By Anthony Slater, 2026-05-12 19:00:00
在大约两小时前，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 一记势大力沉的右肘击中了纳兹·里德 (Naz Reid) 的下颚，彻底改变了圣安东尼奥马刺与明尼苏达森林狼之间这场次轮系列赛的局势。随后，一名记者询问了鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert) 的看法。
问题是：戈贝尔是否认为，森林狼在整个系列赛中展现出的身体对抗强度，让文班亚马感到沮丧，从而导致了那次恶意犯规？
“我不知道，”戈贝尔坏笑着说，“去问他吧。”
在这个世界上，恐怕没有人比戈贝尔更能精准地解读文班亚马的视角了。这位身高7英尺1英寸、征战职业联赛13年的老将，长期以来一直对自己因为身材优势而在禁区内遭受的对抗尺度感到沮丧。
戈贝尔恰好也是文班亚马非常信赖和崇拜的人。作为法国篮球史上最伟大的球员之一，考虑到两人相同的位置和相似的身材，戈贝尔一直是文班亚马的榜样，而后者看起来正走在成为法国历史上最伟大球员的道路上。
“他在我的旅程中扮演了极其重要的角色，”文班亚马在系列赛开始前说道，“[他]一直是我的榜样，在很多方面启发了我，事实上他应该启发更多的人。”
但在目前的这两周里，向戈贝尔寻求对文班亚马的同情显然是不合时宜的。两人正处于季后赛激战之中，目前系列赛战成2-2平，双方将于周二回到圣安东尼奥进行第五场“天王山之战” (东部时间晚8点，NBC)。
33岁的戈贝尔正试图在职业生涯窗口关闭前突破季后赛天花板，赢下首个总冠军。在上一轮对阵尼古拉·约基奇 (Nikola Jokic) 和丹佛掘金的比赛中，他打出了职业生涯代表作。但那个他曾在他青少年时期给予指导的22岁年轻人，正挡在他的面前，封盖着视野内的一切。
文班亚马则试图加速开启他的伟大征程，痴迷于尽可能快地积累荣誉。但他的导师成了他通往第三个赛季梦想之路上的一道瘦长障碍。
在第三场比赛的早晨，戈贝尔同意接受 ESPN 的采访，深入讲述他与文班亚马的往事，并揭秘了他们的交流方式。这两位法国大个子有着近十年的友谊，但在过去的一周里，他们的短信对话框一直保持着沉默。
“现在不聊，”戈贝尔说，“[我们]平时会聊。在场上我们会打招呼。我们的家人也会见面。但现在我们都专注于比赛。”
圣安东尼奥马刺队的文班亚马与鲁迪·戈贝尔领衔的明尼苏达森林狼队在 NBA 季后赛第二轮相遇。照片由 David Berding/Getty Images 拍摄。
据戈贝尔回忆，他们第一次见面是在2017年夏天。当时他在法国参加一个青少年锦标赛，他们共同的经纪人杰里米·梅贾纳 (Jérémy Medjana) 带着一个13岁的孩子走了进来，那个孩子当时的身高就已经超过了6英尺。
“但是，我的意思是，你经常能见到很多高个子小孩，”戈贝尔说，“我当时其实在想，他的妈妈真高。”
文班亚马的母亲艾洛蒂 (Elodie) 身高6英尺3英寸，父亲菲利克斯 (Felix) 身高6英尺7英寸。在接下来的几年里，从13岁到16岁，文班亚马的身高超过了父母两人，长到了7英尺3英寸。
就在那时，一段2020年在法国楠泰尔训练的视频浮出水面。视频中包含了一些二对二训练——正值巅峰的法国篮球传奇戈贝尔和文森特·普瓦里耶 (Vincent Poirier)，对阵两名当地的潜力新星：文班亚马和马克西姆·雷诺 (Maxime Raynaud)。雷诺在2025年被萨克拉门托国王队选中，刚刚结束了一个充满希望的新秀赛季，担任该队的首发中锋。
“当我16岁的时候，我很希望能和一些 NBA 球员一起训练，”戈贝尔说，“尤其是那些和我打相同位置的球员。”
在那场二对二训练中，文班亚马展示了他的技术天赋，但成年人与相差11岁的青少年之间在力量上仍有巨大差距。训练结束后，戈贝尔把文班亚马和雷诺带到了力量房。他让他们见识了自己的健身计划，正是这套计划让他保持了如此长久的职业耐用性。
“在照顾身体方面，他应该是所有大个子的榜样，”文班亚马说道。
戈贝尔称文班亚马是个“有点极客（nerd）的人”，这让他们志趣相投。戈贝尔说他从小就玩电子游戏，探索各种随机的爱好。文班亚马经常向他请教。他们会互相推荐书籍，还会一起下国际象棋。
但显而易见的是，文班亚马从戈贝尔身上学到最多的是，如何在职业篮球这个充满伤病隐患的领域中，保护和维持一具巨大的躯体。戈贝尔在八个不同的赛季中至少出战了70场比赛，在他职业生涯的905场比赛中，场均出场时间超过30分钟。
“这（身体管理）就是一切，”戈贝尔说，“你可以拥有极高的天赋，但如果你不能上场，那又有什么意义呢？你需要自律来照顾好自己的身体。当你身高达到7英尺甚至更高时，你的关节压力更大，体重更重，风险也大得多。所以这需要大量普通球迷看不到的‘隐形工作’。”
戈贝尔为自己不断积累的篮球遗产感到自豪，尽管他认为这些遗产有时并未得到应有的尊重——他曾四次获得年度最佳防守球员（DPOY），而为此付出的持续努力却常被边缘化。
在文班亚马身上，他发现了一个冉冉升起的天才，不仅认可他的训练方案，还表现出了极大的模仿兴趣。这意味着文班亚马会不断抛出关于营养、健身和避免受伤秘诀的问题。戈贝尔甚至在系列赛前提到，文班亚马最近还发短信问他家里用的是哪种净水器。
“这包含了所有为了变得更强壮、更灵活而花费的时间，”戈贝尔说，“你的恢复、你的平衡。这些对于节奏如此之快的比赛来说至关重要。比赛中有很多身体对抗，赛程密集，还有大量的旅途奔波。所以，如果你不对此产生某种——我会说是‘执念’的话，你就没有为自己能够持续上场创造最好的机会。”
文班亚马本是第二个赛季获得年度最佳防守球员的大热门，但由于右肩深静脉血栓导致赛季提前报销。这个诊断结果让他感到后怕，戈贝尔觉得，这也让他更加专注了。
“非常可怕的事情，”戈贝尔说，“有那么一段时间，他不确定自己是否还能再打球。”
文班亚马寻求了适当的治疗，康复后在第三个赛季迎来了大爆发。
ESPN 的蒂姆·麦克马洪 (Tim MacMahon) 最近转述了一个故事：去年夏天，作为成长计划的一部分，一名马刺队助教给文班亚马看了一些戈贝尔的比赛录像，文班亚马反驳道，他在防守端已经比戈贝尔更出色了。
助教提醒文班亚马，戈贝尔拥有四座 DPOY 奖杯，而马刺队上赛季的防守排名仅位列联盟第25位。文班亚马承认这一点是客观事实，也是他将潜力转化为现实的必经之路。
本赛季，随着马刺队豪取62胜，他们的防守排名升至联盟第三，文班亚马也全票当选了他的首座 DPOY。这引发了人们的讨论：他是否将在这个奖项类别中开启一段不可阻挡的统治。戈贝尔相信自己仍有一席之地。
“只要我还呼吸，”戈贝尔说，“我就会一直努力在我的领域做到世界最强。”
戈贝尔和文班亚马曾是2024年奥运会的队友。法国国家队主帅文森特·科莱 (Vincent Collet) 在征程初期曾尝试让他们同时上场，但随着锦标赛的进行，他更频繁地将两人拆开，通常让戈贝尔坐在替补席上。在输给美国的金牌争夺战中，戈贝尔仅出场了12分钟。
“出于某种原因，我们停止了[双塔战术]，”戈贝尔说，“我认为我们两人同时在场是非常独特的，对其他球队来说非常棘手，但我们后来不这么做了。这也没关系。”
戈贝尔表达了对2028年奥运会再次联手的期待，并希望在洛杉矶完成复仇，他认为那可能是他争夺金牌的最后机会。
但眼下，这是两位同胞在西部季后赛中的竞争。戈贝尔在首轮战胜掘金的系列赛中，让约基奇的投篮仅为82投34中（命中率41.5%），并且在单防这位年轻的全明星时也表现得相当出色。
根据 ESPN 的数据追踪，在本系列赛中，当戈贝尔作为主要防守者时，文班亚马的投篮仅为20投8中（命中率40%）。文班亚马曾通过突破击败过戈贝尔，但当戈贝尔能将文班亚马挡在篮下之外、迫使其成为一名跳投球员时，戈贝尔取得了巨大的成功。
这仍将是周二晚上关键第五战的核心战场。届时，森林狼队预计会面对一个充满斗志、进攻欲望极强的文班亚马，他正一心想要统治这位他曾经偶像化的中锋。
“我希望法国人民能感到自豪，”戈贝尔说，“在法国，我们拥有一群非常独特的球迷。很多时候，他们对法国人比对其他人更严苛，甚至更愿意去支持别人。”
“我真正关心的是，让法国的年轻孩子们拥有可以仰望的榜样，让他们看到一切皆有可能。”
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：The French Connection: Gobert, Wemby put their friendship on hold for the playoffs
The French Connection: Gobert, Wemby put their friendship on hold for the playoffs
ABOUT TWO HOURS after a vicious Victor Wembanyama right elbow clipped Naz Reid’s jaw and completely altered the complexion of this second-round series between the San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves, a reporter asked Rudy Gobert for his perspective.
Did Gobert believe, the question went, Minnesota’s series-long physicality had frustrated Wembanyama into the flagrant?
“I don’t know,” Gobert smirked. “Ask him.”
There’s perhaps nobody better in the world to deliver a facsimile of Wembanyama’s viewpoint than Gobert. At a sturdy 7-foot-1, the 13-year pro has long been frustrated about the level of contact allowed against him in the paint due to what he believes is his size advantage.
Gobert also happens to have Wembanyama’s ear and admiration. Gobert is one of the greatest French basketball players ever and, considering their shared position and similar stature, served as an exemplar for Wembanyama, who appears on track to become the greatest hooper in French history.
“He’s played a huge role in my journey,” Wembanyama said before the series. “[He] has been a role model, has inspired me in so many ways that should actually inspire more people.”
But this two-week stretch is the most inconvenient time in history to prod Gobert for some Wembanyama sympathy. The two are midway through a playoff clash that is tied at 2-2 as the series shifts back to San Antonio for Tuesday’s Game 5 (8 p.m. ET, NBC).
Gobert, 33, is trying to break through the playoff ceiling before it’s too late and win his first title, coming off a career-defining performance against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. But the 22-year-old he once guided as a teenager is in the way, swatting everything in sight.
Wembanyama is trying to fast-forward his stampede to greatness, obsessed with piling up hardware as rapidly as possible. But his mentor is the lanky roadblock between him and that third-season dream.
Gobert agreed to take ESPN inside his history with Wembanyama the morning of Game 3, pulling back the curtain on their lines of communication. The French big men share almost a decade of friendship, but their text message thread has been quiet for the past week.
“Not right now,” Gobert said. “[We talk] in regular times. We say ‘hi’ [on the court]. Our families see each other. But we are focused.”
The San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama are facing Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
THEY FIRST MET in summer 2017, as Gobert remembers it. He was at a youth tournament in France when Jérémy Medjana, their shared agent, walked in with a 13-year-old who was already creeping past 6-foot tall.
“But, I mean, you see a lot of tall kids around,” Gobert said. “I actually remember thinking his mom was really tall.”
Wembanyama’s mother, Elodie, is 6-3. His father, Felix, is 6-7. Over the next few years, from age 13 to 16, Victor blew past both, growing to 7-3.
That’s when video of a 2020 training session in Nanterre, France, surfaced. It included some 2-on-2 work – Gobert and Vincent Poirier, the midprime French basketball legends, facing a pair of rising local teenagers: Wembanyama and Maxime Raynaud, who was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in 2025 and just finished a promising rookie season starting at center for them.
“When I was 16, I would’ve loved to work out with some NBA players,” Gobert said. “Especially the guys that play in my position.”
After the 2-on-2, which included skill flashes from Wembanyama but a stark difference in strength between an adult and teenager separated by 11 years in age, Gobert took Wembanyama and Raynaud to the weight room. He gave them a glimpse inside the fitness program that has allowed him to be so durable.
“In terms of taking care of your body, he should be a model for all big men,” Wembanyama said.
Gobert calls Wembanyama a “little bit of a nerd,” which makes them kindred spirits. Gobert said he grew up playing video games and exploring random hobbies. Wembanyama often reaches out to pick his brain. They share book recommendations. They play chess.
But it’s clear what Wembanyama takes most from Gobert is the ability to protect and preserve a gigantic body in a minefield of a profession. Gobert has played at least 70 games in eight separate seasons, averaging more than 30 minutes in his 905 career games.
“It’s everything,” Gobert said. “You can be as talented as you want, but if you’re not able to be on the floor, what’s the point? You need the discipline to take care of your body. And when you’re 7-feet and higher, you have more pressure on your joints, you’re heavier. There’s a lot more risk. So it requires a lot more invisible work that the average fan doesn’t see.”
Gobert is proud of a growing basketball legacy that, at times, he believes has been disrespected, with his four Defensive Player of the Year awards and the consistent work required for them marginalized.
In Wembanyama, he found a rising talent who not only recognized Gobert’s regimen but showed a great level of interest in emulating it. That meant a constant peppering of questions about nutrition, fitness and the secrets of injury avoidance. Gobert even said before the series that Wembanyama recently texted him to ask which kind of water filters he had in his house.
“It’s all the hours spent getting stronger, getting more flexible,” Gobert said. “Your recovery, your balance. These are essential to the game that is such a high pace. There’s a lot of contact, a lot of games, a lot of traveling. So if you don’t become, I would say, obsessed with that, you’re not putting the best chances on your side to be out there.”
WEMBANYAMA WAS THE favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year in his second season when it ended prematurely because of deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, a diagnosis that spooked him and, Gobert felt, increased his focus.
“Very scary thing,” Gobert said. “At some point he wasn’t sure if he was going to play basketball again.”
Wembanyama sought out the proper treatment, recovered and exploded in his third season.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon recently relayed a story of a Spurs assistant coach showing Wembanyama some Gobert film in the summer as part of a growth plan and Wembanyama retorting back that he was already better than Gobert defensively.
The assistant reminded Wembanyama that Gobert had four DPOYs and the Spurs had just finished the previous season 25th in defense, a point Wembanyama acknowledged as valid and necessary in his quest to turn potential into reality.
This season, as the Spurs rumbled to 62 wins, they finished with the league’s third-best defense, and Wembanyama won his first DPOY unanimously, sparking conversation about whether he is about to string together an unstoppable run in that award category. Gobert believes he will be heard from again.
“As long as I breathe,” Gobert said, “I’m always going to try to be the best in the world in what I do.”
Gobert and Wembanyama were teammates during the 2024 Olympics. French national team coach Vincent Collet used them on the court together at times early in their run but split them up more regularly as the tournament progressed, often keeping Gobert on the bench. He was limited to 12 minutes in the gold medal loss to the United States.
“For some reason we stopped [going double big],” Gobert said. “I thought that was very unique for us to be on the court together and very tough for the other team, but we stopped doing it. It was fine.”
Gobert expressed a level of excitement about pairing up again in the 2028 Olympics and seeking revenge in Los Angeles, believing that could be his last chance at a gold medal.
But, for now, it’s competition between the countrymen in the Western Conference playoffs. Gobert held Jokic to 34-of-82 shooting (41.5%) in the first-round series win over the Nuggets and has held up decently well in isolation against the younger All-Star.
According to ESPN tracking, Gobert has held Wembanyama to 8-of-20 shooting (40%) as the primary defender in this series. Wembanyama has beaten Gobert using the drive, but Gobert has found plenty of success when he’s able to keep Wembanyama away from the basket as a jump shooter.
That will again be a key battleground in a pivotal Game 5 on Tuesday night, when the Timberwolves expect a motivated Wembanyama to return to the series aggressively, intent on dominating a center he once idolized.
“I hope that the French people are proud,” Gobert said. "France, we have very unique type of fans. A lot of times, sometimes there is this thing where they’re harder on the French people than on others and they rather be fans of others.
“What I truly care about is for the young kids in France that they have people to look up to and can see what is possible.”
By Anthony Slater, via ESPN