By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-22 21:51:47
2026年4月22日，星期三，在NBA宣布马刺前锋凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 荣膺年度最佳第六人奖项后，他在胜利资本训练中心 (Victory Capital Performance Center) 受到了球队工作人员的欢迎。
凯尔登·约翰逊的马刺队友们最喜欢他的地方之一，就是他似乎从来没有状态低迷的时候。
“他从不会表现出来，我可以告诉你们这一点，”德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 上个月说道，“无论他的个人生活发生了什么，他总是以同样的状态出现在球场，总是那么快乐、积极，带动着每一个人。”
从表面上看，约翰逊本赛季一如既往地乐观。
但在周三赢得NBA年度最佳第六人奖项后，他透露自己在场外也曾面临一些艰难时刻。
“我曾和队友们说过这些，现在也和你们分享一点，这是我生命中最艰难的一年之一，”约翰逊说道，“我的祖父一直在（弗吉尼亚州）与癌症作斗争，所以我的父母经常两头跑。我的父亲没怎么能陪在我身边，而我和父母的关系非常亲近。他们是我最好的朋友。所以在没有他们陪伴的情况下度过这个赛季，真的很不容易。”
在至亲不在身边的情况下，约翰逊依靠马刺这个大家庭度过了难关。
“当我谈到这艰难的一年时，这也是对马刺的一种褒奖，因为我觉得这里有很多家人，”在联盟宣布他获奖后不久，他在球队训练设施接受媒体采访时表示。
“面对我所经历的一切，在那些我感到力不从心的日子里，我来到这里，队友们总能让我振作起来。我看到医疗团队在微笑，录像室的工作人员们也在微笑，这就像一个大家庭。日复一日，你们看到的凯尔登·约翰逊总是充满活力，但正是身边这些人成就了现在的我。他们创造了这样一个环境，让我能够做自己。他们真的为我提供了一个绝佳的空间，让我每天都能展现这种能量，做回那个凯尔登·约翰逊。
“我为自己赢得这个奖项感到高兴，但这份荣誉属于我们整个组织。”
当约翰逊抵达胜利资本训练中心参加媒体见面会时，他发现队友们正戴着牛仔帽等着他，其中包括在周二季后赛负于波特兰的比赛中遭遇脑震荡的文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)，现场还大声播放着麦莉·赛勒斯 (Miley Cyrus) 的《Party in the U.S.A.》。
对于这位自称来自弗吉尼亚农村的“乡村男孩”来说，这无疑是最贴切的致敬方式。他走进大楼时，正穿着蓝色牛仔裤、靴子，当然，还戴着一顶牛仔帽。
“我真心告诉你们，这可能是我人生中最美好的时刻，能走进那里看到所有的队友都戴着牛仔帽为我尖叫欢呼，”约翰逊说，“这大概是最棒的惊喜之一。”
这位效力联盟第七年的前锋击败了迈阿密热火的小海梅·哈克斯 (Jamie Jaquez Jr.) 和丹佛掘金的小蒂姆·哈达威 (Tim Hardaway Jr.)，捧起了约翰·哈夫利切克奖杯。该奖杯以波士顿凯尔特人名宿约翰·哈夫利切克 (John Havlicek) 的名字命名，他在1978年结束的16年职业生涯中曾获得过8次NBA总冠军。
26岁的约翰逊追随名人堂成员马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili)（2008年）的脚步，成为马刺队史上仅有的两位获得该奖项的球员。在由100名全球媒体成员组成的评审团中，他获得了63张第一顺位选票，远超哈克斯获得的34张。
这位弗吉尼亚人帮助马刺队取得了62胜20负的战绩——全联盟仅次于俄克拉荷马城——而上赛季马刺的战绩仅为34胜48负。他本赛季场均出场23.3分钟，贡献13.2分、5.4个篮板和1.4次助攻，投篮命中率为51.9%，三分命中率为36.3%，罚球命中率为79.4%。
2026年4月22日，星期三，在NBA宣布凯尔登·约翰逊荣膺2025-2026赛季年度最佳第六人后，他在胜利资本训练中心接受记者采访。
约翰逊也是全联盟唯一一位打满全部82场常规赛的替补球员。
今年4月，他成为马刺队史上首位单赛季替补得分超过1000分的球员。他最终以单赛季1081分的成绩刷新了队史替补得分纪录，此前的纪录由吉诺比利保持（2007-2008赛季得到927分）。
约翰逊在2023-24赛季中期开始担任球队的第六人，当时的主教练格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 将他调整至替补席，希望这位2019年选秀大会的29号秀能用他的高能量激活萎靡不振的第二阵容。
起初，这一变动对约翰逊来说并不容易接受，因为他在2020年至2023年的三个赛季里一直担任首发，并且刚刚经历了一个职业生涯巅峰年——当时他场均砍下22分，领跑全队。
但他最终接受并全身心投入到这个角色中，并从此表现出色。
“刚开始确实很难，但在进入那个休赛期（2024年夏天）后，我认真审视了自己，（对自己说）我想成为这里特别事业的一部分，”他说，“我知道，如果这需要我放下自尊，我会照做，并全身心投入到为了在圣安东尼奥取得成功而需要做的任何事情中。我放下了小我，只是去做我该做的事，去完成对我的任何要求。”
换句话说，他“战胜了自我 (got over himself)”，这也是波波维奇在执教的29个赛季里经常要求球员们做到的。
“在我的NBA生涯中，波波绝对是对我影响最大的人，”约翰逊说，“从一开始他就相信我。当我年轻、甚至还不一定相信自己或不知道自己是否属于这里时，他就相信我。他是我见过的最慈爱、最真诚、最关心他人的人。他以一种我可能永远无法用言语表达的方式，对我的职业生涯产生了巨大的影响。”
2026年4月19日，星期日，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心 (Frost Bank Center) 举行的NBA季后赛首轮对阵波特兰开拓者的第一场比赛上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺前锋凯尔登·约翰逊 (3) 在上场前调整头带。
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：Keldon Johnson emotional after winning NBA Sixth Man of the Year
Keldon Johnson emotional after winning NBA Sixth Man of the Year
Spurs forward Keldon Johnson is greeted by team basketball staffers at the Victory Capital Performance Center after the NBA announced on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 that he had won the Sixth Man of the Year Award.
One of the things Keldon Johnson’s Spurs teammates love about him is that he seemingly never has a bad day.
“He wouldn’t show it, I’ll let you know that,” Devin Vassell said last month. “No matter what’s going on in his personal life, he always comes in the same way, always happy, positive, getting everybody going.”
On the surface, Johnson was as upbeat as ever this season.
But after winning the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award on Wednesday, he revealed he faced some challenging times away from the court.
“I was telling my teammates this, and I’ll share a little bit with y’all, but this has been one of the toughest years of my life,” he said. “My granddad has been fighting cancer (in Virginia), so my parents have been in and out. My dad hasn’t really been here as much, and I’m really tight with my parents. They are my best friends. So not really having them here and going through the season, it’s been tough.”
With the most important members of his biological family away, Johnson leaned on his Spurs family to get through the adversity.
“When I talk about my tough year, it’s a testament to the Spurs because I feel like I have so much family here,” he told the media at the team’s practice facility shortly after the league announced he had won the award.
"With what I had going on, on the days I didn’t have it, I was able to come here and my teammates picked me up. I saw our medical team smiling, our video room guys (smiling), it’s like one big family. Day in and day out, you see Keldon Johnson with all the energy, but the people who are here with me, they make this possible for me. They create this environment that allows me to be myself. They really put me in an amazing space to bring this energy and be Keldon Johnson each and every day.
“I’m happy for myself that I won this award, but this is for our whole organization.”
When Johnson arrived at the Victory Capital Performance Center for the media session, his found his teammates, including Victor Wembanyama, who suffered a concussion in Tuesday’s playoff loss to Portland, waiting for him wearing cowboy hats while Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” blared.
It was a fitting tribute to the self-proclaimed country boy from rural Virginia, who walked into the building sporting blue jeans, boots, and, yes, a cowboy hat.
“I’m genuinely telling you this, this is probably like the best moment of my life to be able to walk up there and see all my teammates in cowboy hats and screaming and yelling for me,” Johnson said. “It was probably one of the best surprises.”
The seventh-year forward topped Miami’s Jamie Jaquez Jr. and Denver’s Tim Hardaway Jr. to win the John Havlicek Trophy, named for the Boston Celtics great who won eight NBA titles during a 16-year career that ended in 1978.
Johnson, 26, joins Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili (2008) as the only players in Spurs history to claim the award. He received 63 first-place votes from a global media panel of 100 voters, far outpacing the 34 Jaquez received.
The Virginia native helped the Spurs go 62-20 — only Oklahoma City had a better mark — after they finished 34-48 last season by averaging 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 23.3 minutes while shooting 51.9% from the field, 36.3% from the 3-point line and 79.4% shooting from the free throw line.
Spurs forward Keldon Johnson at the session with reporters on Wednesday, April 22, 20216 at the Victory Capital Performance Center after the NBA announced he had won the 2025-2026 Sixth Man of the Year Award.
Johnson was also the only bench player in the league to appear in all 82 games.
In April, he became the first player in Spurs history to score 1,000-plus points off the bench in a single season. He finished the season with 1,081 to set the single-season franchise bench scoring mark, a record once owned by Ginobili (927 in 2007-2008).
Johnson became the club’s sixth man midway through the 2023-24 campaign when then-coach Gregg Popovich moved him to the bench hoping the the high-energy 29th overall pick of the 2019 draft would energize a sagging second unit.
The move wasn’t easy for Johnson to accept at first after being a starter for three seasons from 2020 through 2023 and coming off a career year in which he led the Spurs in scoring at 22 points per outing.
But he eventually bought into the role and has thrived in it ever since.
“It was tough at first, but I went into that offseason (summer 2024) and I really looked in the mirror and (said) I want to be a part of something special here,” he said. “And I knew that, OK, if it takes putting my ego aside, I’ll do that and just buy into whatever I need to do to be successful here in San Antonio. I removed my ego and I just did what I needed to do and whatever I was asked.”
In other words, he “got over himself,” something Popovich constantly asked his players to do during his 29 seasons as coach.
“Definitely for my NBA career, Pop has been the most influential person,” Johnson said. “From the jump, he believed in me. He believed in me when I was young and I didn’t necessarily believe in myself or knew that I belonged here. He’s the most loving, genuine, caring individual I’ve ever came across. He’s affected in amazing ways my career in amounts I probably could never even put into words.”
San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (3) adjusts his head band before walking onto the court during the first half of Game 1 of a first-round NBA playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers at Frost Bank Center, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in San Antonio.
By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News