The Spurs made the right call by not giving up on Julian Champagnie
Champagnie could have understandably been a casualty of the roster revamp but the Spurs insisted on keeping him around and that decision could pay off.
For a moment, it seemed like the Spurs would have to waive wing Julian Champagnie to fit their new additions. The math to acquire Harrison Barnes didn’t work without the former Kings forward waiving his trade kicker, worth $3.7 million. Luckily for San Antonio, he did.
Normally a player wouldn’t give up money for a guy who projects to be the fourth forward on the rotation, and a front office wouldn’t insist on it. The fact that it happened shows that the Spurs at the very least want a closer look at Champagnie, which seems like a smart move.
On the surface, Champagnie is not particularly impressive. He’s a solid athlete and, standing at almost 6’8 with shoes and a 6’10 wingspan, he has good size and length for the small forward position, but he’s not a freak of nature. He’s a career 37 percent shooter, which is just above the league average, and 93 percent of his shots were assisted last season, so he’s not a creator. He’s a good defender but not a stopper and he hasn’t spent much time on the opponent’s best scorer, with the Spurs relying on Jeremy Sochan for that job. So why was it worth it to keep him around? Fit, upside and contract.
The Spurs will have three forwards who are at their best when they get touches consistently. One of the reasons why Keldon Johnson was sent to the bench mid-season was to make sure Sochan would continue to get touches despite playing with a ball handler next to him. Keldon got fewer touches off the bench but he still got his shots. Barnes, meanwhile, arguably had the worst offensive season of his career because he saw a significant reduction in both touches and shots as he transitioned from third option to role player. He won’t likely go back to his days of being a featured offensive player but he might see a bump in his usage with the Spurs. And that’s why having a player like Champagnie who doesn’t need many touches on offense to be helpful is a great thing. He’ll contribute without getting in anyone else’s way.
While Champagnie’s specialization is valuable on offense, his versatility is what makes him a fit next to any of the other three forwards. If he’s out there with Sochan, he can focus on providing good, disruptive help defense. Julian averaged 1.2 steals and a block every 36 minutes, which are not elite numbers but are good enough for a forward, and he has the size to bother shooters on closeouts. If he’s sharing the floor with Keldon Johnson, he can cover the most dangerous perimeter threat while Keldon hides on the other forward. And if he’s playing next to Barnes, San Antonio will have two well-rounded guys with good size who might not be the best individually but can hold their own and contribute at the team level. The other three forwards could fit well together, but it never hurts to have a plug-and-play option that can be slated next to anyone.
Now, there’s always a danger of overvaluing role players during rebuilds and it’s hard to get too excited about an unremarkable role player, which is what Champagnie has been. Fortunately, there is a clear path for him to become a better version of himself. Champagnie had the second-best three-point shooting percentage on the team from above the break last season, behind only Doug McDermott, but he struggled from the corners. With Chris Paul in tow, Tre Jones running the second unit and Victor Wembanyama drawing extra defenders, Champagnie should get more of those open corner looks and there’s no reason to believe he can’t make more than the 35 percent he hit last season. He’s already a good defender who should get better as the game slows down for him, so if the shot goes from good to great he could realistically develop into a good fifth starter or utility sixth man.
Will that happen? It’s impossible to tell. Even if it did, the Spurs don’t have the type of high-usage ball handlers like Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving that make low-usage 3-and-D forwards as valuable. While Champagnie’s basic but sound two-way game makes him a fit in the short term, zooming out there are question marks. San Antonio ideally would have players who can pass, dribble and shoot around Wemby and Champagnie can only do one of those things. The good news is if he doesn’t find a place in Pop’s rotation he can always be traded. He’s on a non-guaranteed deal for this season and the next, and also has some NBA skills, just turned 23 and is cheap. He arguably should have more of a market than any non-core young player on the roster, as he should appeal to both teams looking for some depth and those trying to cut salary.
Champagnie won’t be the difference between winning 40 games instead of 30 and he’s not going to be the centerpiece of any major deal. He could develop into a valuable 3-and-D wing but it might not happen in San Antonio now that the wing spots are crowded. It might be hard to even find minutes for him early in the season.
Regardless of what ends up happening, Champagnie was still worth Barnes’ financial sacrifice and the Spurs were right to fight to keep him. He’s not special in any obvious ways, but his limited but solid skill set makes him a functional piece, which matters now that the rebuild has moved past the experimentation point and into a more pragmatic stage.
