Brian Keefe has a rotation call he can’t keep dodging, and it starts with Justin Champagnie.
The Washington Wizards have spent the early part of building out their 2026-27 roster with a clear split in mind. There are 10 draftees on the depth chart, seven of them first-round picks, and then there’s the older class - five players 28 and up who either need to lift the team on the floor or help steady things in the locker room, Anthony Gill style. That setup leaves two exemptions without an obvious home: Justin Champagnie and Tre Mann.
Mann fits more as a luxury piece in a crowded mix of ball-handlers and wings. Champagnie is different. Washington doesn’t just want him around; it needs him in the rotation if it’s going to get the most out of an inexperienced group and a defense-first identity.
Over his two full seasons with the Wizards, Champagnie has played in 131 games, more than 65 a year. Outside of Bub Carrington - whose attendance remains perfect - that’s the best appearance rate any eligible Wizard has posted since the 2024-25 season. Even with that workload, fans have spent much of his run wondering why the leash stays so short.
The pattern is familiar. Two seasons ago, he was buried with DNPs, logging just two appearances and a little over four minutes across the first 19 games before suddenly getting a chance. Once he got it, he ran with it, earned a starting job, and settled into a stretch of about 22 minutes a night from that point forward.
Last season didn’t bring much relief. Washington added more names - CJ McCollum, Tre Johnson and Will Riley among them - and the new bodies squeezed the minutes Champagnie looked ready to claim. He did get his first start by game seven, but he still had stretches where his night ended in single-digit minutes all the way into mid-November.
Even so, he kept building a reputation around the league as a rugged perimeter defender and a possession-saving offensive rebounder. That kind of production on a cheap contract was enough to get other fan bases talking about a possible trade, but Washington never moved him. The Wizards, often willing to let young players fight through their own growing pains, valued a player who already knew exactly how he fit.
Now Champagnie is heading into his fourth season with the franchise, and the path to steady minutes still isn’t especially clean. The difference is that Washington is trying to win games now, not position itself for the next draft, which should make it harder to stash him away just to chase losses.
His competition on the wing will be real. Behind likely starters AJ Dybantsa and Kyshawn George, the reserve mix should include Bilal Coulibaly, Will Riley and Khris Middleton.
On paper, Coulibaly looks like the clearest threat to jump Champagnie because of his athleticism and point-of-attack defense. Middleton, meanwhile, has drawn enough praise from Keefe that some fans are already bracing for the veteran to soak up another chunk of wing minutes.
Keefe has made his stance on Champagnie clear, even if he stopped short of promising a fixed role. After saying that “Khris Middleton is going to be a big part of what we do this year,” he echoed the same theme when asked about Champagnie: stay ready, because opportunities will come.
Still, the coach’s evaluation of Champagnie leaves little mystery. “I know Justin Champagnie's gonna have a big impact,” he told On SI.
“Any time he's on the court, I have huge trust in him. He does really valuable things to any lineup he plays with.
He's done that since he's got here. He will continue to do that.”
That trust matters because Champagnie brings something the Wizards need right away. He runs the floor better than Middleton, he fits the defensive tone Washington wants, and he helps cover for the kinds of lineups built around Young. Middleton may be the more polished scorer, but Champagnie can still finish plays and keep possessions alive, even if the jumper comes and goes.
Keefe knows both players well after two uneven seasons together, and he understands what each can provide. But if Washington is serious about loosening the grip that has kept it stuck, Champagnie has to be one of the first wings out there.
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