Julian Champagnie isn’t making a scene about his role with the San Antonio Spurs, even if the depth chart is starting to shift around him.
After the Spurs’ run to the 2026 NBA Finals, the team made a clear move to retool the roster by bringing in Tobias Harris in free agency from the Detroit Pistons. Harris is expected to be the starting power forward when healthy, and that could push Champagnie out of the first five after he started for San Antonio during the 2025-26 season.
For Champagnie, that’s not a problem.
He has gone from an undrafted player who was fighting for minutes with the Philadelphia 76ers to becoming one of the Spurs’ more important pieces over the past few seasons. Now, with Harris in line to take on a bigger role after serving as a secondary scorer to Cade Cunningham in Detroit, Champagnie may end up sliding back into a bench job.
Even so, he sounds ready for whatever comes next.
"I don’t care. Starting or not starting.
I just like being here. I trust in the Coach, whatever he needs me to do is what I’m going to do, whatever the teams needs me to do is where I will be at," Champagnie said about possibly missing out on the starting lineup.
That kind of response says plenty about why the Spurs value him. He has the sort of attitude coaches love and teammates lean on, and he appears comfortable sacrificing a starting spot if it helps the team.
Champagnie will likely begin the season in the lineup because of Harris’ injury, but long term, the expectation is that Harris could take over that role. If that happens, Champagnie doesn’t sound interested in making it into anything bigger than it needs to be. He understands he can still matter plenty coming off the bench, and he expects to remain a major part of what San Antonio does either way.
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The race will still have familiar heavyweights around it, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo all part of the conversation. But the real weight on Wembanyama is clear: this is the sort of projection that depends on him staying on the floor and the Spurs looking like one of the Wests best teams. For a player this young, the expectation is already enormous, and the season ahead could turn that buzz into something much bigger. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Fans Are Watching Dylan Harpers Messy Off-Court Story Closely
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So far, the situation has lived almost entirely in the online rumor mill. Anonymous posts have raised questions about Laceys conduct, but neither Harper nor Lacey has confirmed anything, and there has been no official statement from the Spurs or any police report to anchor the discussion. Until there is something more concrete, it remains the kind of off-court noise that can linger around a player without ever fully becoming a story, even as the lack of clarity keeps it from going away. [Read more 🡒]