By Mike Finger / San Antonio Express-News, 2026-10-01 12:19:49
2026年9月28日，星期一，圣安东尼奥胜利资本训练中心，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫德文·瓦塞尔（24号）与前锋卡特·布莱恩特（11号）在球队媒体日上合影。
去年六月NBA总决赛落幕后，一位年轻的篮球后辈特意联系了一位最激励他的马刺球员。这孩子表示，在全联盟所有球员中，德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 成了他的最爱。
对于这位瓦塞尔的头号“Z世代”拥趸而言，取得联系并非难事。因为事实证明，这位小迷弟正是连续数月坐在瓦塞尔隔壁更衣柜的新秀。
当卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 获得向自己的榜样送上赛季结语的机会时，他说了什么？
“我对你充满了敬意 (I have so much respect for you)，”布莱恩特对瓦塞尔说道。
这简短的一句话，道尽了马刺何以坚信自己能够应对未来的风浪。对于处在他们这种位置的球队来说——刚刚完成巨大飞跃，阵中堆积的青年才俊多到无法同时排进出场阵容——最棘手的潜在陷阱往往在于队中有人在过早的阶段想要得到太多。
在联盟任何一支顶级强队中，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 只能有一个。但瓦塞尔式的人物可以有很多。如果一个本有机会成为得分机器、却主动选择拥抱团队至上角色的球员，恰恰是球队最有前途的未来之星之一所选择效仿的榜样呢？
这不仅体现了瓦塞尔的过人之处。
这也不仅证明了布莱恩特的虚怀若谷。
这更预示着整个球队的美好未来。
即便有小题大做之嫌，但也正是这些微小的抉择，如果一支幸运的球队能持续把握住命运的垂青，往往最终能铸就王朝。马刺此前需要数次运气眷顾，才同时得到了文班亚马和斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)；他们又需要几次好运，才在同一届选秀大会中将迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 和布莱恩特双双收入麾下。
然而，并非所有人都能成为关键时刻的核心领袖，即便每个人都自认具备那样的超巨潜质。比如上赛季，布莱恩特就多次公开宣称，他计划在未来的某一天成为“世界上最好的球员之一”。
拥有这样的自信固然很好。但如果布莱恩特带着要匹配这份野心的战术角色期待迈入自己的第二个NBA赛季，那就会成为一个问题。无论他多么崇拜文班亚马，去效仿一位永远处在聚光灯中心的超级巨星的行事方式，都毫无意义。
对马刺来说，最理想的剧本当然是每一个角色拼图都能追随这位进入生涯第七年的后卫的脚步——他通过甘居次席，让自己变得不可或缺。正因如此，当周三听到布莱恩特将瓦塞尔称为自己“在NBA中最喜欢的球员”时，主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 和总经理布赖恩·莱特 (Brian Wright) 想必心花怒放。
“如果德文在NBA其他任何一支球队，他都能轻松成为场均贡献20到25分的球员，”布莱恩特说道，“他技术太扎实了，极具天赋。为了让我们全队能更进一步，他所做出的牺牲是不可思议的。”
数据印证了这小子的观点。上赛季，瓦塞尔的场均出手次数创下过去四个赛季以来的新低。他场均得到13.9分，与2023-24赛季的巅峰期相比下滑了近6分。
但随着马刺横扫常规赛并一路高歌猛进杀入NBA总决赛，瓦塞尔蜕变为了莱特及其管理团队在2020年选中他时所期盼的最理想形态。
他在外线盯防对方的得分手。在季后赛中，他曾于篮下封盖过三位不同的七尺长人。他总是能做出正确的传球选择，并且几乎从不失误。他提速推反击，并稳稳命中空位投篮。
当文班亚马成为常规赛最有价值球员的候选人，当卡斯尔和哈珀成为登上《GQ》杂志封面的风云新星时，瓦塞尔对此泰然处之。
并非所有看球的人都能体会到他的价值。但约翰逊显然深知这一点，瓦塞尔的队友们亦然。
而瓦塞尔自己并不觉得这有什么大不了的。
“我们拥有这么多优秀的拼图，你绝不能自私，”瓦塞尔说道。
但正需要这些默默无闻的幕后付出，球队才能实现马刺上赛季那样的惊艳之旅。而想要再来一次，他们还将需要更多这样的奉献。
此外还有一点：大家都听到过关于哈珀何时不可避免地跻身马刺首发阵容的甚嚣尘上的猜测。但在很大程度上尚未言明的是，要想让这一切行得通，现有的某位首发球员就必须甘心接受瓦塞尔的昔日搭档老将凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 已经完成的那种转型。
那个人会是瓦塞尔自己吗？这位已经在首发阵容中调整了角色的球员，最终会被要求再次做出让步转去打替补吗？瓦塞尔周三表示自己对此一无所知，并提到米奇·约翰逊尚未明确表态他是否会继续担任首发。
在某些地方、某些球队，这可能会成为危机的导火索。如果马刺遭遇了他们上赛季未曾经历的那种困境泥潭，球员对牺牲的热情总有可能退却。
但至少在当下，马刺的年轻人正以瓦塞尔为向导。
“只要他愿意教我，”布莱恩特说道，“我就愿意向他学习。”
倘若这一态势延续下去？
整支球队都将从这堂言传身教中获益，而这个年轻人则会静待时机，将这份精神继续传承下去。
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。
查看原文：How a 7-word tribute summarizes Devin Vassell's impact on Spurs' rise
How a 7-word tribute summarizes Devin Vassell’s impact on Spurs’ rise
San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell (24) and forward Carter Bryant (11) pose for photos together during the NBA basketball team’s media day at the Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026.
Once the NBA Finals ended last June, a young basketball aficionado made a special effort to reach out to the Spur who’d inspired him most. Of all the players in the league, the kid said, Devin Vassell had become his favorite.
It wasn’t hard for Vassell’s biggest Gen-Z fan to get in touch with him. As it turned out, that fan was the rookie who’d been sitting at the locker next to Vassell’s for months.
And when Carter Bryant got the chance to give his role model a season-ending message?
“I have so much respect for you,” Bryant told Vassell.
Those seven words speak volumes about why the Spurs believe they can handle what’s coming next. For franchises in their position — fresh off a massive leap, and loaded with more up-and-coming talent than they can play at one time — the thorniest potential traps all involve individuals wanting too much, too soon.
On any given league powerhouse, there can be only one Victor Wembanyama. But there can be lots of Vassells. And if the would-be scoring machine who voluntarily embraced a team-first role is the same guy one of the franchise’s most promising future stars chooses to emulate?
It does more than reflect well on Vassell.
It does more than speak well of Bryant.
It bodes well for the whole organization.
At the risk of making too much of minutiae, these are the little choices that can turn into dynasties, if a lucky team keeps making the most of its good fortune. The Spurs needed to catch multiple breaks to wind up with both Wembanyama and Stephon Castle, and they needed to catch a couple more to land Dylan Harper and Bryant in the same draft.
But not all of them can be the go-to guy, even if each of them believes he has that kind of stardom in him. On multiple occasions last season, for instance, Bryant proclaimed that he plans to be “one of the best players in the world” someday.
That kind of confidence is great. But if Bryant entered his second NBA season expecting a role commensurate with those aspirations, it would be a problem. As much as he admires Wembanyama, it wouldn’t make much sense to model his approach after that of the superstar who’s always at the center of everything.
The dream scenario for the Spurs, of course, is that every supporting cast member follows the lead of the seventh-year guard who made himself invaluable by accepting a lower profile. That’s why hearing Bryant call Vassell his “favorite player in the NBA” on Wednesday had to delight coach Mitch Johnson and general manager Brian Wright.
“If Dev was on any other team in the NBA, he’d be a 20-to-25-points-a-night guy, easily,” Bryant said. “He’s so skilled, so talented. The sacrifices he’s made for us to take that next step as a team, it’s been amazing.”
The stats back up the kid’s point. Last season, Vassell attempted the fewest shots per game of his last four seasons. He averaged 13.9 points per game, which was almost six points fewer than his 2023-’24 peak.
But as the Spurs stormed through the regular season and kept rolling to the NBA Finals, Vassell became the ideal version of the player Wright and his staff envisioned when they drafted him in 2020.
He defended opposing scorers on the perimeter. In the playoffs, he blocked three different 7-footers at the rim. He always made the right pass, and almost never turned the ball over. He pushed the pace, and he knocked down open shots.
And while Wembanyama became the Most Valuable Player candidate, and Castle and Harper became the kind of breakout stars that would wind up in GQ magazine? Vassell was fine with that.
Not everyone watching the games appreciated it. But Johnson sure did. And Vassell’s teammates did, too.
Not that he thought it was a big deal.
“We have so many great pieces that you can’t be selfish,” Vassell said.
But those are the kinds of under-the-radar contributions it takes for a team to make a run like the Spurs did. And those are the kinds of contributions they’ll need more of to make another one.
There’s also this: Everyone’s heard the relentless speculation about when Harper will make his inevitable jump to the Spurs’ starting lineup. But what’s being left largely unsaid is that for that to work, some current starter is going to have to be OK making the kind of transition Vassell’s fellow veteran, Keldon Johnson, already made.
Might that person be Vassell himself? Might the guy who adjusted to a different role in the starting lineup eventually be asked to adjust again, by coming off the bench? Vassell said Wednesday he has no idea, and said Mitch Johnson has made no definitive statements about whether he’ll be a starter again.
In some places, on some teams, that might foreshadow a problem. If the Spurs hit the kind of rough patch they avoided last season, there’s always at least a chance a player might become less enthusiastic about sacrifices.
But for now, the Spurs’ youth is following Vassell’s lead.
“As long as he’s willing to teach me,” Bryant said, “I’m willing to learn from him.”
And if that continues?
A whole organization will benefit from the lesson, while the kid waits his turn to pass it down.
By Mike Finger / San Antonio Express-News