By Michael C. Wright, 2026-05-26 19:00:00
**凌晨12点30分，**达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 刚刚套上一双切尔西靴，搭配着他的灰色西裤，以及一件套在白色有领衬衫外面的棕色罗纹圆领毛衣。
队友们穿着耐克Tech Fleece运动服、牛仔裤和连帽衫在更衣室里穿梭，准备登上外面等待的SUV和巴士。在西部半决赛第三场战胜明尼苏达森林狼队后，圣安东尼奥马刺队将举行一场自愿参加的球队晚宴。此时，福克斯双手插兜，摇了摇头。
这支年轻队伍中28岁的“老将”已经做出了决定。
“已经12点30分了。我就不去了，”福克斯说，“我们明天可以一起吃早午餐。”
福克斯承认自己是一个极度依赖规律生活的人，他“对一天的生活只有一到两个，最多三个规划选项，而且我几乎绝不会偏离这些规划”。这是福克斯在NBA征战九个赛季后总结出来的习惯。
福克斯表示，他坚信场下的生活越稳定，场上的球技就越能提升。这也是为什么自5月10日对阵森林狼的第四场比赛以来，尽管右脚踝高位扭伤让他步履蹒跚，但他每次倒下后都能重新站起来。
“这让我能够保持更稳定的状态，更冷静的头脑，”福克斯告诉ESPN，“如果我投不进球，我觉得自己也不会变得心浮气躁。即使我手感火热，我的打法也不会改变。我觉得在整个过程中，我都能保持一种平稳的心态。”
但在一年前，福克斯在NBA的规律生活被打破了。当时他被萨克拉门托国王队交易到了马刺队，而国王是他职业生涯前八个赛季效力的唯一球队。他几乎是瞬间从一个需要大量球权的当家球星，转变为加入一支围绕着维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 构建的球队。这一转变并非一帆风顺，但福克斯在转型后期的领导力，可能是帮助圣安东尼奥跨越迄今为止最严峻挑战的关键：迎战卫冕冠军俄克拉荷马城雷霆队。两队目前大比分打成2-2平，即将迎来周二的第五场对决（美东时间晚上8:30，NBC直播）。
“我本以为自己来这里只需融入集体，听从指挥就行，”福克斯告诉ESPN，“但大家却对我说，‘不，做你擅长的事。’所以，有时候我会开启个人模式，而有时候我更想确保每个人都能摸到球，确保每个人都打得舒服、自在。”
在达龙·福克斯因右脚踝高位扭伤缺席的第一场和第二场比赛中，马刺队场均出现22次失误。雷霆队利用这些失误场均得到27.5分。图/Abbie Parr/美联社
如果说有谁比任何人都更理解福克斯对规律生活的坚持，那一定是他的妻子雷茜 (Recee)。她在10岁时搬到了圣安东尼奥。在约翰逊高中时期，她像丈夫一样执着地努力，最终入选了麦当劳全美高中明星赛，之后她先后在加州大学洛杉矶分校 (UCLA)、德克萨斯理工大学和加州大学伯克利分校打大学篮球。曾用名雷茜·考德威尔 (Recee Caldwell) 的她，还曾参加过WNBA西雅图风暴队的训练营，并曾担任华盛顿奇才队和金州勇士队的球员发展实习生。
在伯克利分校的最后一个赛季，随着两人开始相识相恋，雷茜经常去萨克拉门托探望达龙，他们会一起投篮，有时还会切磋一下。她对他的技术特点了如指掌，以至于福克斯告诉马刺队的队友，只要他罚球不进，就注意听她的声音。
“手肘抬高，”两人异口同声地笑着说道。
“没错，就是这样！手肘要高过眼睛。如果你的手肘高过眼睛，投篮弧度会更好。如果他投偏了，那是因为他出手时用了这三个[手指]，”雷茜一边演示一边说道，“随着时间推移，我已经习惯在比赛期间不打扰他了。但罚球是个例外，我永远不会停止唠叨，因为那时候全场都很安静。所以我知道他能听到我的声音。他得听进去，我就说这么多。”
达龙反驳道。
“我听着呢，”他说，“我听到了。”
不过事实是，如今达龙和雷茜聊篮球的次数远不如以前多了，这主要是因为他们承担起了为人父母的责任。在两人于2022年结婚后，达龙在意大利度蜜月期间依然抽空进行训练，最终他们同意缩短蜜月行程，以便这位后卫能为萨克拉门托即将到来的新赛季做准备。
在新冠疫情期间，雷茜甚至亲自带头训练这位两届全明星球员。
当达龙提到夫妻俩现在很少聊篮球时，雷茜迅速插话。
“我懂得察言观色，”她说，“他打职业联赛已经很久了，早就学会了自我修正。你已经积累了这么多年的经验，知道自己哪里犯了错，所以没必要一直抓着不放。”
尽管如此，没有人比雷茜更适合陪伴福克斯走过这段最新的旅程了，她亲眼见证了这位后卫在圣安东尼奥如何迅速适应并学习新的角色。在2023年他代表萨克拉门托唯一一次季后赛亮相中，福克斯掌控着大量球权，在场均84.4次触球中贡献27.4分和7.7次助攻。
在今年的季后赛征程中，由于这支马刺队人才济济，且由绝代天才文班亚马领衔，福克斯的得分、助攻和触球次数都出现了显著下降。
福克斯还将自己的球衣号码从萨克拉门托时期的5号，改成了雷茜在大学时期穿的4号。
当被问及达龙是否很好地代表了她的号码时，雷茜喜笑颜开。
“今年我真的很为他感到骄傲，”她说，“他扮演了一个全新的角色。他牺牲了很多。考虑到这支[马刺队]的天赋，很多人都做出了牺牲。而在因为去年7月遭遇大腿后侧肌群拉伤而没有进行休赛期训练的情况下，能如此迅速地做到这一点，简直不可思议。”
雷茜说，如果她没有嫁给达龙，她现在可能已经在NBA的某个地方担任球员发展教练了。在金州勇士队工作期间，雷茜在加州大学伯克利分校攻读硕士学位，她曾与前勇士队球员发展教练、现任佛罗里达州立大学主教练的卢克·劳克斯 (Luke Loucks) 一起工作。对她来说，在球馆里协助劳克斯训练斯蒂芬·库里 (Stephen Curry) 和凯文·杜兰特 (Kevin Durant) 等球员是家常便饭。
马刺队并没有拥有这两位超级巨星般履历的老将。但他们拥有一个年轻的奇才，事实证明，他是福克斯最完美的挡拆空接搭档。
“他让比赛变得很有趣，”文班亚马在谈到福克斯时说道，“我们有很多顺下突破和快攻的机会，无论是通过组织传球还是个人得分，他都起到了极大的促进作用。”
在进入今年的季后赛之前，这对搭档总共只有7场季后赛经验，且全部来自福克斯在2024年的经历。但在第二场以38分大胜明尼苏达之后，当被问及球队缺乏经验的问题时，文班亚马直截了当地回答道：“我们不在乎。”
福克斯也表示，他认为他们完全有理由成为自2020年洛杉矶湖人队以来，第一支在过去六个赛季未进季后赛却能夺冠的球队。
“人们认为我们唯一缺少的就是经验，”福克斯告诉ESPN，“从来没有人说过，‘他们没有好球员。他们没有天赋。他们没有好教练。’大家总是在谈论经验。这真的是唯一的短板。所以，无论是今年、明年还是后年，我认为这支球队现在的上限就是总冠军。”
在马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 宣布福克斯在首轮第四场比赛中的表现“可能是他作为马刺球员最好的一场比赛”的两天后，这位后卫奉献了可以说是他截至当时在季后赛中最有分量的一场表现。
在第五场比赛的第四节，福克斯砍下了全队最高21分中的13分，帮助圣安东尼奥以4-1淘汰波特兰开拓者队，赢得了自2017年以来的首个季后赛系列赛胜利。那一晚，福克斯通过得分或助攻创造了42分，队友们将他传球后75%的投篮机会转化为得分。
“我认为这正是他的成长和成熟，以及在关键时刻挺身而出的体现，”马刺队前锋哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 说道，他在萨克拉门托曾与福克斯做了六个赛季的队友，如今两人在圣安东尼奥重聚。“因为他经历过很多，所以他能够设身处地地理解不同人的处境。他帮助了其他人，成长并发展了自己的全能打法，真正影响了比赛的胜负。”
截至目前在季后赛中，当马刺队在福克斯上场的时间里赢分时，他们的战绩为7胜1负；而当圣安东尼奥在这些时间里输分时，战绩则为2胜3负。
“他已经在这个联盟中证明了自己可以砍下高分，他也为我们做到了这一点，”约翰逊说，“同时，他也甘愿坐在副驾驶位置上，辅佐维克托。他把球权交给迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 和斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Steph Castle)，这些年轻球员无所畏惧、充满韧性，渴望冲击每一次进攻。然后，在某种程度上，他自己也能接管比赛并主宰赛场。他可能是这一切能够运转起来最默默无闻的功臣。”
在今年季后赛的关键时刻和第四节，福克斯被证明是推动圣安东尼奥与文班亚马并肩前行的引擎。在季后赛的第四节中，福克斯仅出现了两次失误，同时送出了16次助攻。福克斯目前在第四节得分榜上并列第九（69分），在助攻榜上排名第五。福克斯是今年季后赛中仅有的五位在第四节至少拿到50分和15次助攻的球员之一。
这并不令人意外，因为福克斯是2022-23赛季NBA的年度关键球员。但福克斯在这里并不孤单，因为文班亚马在今年季后赛的第四节已经得到了74分，并列NBA第四。与此同时，卡斯尔在今年季后赛第四节送出了创NBA纪录的29次助攻。
福克斯在关键时刻的强大实力，很大程度上源于他通过运球寻找出手点的高超能力。今年季后赛，福克斯的运球后三分命中率达到了43%，相比之下，明尼苏达的安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) 在此类投篮中仅为52投16中。福克斯在所有运球后投篮中的命中率高达49%，在至少出手80次的季后赛球员中排名第七。
福克斯在今年季后赛中还有81%的投篮属于自主创造机会得分，这一数据在NBA排名第四。
“我们希望他能成为我们的那个核心，成为我们的关键先生，”马刺队前锋朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 说道，“[我们]给他所需的空间，并在他需要我们的时候挺身而出。在很大程度上，这是属于他的世界，而我们只是生活在其中。”
圣安东尼奥深知没有他的日子有多难过。由于福克斯因脚踝扭伤缺席了分区决赛的前两场比赛，马刺队场均出现22次失误，并因为这些失误让对手得到27.5分。自他在第三场和第四场回归以来，圣安东尼奥将场均失误减少到了14次，俄克拉荷马城利用失误的场均得分也降到了16.5分。
尽管哈珀（内收肌）和福克斯都因腿部伤势而步履蹒跚，但圣安东尼奥在第四场或第五场比赛前，都选择不将这两位后卫列入官方伤病报告。
在马刺队第四场的胜利中，福克斯顶着受伤的脚踝抢下了10个篮板。但在当晚的一次进攻中，助理教练肖恩·斯威尼 (Sean Sweeney) 恳求这位28岁的老将利用本能去争抢篮板。福克斯解释说，正是本能首先让他站到了争抢篮板的有利位置。
“心有余，而力不足，”福克斯说道。
福克斯带伤作战，砍下12分、10个篮板、5次助攻且零失误，拿下了他职业生涯第二次季后赛两双，帮助圣安东尼奥将系列赛大比分追至2-2平。
“只要我们能让他们的每一次进攻都变得艰难，只要我们能打出节奏，我们就能给自己赢球的机会，”福克斯说，“如果我们输了，那也只能接受，[只要]我们打得合理。在大多数情况下，只要我们打出自己的风格，我们就能笑到最后。”
由生成式 AI 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：How De'Aaron Fox became the Spurs' closer
How De’Aaron Fox became the Spurs’ closer
IT’S 12:30 A.M., and De’Aaron Fox just slid on a pair of Chelsea boots with his gray slacks and a brown ribbed crew neck sweater over a collared white shirt.
As teammates wearing Nike tech fleece, jeans and hoodies scurry through the locker room to board SUVs and buses awaiting outside that will take the San Antonio Spurs to an optional team dinner after their Game 3 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference semifinals, Fox stuffs both hands into his pockets and shakes his head.
The 28-year-old “old man” of this young group has made up his mind.
“It’s already 12:30. I will not be at the dinner,” Fox said. “We can do brunch tomorrow.”
Fox acknowledges he’s a man who thrives off routine, having “one, two, maybe three options of what a day is going to be like, and I don’t veer off from that very much at all.” It’s behavior Fox learned through nine seasons in the NBA.
Fox says he firmly believes the steadier his life is off the court, the more his game can grow. It’s how he continues to rise every time he falls fighting through a high right ankle sprain that has hobbled him since Game 4 against the Wolves on May 10.
“It allows me to be more consistent, more levelheaded,” Fox told ESPN. “If I’m not making shots, I feel like I don’t get sporadic. Even when I’m making shots, my game doesn’t change. I think I stay kind of level, through it all.”
But Fox’s NBA routine was upended more than a year ago when he was traded by the Sacramento Kings, the only team he’d played for in his first eight NBA seasons, to the Spurs. Immediately, he morphed from thriving as his squad’s ball-dominant star to joining a team built around Victor Wembanyama, the future of the NBA. The change hasn’t been without its hiccups, but Fox’s leadership on the back end of the transition could be the key to helping San Antonio topple its most daunting challenge to date: the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. The teams are tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 (8:30 p.m. ET, NBC) on Tuesday.
“I felt like I could come in, fall in line,” Fox told ESPN. “But then everybody’s like, ‘No, you do you.’ So, there are times where I do that, and then there are times where I want to make sure everybody’s touching the ball, everybody’s fine, everybody’s comfortable.”
The Spurs averaged 22 turnovers in Games 1 and 2 with De’Aaron Fox out because of a right high ankle sprain. The Thunder averaged 27.5 points from those turnovers. Abbie Parr/AP Photo
IF THERE’S ONE person who understands Fox’s need for grounded routine better than anyone else, it’s his wife, Recee, who moved to San Antonio at age 10. She operated doggedly similarly in becoming a McDonald’s All American, like her husband, at Johnson High School, before playing college basketball at UCLA, Texas Tech and California. Formerly Recee Caldwell, she also participated in training camp with the WNBA’s Seattle Storm and served as a player development intern for the Washington Wizards and Golden State Warriors.
During her final season at Berkeley, as the couple started getting to know each other, Recee would visit De’Aaron in Sacramento, and they’d shoot hoops together and sometimes play. She knows his game so well that Fox told Spurs teammates to listen for her voice whenever he misses a free throw.
“Elbow up,” they both said simultaneously, laughing.
“Yeah, there you go! Elbow over eye. If you put your elbow over your eye, the arc is better. If he’s missing left or right, it’s because he’s shooting off these three [fingers],” Recee says, demonstrating. “I’ve grown to leave him alone during the games. But the free throws, I’ll never stop because also everyone else is quiet. So, I know he’s going to hear me. He needs to listen. That’s all I’m going to say.”
De’Aaron clapped back.
“I be listening,” he said. “I be hearing.”
The truth, though, is these days De’Aaron and Recee don’t talk nearly as much basketball as they used to largely because of their responsibilities as parents. After the couple married in 2022, De’Aaron still found time to work out during their honeymoon in Italy, which they eventually agreed to cut short so the guard could prepare for that upcoming season in Sacramento.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Recee even took the lead in working out the two-time All-Star.
When De’Aaron mentions how little the couple now talks hoops, Recee quickly interjects.
“I know how to read the room,” she says. “He’s been a professional for a long time. He’s learned to self-correct. You’ve had years under your belt. You know where you messed up. So, there’s no reason to keep harping about it.”
Still, there’s nobody better suited to walk alongside Fox through this latest journey than Recee, who watched the guard learn to play a new role on the fly in San Antonio. In his lone postseason appearance with Sacramento in 2023, Fox dominated the ball, averaging 27.4 points and 7.7 assists on 84.4 touches.
The scoring, assists and touches have dropped significantly throughout this playoff run with a Spurs squad loaded with talent and led by generational talent in Wembanyama.
Fox also changed his jersey from the No. 5 he wore in Sacramento to Recee’s college No. 4.
Recee lights up when asked whether De’Aaron is properly repping her number.
“I’m so proud of him this year,” she said. “He’s stepped into a whole new role. He’s sacrificed a lot. A lot of the [Spurs] have with how talented they are. And to be able to do that on the fly with no offseason training because of the hamstring [injury suffered last July] is insane.”
Recee says she thinks she might be working somewhere in the NBA now as a player development coach had she not married De’Aaron. During her time at Golden State, while pursuing her master’s degree at Cal, Recee worked with Luke Loucks, a former Warriors player development coach who is now the head coach at Florida State. It wasn’t uncommon for her to be in the gym assisting Loucks with players such as Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
The Spurs don’t have any veterans with the résumés of those two stars. What they do have is a young phenom who has proved to be the best possible pick-and-roll lob partner for Fox.
“He just makes the game fun,” Wembanyama said of Fox. “We get into so many downhill situations and fast breaks and he facilitates a lot, whether it’s with his playmaking or his scoring.”
The duo entered this postseason with seven combined games of playoff experience, all coming from Fox in 2024. But Wembanyama flat-out said, “We don’t care,” when asked about the team’s lack of experience on the heels of a 38-point blowout win over Minnesota in Game 2.
And Fox says he sees no reason why they can’t become the first team since 2020 Los Angeles Lakers to win the title without having played in the playoffs in the previous six seasons.
“The only thing people think we’re missing is experience,” Fox told ESPN. “No one’s ever said, ‘They don’t have the players. They don’t have the talent. They don’t have the coaching.’ It’s always just experience. That’s literally the only thing. So, if it’s this year, next year, two years, I think this team’s ceiling right now is a championship.”
TWO NIGHTS AFTER Spurs coach Mitch Johnson declared that Fox’s performance in Game 4 of the opening round “might have been his best game as a Spur,” the guard pieced together arguably his most meaningful outing of the playoffs up to that point.
Fox reeled off 13 of his team-high 21 points in the fourth quarter of Game 5, as San Antonio won its first playoff series since 2017, eliminating the Portland Trail Blazers 4-1. Fox scored or assisted on 42 points that night with teammates knocking down 75% of their attempts off his passes.
“I think it’s just him growing, maturing, and being in big moments,” said Spurs forward Harrison Barnes, who spent six seasons as Fox’s teammate in Sacramento before they reunited in San Antonio. “He’s able to speak to different people’s situations because he’s gone through them. He’s helped guys, grown and developed his own all-around game and just impacted winning.”
So far in the playoffs, when the Spurs have won Fox’s minutes, they hold a record of 7-1. When San Antonio loses those minutes, its record is 2-3.
“He’s shown in this league that he can put up big numbers, and he’s done that as well for us,” Johnson said. “And then [he] also sat right next to Victor in the passenger seat. He’s given the ball to Dylan Harper and Steph Castle, these young guys that are just fearless and relentless and want to attack every possession. Then somehow, [he] also can take over the game and dominate. He probably is the most unsung reason why this has all worked.”
Fox proved to be the engine that has made San Antonio go this postseason in clutch, fourth-quarter moments alongside Wembanyama. Fox has committed only two turnovers in the fourth quarter of the playoffs to go with 16 assists. Fox is currently tied for ninth in fourth-quarter scoring (69 points) and fifth in assists. Fox ranks as one of only five players to log at least 50 points and 15 assists in the fourth quarter this postseason.
It’s not a surprise, given that Fox was the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year in 2022-23. But Fox isn’t alone here, as Wembanyama has scored 74 points in the fourth quarter this postseason, which ties for fourth in the NBA. Castle, meanwhile, has logged an NBA-high 29 assists in the fourth quarter this postseason.
Much of Fox’s strength in the clutch stems from an elite ability to get to his spots off the dribble. This postseason, Fox has shot 43% on off-the-dribble 3-pointers, compared to Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, who was 16-of-52 on such attempts. Fox has drilled 49% on all his shots off the dribble, which is seventh among playoff participants with 80-plus attempts.
Fox has also created 81% of his own shots this postseason, good for fourth in the NBA.
“We want him to be that guy for us, that closer for us,” Spurs forward Julian Champagnie said. “[We] give him the space he needs and be there when he needs us. For the most part, it’s his world and we’re kind of living in it.”
San Antonio understands what life is without him. With Fox sitting out of the first two games of the conference finals because of the sprained ankle, the Spurs averaged 22 turnovers and surrendered 27.5 points from those turnovers. Since his return for Games 3 and 4, San Antonio has cut down the turnovers to 14 per game with Oklahoma City scoring an average of 16.5 points off the miscues.
Despite Harper (adductor) and Fox hobbling through leg injuries, San Antonio chose to not list either guard on its official injury report heading into Game 4 or Game 5.
Fox grabbed 10 rebounds in the Spurs’ win in Game 4 on the injured ankle. But on one play that night, associate head coach Sean Sweeney implored the 28-year old to use his instincts to secure a rebound. Fox explained that instincts put him in position to grab the board in the first place.
The mind was willing. But the body, “wasn’t able,” Fox said.
Fox played through the injury and produced his second career postseason double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and no turnovers as San Antonio evened the series 2-2.
“As long as we can make every possession tough on them, if we can play with pace, we give ourselves a chance to win,” Fox said. “If we lose, it is what it is [as long as] we played the right way. More often than not, we’ve come out on top whenever we’ve played our game.”
By Michael C. Wright, via ESPN