By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2026-09-01 18:00:41
当维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 从篮筐后方舒展身体完成一记或许只有他才能做到的暴扣时，这很好地提醒了人们他如今进入第四个NBA赛季所处的位置。这一幕发生在周日的一场国际篮联世界杯预选赛中，这位22岁、如今担任法国国家队队长的球员，在关键时刻给了整晚都将法国队逼入绝境的瑞典队致命一击。
正是这种表现，最初点燃了人们对这位圣安东尼奥马刺门面的痴迷——而现在，或许也是整个篮球运动的门面。
维克托·文班亚马继续让人惊叹，惊叹，再惊叹。
#FIBAWC | #StepItUp pic.twitter.com/P2v9cwNl4K
— FIBA篮球世界杯
(@FIBAWC) 2026年8月30日
但如今，文班的传奇已不仅仅局限于他在场上的表现。上个NBA赛季也是文班亚马公众形象的一次蜕变。他成为了一个思想领袖、一个表情包制造机，或者一个敌人——取决于谁在看他。拦住一位纽约客询问他们对这位年轻天才的看法，答案很可能会包含“他太不可思议了！”和/或“去他的”的某种组合。他被广泛喜爱，但也有批评者，正如大多数伟大球员一样。
但这种摩擦不仅仅发生在美国。文班亚马因其直言不讳而遭到一些法国右翼评论员的抨击，尤其是当他是首批就1月份联邦移民执法人员杀害明尼阿波利斯抗议者亚历克斯·普雷蒂一事公开发声的NBA球员之一时。
“每天醒来看到新闻，我都感到恐惧，”他在1月份如此表示。 “我认为有些人可能让这件事看起来或听起来像是可以接受的，像是杀害平民是可以接受的，这太疯狂了。”
这引发了法国专栏作家朱丽叶·布里恩斯的回应，据《巴黎人报》报道，她在国家广播电台RMC的节目“Estelle Midi”上抨击他表明立场。国家队队友盖尔雄·亚布塞莱为文班亚马进行了辩护，但那一刻成为了一个引爆点，表明文班亚马正在进入法国更广泛的社会议题讨论中。
因此，当文班亚马上个月以国家队球员身份回到祖国并面对更广泛的法国媒体时，问题开始偏离篮球。这产生了一个微妙但重要的时刻，预示着文班亚马职业生涯及其在全球体育中地位的方向。
上周，文班亚马被问及对2027年法国总统选举的看法，在选举中，右翼政党“国民联盟”（RN）——前身为国民阵线——的党魁玛丽娜·勒庞在民调中领先，有望接替埃马纽埃尔·马克龙。
“随着年岁的增长，我的过滤越来越少，我也越来越不怕说出自己的想法，”文班亚马上周用法语对记者表示。 “我还没有深入了解总统选举，但我也不害怕分享我的观点。我不怕冒犯别人。”
2024年6月，文班亚马是几位在巴黎奥运会前夕举行的选举中公开反对国民联盟的法国运动员之一，其中包括足球运动员基利安·姆巴佩和马库斯·图拉姆。
“当然，政治选择是个人的事情，但对我来说，与极端保持距离很重要，极端不是像我们这样的国家应该走的方向，”文班亚马当时告诉记者。
但今天的文班亚马与2024年的他之间存在着鲜明的差异。在奥运会之前，他是法国体育界的新兴面孔，而非家喻户晓的名字。这种情况似乎正在迅速改变，如果他在2027年大选前开始发声，情况肯定会如此。与此同时，他在美国的影响力已经起飞，他是NBA最大的明星之一，并且截至今年夏天，已成为耐克的签名鞋运动员。
文班亚马不再是“下一个大人物”。他是两大巨擘机构的门面。他决定涉足政治，或在球场外畅所欲言，这伴随着更大的责任。
这一系列事件往往始于一位超凡运动员为这项运动带来新事物，激起公众的好奇心。然后，随着更大的媒体人群带来更广泛的话题和不同类型的记者，这位运动员开始更多地展现自我。一旦像文班亚马这样的运动员表现出愿意在政治或社会正义领域探讨话题，就可能为他打开一扇门，使他成为诸如总统选举等一般新闻议题的共鸣板。
文班亚马想要建立一些东西，尽管目前尚不清楚那将是什么。在上赛季接受The Athletic采访时，谈到创立圣安东尼奥Jackals球迷支持者俱乐部一事，他说虽然追求总冠军和体育成就符合他建立传承的本能，但除了他在圣安东尼奥的第一个大项目之外，他还有更多想做的事情。
“这是我人生的火车头和方向。但我想做很多事情，各种雄心勃勃的事情，”文班亚马说。 “一些秘密项目。一些随着时间推移越来越公开的项目，因为它们正在逐步实现。”
他帮助建立了Jackals，这成为了该市的一个社区组织。他在法国举办Hoop Gambit——一项年度国际象棋加篮球赛事，在他曾经效力过的职业篮球主场楠泰尔以及他的家乡勒谢奈-罗康库尔举办。一步步来。那么，这将通向何方？
也许法国大选可以提供一个指示，表明文班亚马想成为什么样的公众人物。
这次他没有说太多，因为他经常承认，他对这个话题了解不够，无法公开发表意见。但他表示，总有一天他会准备好发声。他坚持言论自由的决心表明，随之而来的更大关注和曝光不会改变他使用自己平台的方式。或者，至少他不打算让这种情况发生。
时间会证明一切。但他表明，他不害怕不在乎别人对他的看法。
他在去年的季后赛中揭示了这一点，当时肘击明尼苏达森林狼的纳兹·里德、推搡纽约尼克斯的杰伦·布伦森以及其他粗暴动作使他在NBA世界的多个角落成为不受欢迎的人。他在上个赛季的多次新闻发布会上也展现了这一点，他批评不道德的篮球，誓言将竞争带回NBA全明星赛，并为自己竞选MVP。甚至他在总决赛期间大声质疑马刺的缺乏经验是否能帮助他们避免感受到关键时刻的压力，这种方式也显得莽撞而天真。
他为那个系列赛的结果付出了代价，但他的坦诚看起来并不做作。
他已经适应了这样一种观念：成为一名超级巨星，一名真正的超级巨星，意味着黑子只是工作的一部分。
“有一句话——我不记得是谁说的——大意是，‘我知道不是每个人都喜欢我，当我看到谁不喜欢我时，我会问自己这是否真的让我烦恼，’”文班亚马上周用法语引用法国喜剧电影《Dikkenek》中的台词说道。 “对我来说，有些价值观指引着我，我对此完全坦然。我甚至不会称之为表明立场。我只会称之为发表我的意见，因为我不支持任何特定的政治人物或政党。
“然而，有些事情我觉得有问题，当我看到它们时，我会毫不犹豫地说出来。”
文班亚马公众形象中一个一贯的主题是他倾向于不加过滤地畅所欲言。他说话直接，带有意识流风格，这带来了引人入胜的见解、有争议的时刻和启发性的脆弱。他表现出愿意公开处理自己的观点和情绪，这种方式与现代运动员的典型形象颇为不同。他对问题给予认真思考，经常在回答前停顿片刻，然后有条不紊地组织他的回应。
大多数处于他位置的运动员不会展示他们的思考过程。他们说话迅速而犀利。脆弱被隐藏在多年的媒体培训和经验背后。
文班亚马已经处于职业生涯中无法再超越期望的阶段。即使是他最好的表现，即使是我们见过的最好的表现，也只会被视为他应该做到的事情。每次踏上球场或站在麦克风前都必须表现出色的压力，可能会让强大的人退缩回自己的壳里。
那会成为文班亚马吗？还是每一次回答都将是一场冒险？
相信他说的话。他越强大，就越不会在意别人的看法。
由生成式 AI 翻译，翻译内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
查看原文：Victor Wembanyama finding a voice beyond hoops, less concerned with upsetting others
Victor Wembanyama finding a voice beyond hoops, less concerned with upsetting others
When Victor Wembanyama stretched from behind the hoop to throw down a dunk that maybe only he alone can pull off, it was a good reminder of where he finds himself entering his fourth NBA season. It came in Sunday’s FIBA World Cup qualifier, as the national team the 22-year-old now captains slammed the door in crunch time on a Sweden team that had France on the ropes all night.
This was the kind of play that first sparked the fascination with the face of the San Antonio Spurs — and now, perhaps, the entire sport.
Victor Wembanyama continues to amaze, amaze, amaze.
— FIBA Basketball World Cup
But now, the lore of Wemby goes beyond his on-court activity. Last NBA season was also a transformation for Wembanyama’s public persona. He became a thought leader, a meme factory or an enemy, depending on who watched. Stop a New Yorker for their thoughts on the young phenom, and the answer will probably contain some combination of “He’s incredible!” and/or “Screw him.” He is widely adored but has his detractors, as most greats do.
But the friction isn’t just in the U.S. Wembanyama has caught some flak from French right-wing commentators for his outspokenness, particularly when he was one of the first NBA players to speak out about the killing of Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in January.
“Every day, I wake up and see the news, and I’m horrified,” he said in January. “I think that it’s crazy that some people might make it seem or make it sound like it’s acceptable, like the murder of civilians is acceptable.”
That prompted a response from French columnist Juliette Briens, who went on national radio station RMC’s program “Estelle Midi” to slam him for taking a stand, according to Le Parisien. National teammate Guerschon Yabusele came to Wembanyama’s defense, but the moment became a flashpoint that showed Wembanyama was entering the broader societal conversation in France.
So when Wembanyama returned to his home country last month as a player with the national team and faced the broader French media, the questions began to stray from basketball. That produced a subtle but important moment that foreshadowed the direction of Wembanyama’s career and place in global sports.
Last week, Wembanyama was asked for his thoughts on the 2027 French presidential election, in which right-wing Rassemblement National (RN) — formerly known as the National Front — party leader Marine Le Pen leads the polls to succeed Emmanuel Macron.
“As the years go by, I have fewer and fewer filters, and I’m less and less afraid to say what I think,” Wembanyama said in French to reporters last week. “I haven’t looked into the presidential election closely enough, but I’m not afraid to share my opinion, either. I’m not afraid of upsetting people.”
In June 2024, Wembanyama was one of several French athletes — including footballers Kylian Mbappé and Marcus Thuram — who spoke out against the RN in the elections taking place just before the Paris Olympics.
“Of course, political choices are personal, but for me, it is important to take a distance from extremes, which are not the direction to take for a country like ours,” Wembanyama told reporters then.
But there is a stark difference between the Wembanyama of today and the one of 2024. Before the Olympics, he was an emerging face in French sports rather than a household name. That appears to be changing fast, and it certainly will if he begins to speak up ahead of the 2027 election. Meanwhile, his presence has already taken off in the U.S., as he is one of the NBA’s biggest stars and, as of this summer, a signature athlete with Nike.
Wembanyama is no longer the next big thing. He’s a face of two massive institutions. His decision to wade into politics, or to speak his mind about anything off the court, comes with even more responsibility.
The chain of events tends to start with a transcendent athlete bringing something new to the sport that piques the public’s curiosity. Then, that athlete starts to reveal more of themselves as bigger media crowds bring in a wider range of topics and types of reporters. Once an athlete like Wembanyama shows he is willing to take on a topic in the political or social justice arena, it can open a door to him becoming a sounding board for general news items, such as a presidential election.
Wembanyama wants to build something, though it’s not yet clear what that will be. In an interview with The Athletic last season about founding San Antonio’s Jackals supporters club, he said that while the pursuit of championships and sports greatness is what speaks to his instincts regarding him building a legacy, there is more he wants to do beyond just his first grand project in San Antonio.
“It’s the locomotive of my life and my direction. But there’s many things I want to do, various ambitious things,” Wembanyama said. “Some secret projects. Some that are becoming public as time passes more and more, because they’re getting realized.”
He helped build the Jackals, which became a community organization in the city. He hosts Hoop Gambit, an annual chess-plus-basketball tournament in France, which was played in his former pro basketball home of Nanterre, as well as in his hometown of Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt. Small steps. So, where will it lead?
Perhaps the French election could provide an indication of the type of public figure Wembanyama wants to be.
He didn’t say much this time around because, as he often acknowledges, he doesn’t know enough to speak publicly on it. But he said that there will be a time when he is ready to speak out. His decision to stand firm on his freedom of expression indicates that the bigger checks and exposure flying his way will not change how he uses his platform. Or, at least, he doesn’t intend for that to happen.
Time will tell. But he showed that he is not afraid to not care about what people think of him.
He revealed that in last year’s playoffs, when an elbow to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Naz Reid, a shove of the New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and other rough plays made him persona non grata in several corners of the NBA world. He displayed it many times in news conferences this past season, when he criticized unethical basketball, vowed to bring competition back to the NBA All-Star Game and campaigned for himself to win MVP. Even the way he wondered aloud during the finals if the Spurs’ inexperience could help them avoid feeling the pressure of the moment was brashly naive.
He paid the price in the result of that series, but his candor appeared unassuming.
He has grown comfortable with the idea that being a superstar, a true superstar, means that haters are simply part of the job.
“There’s a quote — I can’t remember who said it — but it goes something like, ‘I know not everyone likes me, and when I see who doesn’t like me, I ask myself whether that really bothers me,’” Wembanyama said last week in French, quoting “Dikkenek,” a French comedy film. “For me, there are certain values that guide me and that I’m completely comfortable with. I wouldn’t even call it taking a stand. I’d simply call it giving my opinion, because I don’t support any particular political figure or party.
“However, there are things that I find problematic, and when I see them, I have no problem speaking up about them.”
A consistent theme in Wembanyama’s public presence is his proclivity for speaking his mind unfiltered. He talks with a directness and stream of consciousness that have led to fascinating insights, controversial moments and enlightening vulnerability. He has shown a willingness to process his opinions and emotions out in the open, in a way that is quite foreign to the modern athlete archetype. He gives questions significant thought, often pausing for a while before answering, and methodically pieces together his responses.
Most athletes in his position don’t show their processing. They are swift and sharp in how they speak. The vulnerability is hidden behind years of media training and experience.
Wembanyama is already at the point of his career where he can no longer exceed expectations. Even his best, even the best we’ve seen, will just be what he’s supposed to do. The pressure to crush it every time one steps on the court or in front of a mic can push powerful people back into their shell.
Will that become Wembanyama? Or will every answer remain an adventure?
Take him at his word. The bigger he gets, the less he’ll worry about what people think.
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic
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