By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-31 03:55:05
2026年5月30日，星期六，在俄克拉荷马城佩科姆中心，圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)（1号）和后卫德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell)（24号）在庆祝西部决赛战胜俄克拉荷马雷霆队时相拥。马刺队在抢七大战中以111-103击败雷霆队，晋级总决赛，将对阵纽约尼克斯队。
俄克拉荷马城——像个孩子一样。在佩科姆中心球馆内近乎疯狂的庆祝狂潮中，文班亚马弯着腰，眼里含着泪水，四处寻找可以拥抱的人。这就是他当时的样子。
这同样也是他七年前在另一座球馆的看台上时的样子。
那是马刺队第一次看到他们的未来。即便在当时，也根本无法想象这一刻会来得如此之快。
周六晚上，在下层看台的中排，坐着一些依然记得第一次看到这个瘦弱奇迹的人。正是这个奇迹，即将改变他们的球队、他们的城市乃至整个联盟。他们很想自豪地宣称，早在那个时候，他们就已经预见到了这一切。
文班亚马谈到晋级NBA总决赛：“赢得奥布莱恩杯是童年的梦想，而如今能够真正有机会去争夺它，有一个实实在在的机会去赢下它、去实现梦想，这是一生难遇的机会。你永远不知道下一次会在什么时候。” pic.twitter.com/DIVB2JLGnD
— 马刺国度 (@ Spurs_Nation) 2026年5月31日
但说实在的，在当时，谁能料到会有今天？
甚至，谁敢做这样的梦？
恐怕只有孩子才敢。
“这很难用言语来表达，”文班亚马说道，在意识到抢七大战中以111-103击败雷霆队、成功带领马刺队杀入NBA总决赛后，他依然有些哽咽。“这简直就像是我人生的意义所在。”
2019年春天，那些一路追随他来到法国布雷斯地区布尔格 (Bourg-en-Bresse) 的人们，当时根本无法预知他未来如此宏伟的命运。他们只知道，一名当时正在考察另一位新秀的马刺国际球探提到了一位15岁的天才少年，并认为球队值得派出一支考察团去观看法国U18四强赛。
在那里，在一个几乎空无一人的体育馆里，这个与比他大得多的孩子们同场竞技、逼得对手不得不伸长脖子仰望他的男孩，展现出了彻底颠覆这项运动的潜能。但当时的马刺队绝没有疯狂到认为他真的能兑现那些刚刚开始升温的舆论期许。他们也绝没有疯狂到认为，即使他真的做到了，他们也会有幸成为拥有他的那支球队。
文班亚马谈到抢七大战终场哨响时的情绪：“真的，你付出的所有努力，投入的所有时间，都是为了体验这种情绪。我太想赢了，就好像我的生命全维系于此一样。” pic.twitter.com/pZRGYoP2fH
— 马刺国度 (@ Spurs_Nation) 2026年5月31日
然而，在周六晚上，远在大洋彼岸的另一端，这个孩子身披着那支传奇球队的战袍登场了。自从他15岁那年吸引了这支球队的注意以来，他们还从未在季后赛中走得这么远。而此时此刻，他正在为自己统治的这轮系列赛画上完美的句号，而他的对手，是NBA卫冕冠军以及两届常规赛最有价值球员（MVP）。
赛场上的文班亚马无处不在：他从身后封盖谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)，为第三节奠定了基调；他投进极具蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 风格的标志性打板投篮，还飙中冷酷无情的马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili) 式三分球；他大声呼喊着迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie)，以及所有一直追随他脚步的队友们。
“我们需要他展现出领袖的霸气，”马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道。“我们需要他打得强硬，需要他展现出自己的意志力。”
意志力往往是最难确定的部分。当你看着15岁、17岁或20岁时的文班亚马，你就会知道他有能力在篮球场上做出几乎没有人类尝试过、更不用说完成的动作。你只需看他作为新秀打上几分钟，就会意识到他能像鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert) 那样盖帽，像扬尼斯·阿德托昆博 (Giannis Antetokounmpo) 那样冲击篮筐，像凯文·杜兰特 (Kevin Durant) 那样投篮。
但要做到文班亚马在周六所做的一切，球员需要的不仅仅是天赋。为了打破那条古老且此前无可辩驳的NBA铁律——即每位超级巨星在获得季后赛荣耀之前都必须经历季后赛的失败——球员必须证明自己拥有那些常被提及的、属于强者的所有特质：
脊梁。
胆识。
大心脏。
两年前的夏天在巴黎，文班亚马在奥运会期间就展现出了这些特质的雏形。在直面勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James)、斯蒂芬·库里 (Steph Curry) 和杜兰特，并险些带领法国队在金牌争夺战中爆冷击败美国队之后，他站在《圣安东尼奥快报》专栏作家面前，做出了一个预测。
“我正在学习，”文班亚马当时说道。“我为几年后的对手感到担忧。”
几年后，这种担忧被证明是极具预见性的。被他击败的明星级对手正越攒越多。在一个拥有吉尔杰斯-亚历山大、安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards)、尼古拉·约基奇 (Nikola Jokic) 和卢卡·东契奇 (Luka Doncic) 等强敌的西部联盟中，他们却无法阻止文班亚马在从未输掉过任何一轮季后赛系列赛的情况下，便称霸西部。
当然，这得益于他身边围绕着近乎完美的角色球员阵容，置身于近乎完美的体系之中，并执行着近乎完美的战术计划。尽管人们一直在大肆宣扬俄克拉荷马城那令人艳羡的阵容深度，但有人可能会认为，一旦杰伦·威廉姆斯 (Jalen Williams) 倒下，西部决赛中表现最好的五名球员里，有四个都来自马刺。
有人可能会认为，39岁的米奇·约翰逊及其教练组在战术上完胜了雷霆队的马克·戴格诺特 (Mark Daigneault)——后者是一位非常聪明且执教战绩出色的教练，但在放弃那些面对马刺毫无胜算的阵容组合时，他的反应实在太慢了。
还有人可能会认为，如果文班亚马没有全力支持总经理布赖恩·莱特 (Brian Wright) 耐心构建阵容的方式，或者没有认可约翰逊对后格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 时代马刺队的蓝图设想，这一切都不会发生。
上个赛季，文班亚马本可以利用自己的影响力，去推动引进比德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 名气大得多的强援。去年夏天，他也本可以引导管理层去聘请一位比约翰逊名气大得多的资深教练。
相反，他全盘接受了马刺队所做的一切尝试。现在，力和他的球队已经做好准备，只要那座被称为“老铁棚”的霜银中心球馆还在使用，甚至在更远的未来，六月的篮球比赛都将成为这里的常态。
“我想再经历15次、20次这样的时刻，”文班亚马说。“希望这不会让我上瘾。不过，也许我已经上瘾了。”
在走廊的另一头，马刺队的一些元老对这种渴望再熟悉不过了。他们中有些人正穿梭于喧闹的更衣室和教练办公室之间，而教练组已经开始针对总决赛与纽约尼克斯队的硬仗制定战术计划。
没有人认为胜利是理所当然的。但在今晚，他们可以花上一两分钟，微笑着回忆起那个在布雷斯地区布尔格的体育馆里蹦蹦跳跳的15岁瘦弱男孩，并由衷地感慨，要让那个男孩蜕变成如今在俄克拉荷马城弯腰抽泣的22岁青年，究竟付出了多少努力。
他们会意识到，最初做这样一个梦是多么的疯狂。然而，他们依然会决定继续坚信下去。
就像个孩子一样。
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 Victor Wembanyama lived up to the hype, and to an impossible dream
How Victor Wembanyama lived up to the hype, and to an impossible dream
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) and guard Devin Vassell (24) embrace as they celebrate their Western Conference Finals win over the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Saturday, May 30, 2026. The Spurs defeated the Thunder 111-103 in Game 7 to advance to the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Like a child. Doubled over with tears in his eyes, searching for somebody to hug, that’s how Victor Wembanyama looked amid the on-court hysteria at Paycom Center.
It’s also how he looked from the stands of another arena seven years earlier.
That was when the Spurs first saw their future. Even if it was impossible to imagine it would arrive this fast.
Halfway up the lower bowl Saturday night, there were men who still remembered that initial glimpse of the skinny miracle who would change their franchise, their city, their league. They would love to be able to claim that, way back then, they saw all of this coming.
Victor Wembanyama, on advancing to the NBA Finals: “Winning the Larry O’Brien is a childhood dream, and having a real shot at it, having a tangible chance at winning it, at realizing a dream, it’s a lifetime chance. You never know when it’s going to happen again.” pic.twitter.com/DIVB2JLGnD
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) May 31, 2026
But really, now. Who could have expected this?
Who even could have dreamed it?
Only a child could.
“It’s hard to put into words,” Wembanyama said, still choked up by the realization that a 111-103 Game 7 victory over the Thunder had sent the Spurs to the NBA Finals. “It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”
The men who followed him to a place called Bourg-en-Bresse, France, in the spring of 2019 had no clue about anything so grand as his destiny. All they knew was that a Spurs international scout who’d been looking at another prospect mentioned something about a prodigious 15-year-old, and that it supposedly would be worth the team’s while to send a contingent to the French U18 Final Four.
There, in a mostly empty gym, playing alongside much older boys who had to crane their necks to look up at him, was the kid with the potential to turn an entire sport on its head. But the Spurs never were so crazy as to think he could live up to the hype that just was beginning to build. And they never were so crazy to think that even if he did, they’d be lucky enough to have him do it for them.
Victor Wembanyama, on his emotions at the buzzer after Game 7: “Really, you work, all of these hours you put in, is for these type of emotions. I want to win so bad, it’s like my life depends on it.” pic.twitter.com/pZRGYoP2fH
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) May 31, 2026
But across an ocean from where he started, there that kid was Saturday night, wearing the jersey of the storied franchise that hadn’t made a playoff run since he’d caught the team’s eye as a 15-year-old. There he was, putting the finishing touches on a series he dominated against the defending NBA champions, and the two-time league Most Valuable Player.
There Wembanyama was, blocking Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from behind to set the third-quarter tone. There he was, pouring in fundamental Tim Duncan bank shots and cold-blooded Manu Ginobili 3-pointers. There he was, screaming for Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle and Julian Champagnie, and all of the other teammates who kept following his lead.
“We needed him to be demonstrative,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “We needed him to play with strength. We needed him to bring his will.”
The will always is the hardest part to be sure of. You could have looked at Wembanyama when he was 15, or 17, or 20, and known that he was capable of doing things on a basketball court that few humans ever had attempted, let alone pulled off. You could have watched him for a few minutes as a rookie and realized that he could block shots like Rudy Gobert, and attack the rim like Giannis Antetokounmpo, and shoot like Kevin Durant.
But to do what Wembanyama did Saturday, a player needs more than talent. To disprove the ancient, previously irrefutable NBA law that says every superstar has to experience postseason failure before he can achieve postseason glory, a player has to show he has every clichéd part of the torso:
Backbone.
Guts.
Heart.
Two summers ago in Paris, Wembanyama provided glimpses of all of that during the Olympics. After he stared down LeBron James, Steph Curry and Durant, and nearly carried France to an upset of Team USA in the gold medal game, he stood in front of an Express-News columnist and made a prediction.
“I’m learning” Wembanyama said. “And I’m worried for the opponents in a couple of years.”
A couple of years later, that worry has proven to be prescient. His vanquished star-caliber opponents are piling up. A conference that included the likes of Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic couldn’t stop Wembanyama from winning the West before he’s ever lost a playoff series.
It helps, of course, that he’s surrounded by near-perfect supporting cast, in a near-perfect system, employing a near-perfect plan. As much as was made about Oklahoma City’s overwhelming depth, one might argue that once Jalen Williams went down, four of the top five performers in the Western Conference Finals were Spurs.
One might argue that 39-year-old Mitch Johnson and his staff coached circles around the Thunder’s Mark Daigneault, a very bright man with an outstanding track record who was way too slow to pull the plug on lineup combinations that had no hope of working against the Spurs.
And one might argue that none of this would have happened if Wembanyama hadn’t bought into general manager Brian Wright’s patient approach to roster building, or if he hadn’t endorsed Johnson’s vision for what a post-Gregg Popovich Spurs team would look like.
Last season, Wembanyama could have used his influence to push for a much bigger acquisition than De’Aaron Fox. Last summer, he could have steered the organization toward a much more established coaching hire than Johnson.
Instead, he embraced everything about what the Spurs were trying to do, and now he and his franchise are positioned to make June basketball a fixture of the Frost Bank Center schedule for as long as the old tin barn remains open, and probably beyond.
“I want to do that 15, 20 more times,” Wembanyama said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t become an addiction. Maybe it is already.”
Down the hall, there were longtime members of the organization who were all too familiar with that inclination. Some of them were moving in and out of a raucous locker room and the coaches offices, where a plan was already being formulated for a tough Finals matchup against the New York Knicks.
Nobody was taking anything for granted. But on this night, they could spend a moment or two smiling at the memory of that skinny 15-year-old bouncing around a gym in Bourg-en-Bresse, and they could appreciate everything it took to see him turn into the 22-year-old doubled over and sobbing in Oklahoma City.
They could realize how crazy they were to dream a dream like that in the first place. And then they could decide to keep believing in it anyway.
Almost like a child.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News