The Spurs’ new Julian Champagnie deal says plenty about where this roster is headed.
San Antonio brought back the forward on a 3-year, $45 million extension, and while that keeps a useful piece in place, it also underscores how carefully the franchise is already moving with its money. Champagnie was expected to have his team option declined and then work out a longer agreement, but the Spurs stopped short of a five-year commitment.
That choice fits the bigger picture. Even with Victor Wembanyama taking less than the supermax, the bill is still going to get massive.
Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper seem likely to land max contracts, and De'Aaron Fox will begin his max deal next season. Put all of that together, and San Antonio is staring at a future where keeping the core intact gets very expensive, very quickly.
That’s why the Spurs are being so careful with the contracts they hand out. Keldon Johnson could be the first real casualty of this new financial reality, since the team can’t afford to extend him while already brushing up against the luxury tax.
He could be traded during the season or walk in free agency, and Harrison Barnes could follow a similar path. Tobias Harris, meanwhile, was signed to a two-year deal that runs through the summer of 2028.
The same kind of timing could apply to Devin Vassell and Champagnie, whose deals both expire after the 2028-29 season. That lines up neatly with the possibility of Harper’s max contract kicking in after that.
San Antonio has clearly built this thing with the second apron in mind. Unlike the Oklahoma City Thunder, who didn’t have the benefit of staggering their young talent, the Spurs have managed the timing almost perfectly.
The Thunder drafted Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams in the same class, which made their extension timelines collide. San Antonio, by contrast, got Wembanyama first, then Castle, then Harper.
That sequencing matters. Vassell’s five-year extension came before Wembanyama even debuted, and it ends before the Spurs are truly in the danger zone of the second apron.
Fox remains the major question mark in all of this, though the Spurs still have time before they have to decide what comes next. The ideal outcome is obvious: he rebounds, helps push the team toward a championship, rebuilds his value, and later gets moved. If that doesn’t happen and he settles into the same level he showed when healthy - good but not great - then San Antonio could leave him unprotected in a looming NBA expansion draft, possibly after the 2027-28 season.
For now, the direction is clear. Wembanyama, Castle, and Harper are the foundation, and the Spurs are operating like a team determined to keep that trio together.
Wembanyama taking less only makes that plan more workable. Champagnie’s shorter deal is just the latest sign that San Antonio is bracing for a much bigger financial squeeze ahead.
In Other News...
Spurs Suddenly Face A Real De'Aaron Fox Contract Problem
De'Aaron Fox gave the Spurs the kind of postseason burst they were hoping for at the start, but the finish line looked a lot different. His play tailed off in the Western Conference Finals and then dropped again in the NBA Finals, enough to revive the old concerns that have followed him into San Antonio: whether the speed that made him such a dangerous guard is starting to fade, and whether that matters even more now that the games are at their biggest.
It is not just a short-term wobble, either. Fox is on a max deal worth $221.7 million over the next four years, and that kind of money changes the conversation fast when the production is uneven. Around the league, his contract has already drawn harsh reviews, which leaves the Spurs with a tricky question as they build around Victor Wembanyama: if Fox is not quite the co-star they envisioned, what exactly is the best way to use him? [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Suddenly Face A Massive De'Aaron Fox Decision
With Victor Wembanyama now locked in on an extension, the Spurs are already looking ahead to the next phase of roster building, and that has put De'Aaron Fox squarely in the middle of the conversation. San Antonio is weighing whether to keep the guard as part of the core or use him as a way to reshape the roster and trim money, a decision that says as much about the teams long-term direction as it does about Foxs fit.
Brandon Ingram has surfaced as a possible target in that kind of shuffle, giving the Spurs a very different type of offensive piece to consider around Wembanyama. The idea is still fluid, and the larger question is whether San Antonio wants to lean into continuity with Fox or pivot toward a different lineup balance as the front office keeps sorting through its options. [Read more 🡒]