurt.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News