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.

今年夏天我的手機第二次被打爆，我一點也睡不著，直到凌晨五點還在關注新聞，然而我并不是很害怕，在剛果長大的孩子不太容易被嚇到，但是我很擔心，因為人們不是每天都呆在軍事政變的國家。

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.

我在當?shù)貢r間7月14日周四早些時候到達土耳其，我的朋友埃托奧在周六在安納塔拉會組織一場慈善足球賽，埃托奧是非洲有史以來最優(yōu)秀的足球運動員，他現(xiàn)在在土耳其安納塔拉俱樂部效力。參加這次慈善賽的都是世界上目前以及以往最優(yōu)秀的球員，像梅西、阿扎爾、埃辛和奧科查。我很喜歡足球，所以我很興奮去參加這次活動，周五我在酒店泳池里休息了一天，晚上穿上禮服去參加晚宴。

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.

剛開始，一切都很好，每個人都微笑著享受自己盤子里的美食。然而到晚上11點的時候，我的手機開始嗡嗡地響，朋友們給我發(fā)短信，球迷在推特上給我留言，他們都想確認我是安全的。晚宴上的其他人也開始收到同樣的信息，這時候軍事政變的傳言開始傳播，那時候我知道的是一些土耳其軍方人員試圖控制土耳其首都安卡拉的部分地區(qū)。

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.

安納塔拉在首都南部大約6小時車程的地方，但是那時候整個國家都處在危險中。你能看到屋子里的人，臉上的表情從高興轉化為恐懼。在那個時候，距離首都多遠不是問題，我們都只想要回家。

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.

我們都知道周六的足球賽將要取消了，所以我們開始找飛機回家，那時候所有的機場都關閉了，一切都處于未知狀態(tài)。美國取消了到土耳其的航班，警告美國人民不要到土耳其旅行，我不知道怎么才能回家，我們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.

接下來整個晚上我都在關注新聞，我了解到試圖政變的人跟市民及警察在街上發(fā)生打斗。好幾百人死亡，超過2000人受傷，土耳其國會大廈被炸毀了。

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，政府終于控制了局面，情況好一些了，我仍然不能飛回美國，但是在周日我們登上了飛往巴塞羅那的飛機，一天之后我回到了拉斯維加斯。

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

這顯然不是我期望的度假方式，而且過去幾個月發(fā)生的事都沒有按計劃進行。

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.

我花了很長時間才擺脫我們輸給金州勇士隊的痛苦，我們在西部決賽中以3-1領先，卻沒能進入總決賽。實話說，我現(xiàn)在仍不能釋懷，但是比賽剛結束的那幾周，我甚至不能談論那輪系列賽。總決賽期間朋友們到我家來看了一場比賽，在電視機屏幕上看到勇士隊都讓我難過，我不得不從那里走開。

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.

最終是我十歲的女兒打開了我的心結，有一天晚上我們出去吃飯，餐廳電視上正在直播總決賽，我還是轉過頭不看電視，我的女兒注意到我不開心。

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

“沒事了，爸爸，”她說，“你盡力了。”

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.

從我最愛的人那里聽到這種話讓我回到現(xiàn)實中來，我意識到是時候繼續(xù)生活了，要好好利用這個夏天。NBA球員都沒有很長的假期，所以利用短暫的假期陪伴家人，給自己充電就尤為重要了。

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，我計劃到米蘭、巴黎、巴塞羅那，然后去安納塔拉，最后回到拉斯維加斯。當然奧蘭多臨時加入了行程，但是我想隨后去那里。

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.

當我小的時候，我沒有錢買漂亮的衣服，但

直到幾年前我才意識到我能買得起那些鞋了，我給自己和我爸爸一人買了一雙，一共花了1萬美元，有些東西是無價的，尤其是那些滿足了童年夢想的東西，只要有機會我就穿著它們，它們讓我想起自己的故鄉(xiāng)，NBA的球迷通過我在美國的比賽還有在國際賽場上代表西班牙隊比賽認識了我，但是我從來沒有忘記過自己來自哪里，我在場下花了很多時間和精力為我的祖國剛果做些事情。

去過米蘭之后，我去了我最愛的巴黎，我有家人在那里，所以我很熟悉巴黎。巴黎有很多好吃的剛果食物，我經常因為想吃的太多和那里的親友有些小爭執(zhí)。除了這些我們相處的很愉快，我們參觀了很多美輪美奐的博物館和服裝秀，我甚至在盧浮宮碰到了芝加哥公牛隊的德維恩-韋德（這聽起來有點怪）和紐約巨人隊的Victor Cruz。

然后在6月24日周四的晚上，我的手機以鬧鐘的頻率開始嗡嗡響，我們正在吃晚飯的時候接到了短信、推特消息，很多人找我打聽交易流言。開始的時候我不知道人們說的是什么，然后我想起來那天是選秀的日子，而我進入NBA以來唯一效力過的球隊雷霆正在尋求交易我。

像往常一樣，我沒有把這些交易流言當真，我們的生活中充滿著這種東西，在選秀的過程中總是流言四起，所以我自信這些流言很快就會消散。我是如此的自信，以至于我決定關掉手機，晚飯后直接回酒店休息了。那天晚上我也睡得很好。

第二天我醒來的時候，我檢查手機發(fā)現(xiàn)我錯過了我的代理人、我的經紀人和我爸爸的電話。那時候我知道了流言會成真，我在俄克拉荷馬城的時間到頭了。我打電話給我的經紀人，他讓我在酒單大堂跟他見面，在那里他告訴我我已經被交易到魔術隊了。

那天我花了很多時間在電話上跟不同的人交談，其中包括魔術隊的總經理羅伯-亨尼根，他曾經在雷霆工作過，我已經認識他很久了。他告訴我他很高興我加入魔術隊，他很信任我，對我充滿了信心。這次交談讓我對自己的新機會和未來感覺很好。

我從來沒有尋求被交易，盡管有很多關于我對自己角色感到不滿的媒體揣測，賽季結束后我曾經和比利-多諾萬和薩姆-普雷斯蒂有過交談，彼此感覺都很好。但是這終歸是一場生意，每個人都必須作出對自己最好的決定，我讓我的經理人處理生意相關的問題。我不是那種走進管理層辦公室要求被交易的球員，我曾經為留在雷霆隊感到開心，在NBA打球是我的夢想，在那里打球我都一樣開心。

毫無疑問我真得會想念俄克拉荷馬城，那里的球迷熱愛籃球，雷霆隊是體育界最好的球隊之一。今年夏天對他們來說肯定很難過。我事先不知道凱文會做什么，但是我知道那對他是個重要的決定，但是如果杜蘭特的決定讓他和他的家人感到高興，那么我也為他感到高興。我對杜蘭特和拉塞爾-威斯布魯克都有最高的尊重。很明顯，我很難過我們沒有能為這座城市帶來一座總冠軍獎杯，但是我在那里度過一些偉大的時間，有很多我終身難忘的瞬間。

不過現(xiàn)在我感覺自己又像一個新秀了，我很激動來到奧蘭多。我知道這聽起來有些瘋狂，我從一個像雷霆一樣有總冠軍競爭者實力的球隊來到了一支正在重建的球隊，魔術隊已經四年沒有進入季后賽了。但是現(xiàn)在為弗蘭克-沃格爾打球，他重視防守，對我的到來感到興奮。我們有一群志趣相投的年輕的并且運動能力出色的核心球員，這會很有趣。我們是一支老派的強硬的球隊，我已經等不及在揭幕戰(zhàn)中穿上魔術球衣了。

交易給了我一個全新的機會展示我所有的能力，我等不及看看在奧蘭多會發(fā)生什么了，我們將制造些噪音。這是一個瘋狂的夏天，我已經為秋天開始做好準備了。