死也要弄完

The second time my phone blew up this summer, I couldn’t sleep at all. Instead, I stayed up until 5 a.m. watching the news. It’s not that I was scared — having grown up in the Congo, it takes a lot to scare me — but I was worried. It’s not every day that you’re in a country in the middle of a coup.

今年夏天我的手机第二次被打爆，我一点也睡不着，直到凌晨五点还在关注新闻，然而我并不是很害怕，在刚果长大的孩子不太容易被吓到，但是我很担心，因为人们不是每天都呆在军事政变的国家。

We had arrived in Turkey a day earlier, on Thursday, July 14. My friend, Samuel Eto’o — the striker for Turkish club Antalyaspor and one of the greatest African soccer players ever — had organized a charity soccer game to be played in the city of Antalya on Saturday. The rosters featured some of the best current and former players in the world, like Lionel Messi, Eden Hazard, Michael Essien, and Jay-Jay Okocha. I love soccer and I was excited to be a part of the weekend. I spent Friday at the pool of our hotel then put on my tuxedo for the evening gala.

我在当地时间7月14日周四早些时候到达土耳其，我的朋友埃托奥在周六在安纳塔拉会组织一场慈善足球赛，埃托奥是非洲有史以来最优秀的足球运动员，他现在在土耳其安纳塔拉俱乐部效力。参加这次慈善赛的都是世界上目前以及以往最优秀的球员，像梅西、阿扎尔、埃辛和奥科查。我很喜欢足球，所以我很兴奋去参加这次活动，周五我在酒店泳池里休息了一天，晚上穿上礼服去参加晚宴。

At first, everything was great. Everyone had smiles on their faces and good food on their plates. Then, around 11 p.m., my phone started buzzing. Friends were texting me, and fans were tweeting at me. People wanted to know if I was safe. Others at the gala began receiving similar messages. That’s when word of the military coup started to spread. All we knew at the time was that some members of the Turkish Armed Forces were attempting to seize control of certain parts of the country’s capital, Ankara.

刚开始，一切都很好，每个人都微笑着享受自己盘子里的美食。然而到晚上11点的时候，我的手机开始嗡嗡地响，朋友们给我发短信，球迷在推特上给我留言，他们都想确认我是安全的。晚宴上的其他人也开始收到同样的信息，这时候军事政变的传言开始传播，那时候我知道的是一些土耳其军方人员试图控制土耳其首都安卡拉的部分地区。

Antalya is about a six-hour drive south from the capital, but this clearly was a dangerous time for the country. You could see the expressions on the faces in the room flip from happiness to fear. At that moment, it didn’t matter how far the capital was from where we were. All we wanted to do was go home.

安纳塔拉在首都南部大约6小时车程的地方，但是那时候整个国家都处在危险中。你能看到屋子里的人，脸上的表情从高兴转化为恐惧。在那个时候，距离首都多远不是问题，我们都只想要回家。

We knew Saturday’s soccer match would be canceled, so we started looking for flights home. One of my managers, Jordi Vila, was really pushing to leave that night, but all of the airports were closed. We didn’t know when we’d be able to leave, or what would happen. The United States canceled all flights to Turkey, and the State Department issued travel warnings. I had no idea when or how I’d get back home. All we could do was go back to the hotel.

我们都知道周六的足球赛将要取消了，所以我们开始找飞机回家，那时候所有的机场都关闭了，一切都处于未知状态。美国取消了到土耳其的航班，警告美国人民不要到土耳其旅行，我不知道怎么才能回家，我们能做的只是返回酒店。

So, I spent the night watching the news. I learned that the military forces trying to take control of the country were fighting civilians and police in the streets. Hundreds of people reportedly died, and more than 2,000 were injured. Some Turkish Parliament buildings were bombed, too.

接下来整个晚上我都在关注新闻，我了解到试图政变的人跟市民及警察在街上发生打斗。好几百人死亡，超过2000人受伤，土耳其国会大厦被炸毁了。

By later Saturday morning, though, the government had wrestled back control of the country. Things, it seemed, were safe. I still couldn’t fly back to the United States, but on Sunday, we boarded a plane to Barcelona. We stayed there one night, and then caught a flight to Las Vegas, where I would be training.

直到周六早上，政府终于控制了局面，情况好一些了，我仍然不能飞回美国，但是在周日我们登上了飞往巴塞罗那的飞机，一天之后我回到了拉斯维加斯。

That was certainly not how I expected my summer vacation to end.

这显然不是我期望的度假方式，而且过去几个月发生的事都没有按计划进行。

Then again, not much the past few months have gone according to plan.

It took me a long time to get over our loss to the Golden State Warriors. Up 3–1 in the Western Conference finals, we had them. Honestly, I’m still not over it, but I couldn’t talk about that series, or basketball, for a couple of weeks afterward. During the NBA Finals, friends came over to watch one of the games, but seeing the Warriors on the screen got me so upset I had to leave.

我花了很长时间才摆脱我们输给金州勇士队的痛苦，我们在西部决赛中以3-1领先，却没能进入总决赛。实话说，我现在仍不能释怀，但是比赛刚结束的那几周，我甚至不能谈论那轮系列赛。总决赛期间朋友们到我家来看了一场比赛，在电视机屏幕上看到勇士队都让我难过，我不得不从那里走开。

It was actually my 10-year-old daughter who finally snapped me out of my funk. We were out at dinner one night, and a TV was showing the Finals. I kept turning my head, trying to avoid watching, and my daughter saw how unhappy I was.

最终是我十岁的女儿打开了我的心结，有一天晚上我们出去吃饭，餐厅电视上正在直播总决赛，我还是转过头不看电视，我的女儿注意到我不开心。

“It’s O.K., Daddy,” she said. “You did everything you could.”

“没事了，爸爸，”她说，“你尽力了。”

Hearing that from someone I love brought me back to life. I realized it was time to get on with my life and take advantage of the summer. NBA players don’t get that much time off, so it’s important to take advantage of what little vacation we get to spend time with our families and refuel our souls.

从我最爱的人那里听到这种话让我回到现实中来，我意识到是时候继续生活了，要好好利用这个夏天。NBA球员都没有很长的假期，所以利用短暂的假期陪伴家人，给自己充电就尤为重要了。

This summer, my schedule included a ton of traveling. The plan was to visit Milan, Paris, Barcelona and then Antalya, before heading to Las Vegas. Of course, then Orlando was added to the itinerary, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

今年夏天我的行程里包含很多旅行，我计划到米兰、巴黎、巴塞罗那，然后去安纳塔拉，最后回到拉斯维加斯。当然奥兰多临时加入了行程，但是我想随后去那里。

There’s never really any downtime as a professional basketball player if you want to continue to excel at your craft. My trainer comes with me everywhere I go, and we always check beforehand to make sure the places I’m traveling will have gyms available nearby. My leisure time is the part of my vacation days that makes it into pictures and videos — really, you see enough of me playing basketball during the season — but I’m still waking up at six in the morning so that I can work out for a few hours before going out for the day.

Still, it’s important to have passions off the court, too, and one of mine is fashion. As such, my first stop was Milan, a place I had never been before, for Fashion Week. I get my appreciation for style from my father and my culture. Where I come from, we’re a people that love to dress well.

When I was young, I didn’t have the money to buy fancy clothes, but the thing I always wanted and dreamed about was a pair of J.M. Weston shoes. They’re beautiful, and they didn’t even have a store in the Congo; you had to go to Spain to get them. But in Congo, if you were really into fashion, then owning a pair J.M. Weston shoes was a must. It showed you were very successful and aware of high style.

当我小的时候，我没有钱买漂亮的衣服，但

直到几年前我才意识到我能买得起那些鞋了，我给自己和我爸爸一人买了一双，一共花了1万美元，有些东西是无价的，尤其是那些满足了童年梦想的东西，只要有机会我就穿着它们，它们让我想起自己的故乡，NBA的球迷通过我在美国的比赛还有在国际赛场上代表西班牙队比赛认识了我，但是我从来没有忘记过自己来自哪里，我在场下花了很多时间和精力为我的祖国刚果做些事情。

去过米兰之后，我去了我最爱的巴黎，我有家人在那里，所以我很熟悉巴黎。巴黎有很多好吃的刚果食物，我经常因为想吃的太多和那里的亲友有些小争执。除了这些我们相处的很愉快，我们参观了很多美轮美奂的博物馆和服装秀，我甚至在卢浮宫碰到了芝加哥公牛队的德维恩-韦德（这听起来有点怪）和纽约巨人队的Victor Cruz。

然后在6月24日周四的晚上，我的手机以闹钟的频率开始嗡嗡响，我们正在吃晚饭的时候接到了短信、推特消息，很多人找我打听交易流言。开始的时候我不知道人们说的是什么，然后我想起来那天是选秀的日子，而我进入NBA以来唯一效力过的球队雷霆正在寻求交易我。

像往常一样，我没有把这些交易流言当真，我们的生活中充满着这种东西，在选秀的过程中总是流言四起，所以我自信这些流言很快就会消散。我是如此的自信，以至于我决定关掉手机，晚饭后直接回酒店休息了。那天晚上我也睡得很好。

第二天我醒来的时候，我检查手机发现我错过了我的代理人、我的经纪人和我爸爸的电话。那时候我知道了流言会成真，我在俄克拉荷马城的时间到头了。我打电话给我的经纪人，他让我在酒单大堂跟他见面，在那里他告诉我我已经被交易到魔术队了。

那天我花了很多时间在电话上跟不同的人交谈，其中包括魔术队的总经理罗伯-亨尼根，他曾经在雷霆工作过，我已经认识他很久了。他告诉我他很高兴我加入魔术队，他很信任我，对我充满了信心。这次交谈让我对自己的新机会和未来感觉很好。

我从来没有寻求被交易，尽管有很多关于我对自己角色感到不满的媒体揣测，赛季结束后我曾经和比利-多诺万和萨姆-普雷斯蒂有过交谈，彼此感觉都很好。但是这终归是一场生意，每个人都必须作出对自己最好的决定，我让我的经理人处理生意相关的问题。我不是那种走进管理层办公室要求被交易的球员，我曾经为留在雷霆队感到开心，在NBA打球是我的梦想，在那里打球我都一样开心。

毫无疑问我真得会想念俄克拉荷马城，那里的球迷热爱篮球，雷霆队是体育界最好的球队之一。今年夏天对他们来说肯定很难过。我事先不知道凯文会做什么，但是我知道那对他是个重要的决定，但是如果杜兰特的决定让他和他的家人感到高兴，那么我也为他感到高兴。我对杜兰特和拉塞尔-威斯布鲁克都有最高的尊重。很明显，我很难过我们没有能为这座城市带来一座总冠军奖杯，但是我在那里度过一些伟大的时间，有很多我终身难忘的瞬间。

不过现在我感觉自己又像一个新秀了，我很激动来到奥兰多。我知道这听起来有些疯狂，我从一个像雷霆一样有总冠军竞争者实力的球队来到了一支正在重建的球队，魔术队已经四年没有进入季后赛了。但是现在为弗兰克-沃格尔打球，他重视防守，对我的到来感到兴奋。我们有一群志趣相投的年轻的并且运动能力出色的核心球员，这会很有趣。我们是一支老派的强硬的球队，我已经等不及在揭幕战中穿上魔术球衣了。

交易给了我一个全新的机会展示我所有的能力，我等不及看看在奥兰多会发生什么了，我们将制造些噪音。这是一个疯狂的夏天，我已经为秋天开始做好准备了。