Julian Champagnie’s hard work pays off with NBA Finals

OKLAHOMA CITY — Julian Champagnie cried after he wasn’t selected during the 2022 NBA draft in his hometown of Brooklyn. Eight months later, he thought his NBA career was over before it truly started when the Philadelphia 76ers waived him to make room for a slam dunk contest participant.

Champagnie was subsequently claimed off waivers by the San Antonio Spurs with nothing guaranteed long-term.

After going undrafted, Champagnie has made his basketball dream come true: Now the Spurs forward is going to the 2026 NBA Finals to play against his hometown New York Knicks.

“Never give up,” Champagnie told Andscape as he walked back to the Spurs locker room at Paycom Center late Saturday night. “I know it might sound a little cliché. Just never give up. You have to keep hooping. You got to keep going. You got to keep grinding. Find your spot.

“And when you find your spot, hold onto it. Keep it. Don’t let go of it. Work hard. Be honest. Be coachable. Just give yourself to the game.”

Champagnie scored 20 points and made six 3-pointers as the Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. He joined Klay Thompson (2016) and Stephen Curry (twice) to become the only players in NBA history to knock down at least six triples in a conference finals Game 7. Only Western Conference finals MVP Victor Wembanyama (22 points) scored more for the Spurs in Game 7.

Champagnie is trying to help the Spurs win their sixth NBA title since 1999, while the hometown Knicks haven’t won one since 1973. Yet, despite playing in numerous games at Madison Square Garden while at St. John’s University, Champagnie didn’t grow up a Knicks fan. As a kid, he said he was a fan of whichever team NBA star Kevin Durant played for, and that the only Knicks game he attended before making the NBA was when he was 11.

“I get to play in front of a lot of my family,” Champagnie said. “My family hasn’t come to no games yet; I’ve been keeping it strictly basketball right now. And when the Knicks made the championship, I told them, ‘Well, if we get this done, you guys can come to everything if you want to.’ …

“It’s up the block. I passed by there so many times. I played in there so many times, so being able to go back there and compete for a championship, there’s just no better feeling.”

Julian and his twin brother, Justin, a Washington Wizards guard, were born in Staten Island, New York, on June 29, 2001. After both starred at Bishop Loughlin High School in Brooklyn, Justin played in college at Pittsburgh and Julian went to St. John’s, where his father, Ranford, played soccer.

Julian Champagnie produced for St. John’s immediately. The two-time All-Big East Conference selection averaged 19.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.1 blocks per game during his junior season in 2021-22, after which he declared for the draft.

The 2022 NBA draft was in Brooklyn at Barclays Center, but Champagnie was on the draft bubble and watched on TV from his nearby family home rather than sitting in the stands of the arena. That was a good decision, as Champagnie went undrafted.

“I was literally in the back of the crib in the corner crying,” Champagnie told Andscape. “I was tight. I was p‑‑‑ed. I felt like I did enough to get there. But you know what — and a bunch of people told me the same thing — that s‑‑‑ [going undrafted] don’t matter. It don’t matter. It makes it a little harder. But it makes it a little more me. It makes it a little more personal.”

The 76ers signed Champagnie to a two-way contract on June 24, 2022. The 6-foot-7, 217-pound forward averaged 14.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in 18 games with the 76ers’ G League affiliate Delaware Blue Coats during the 2022-23 season. Champagnie made his NBA debut on Nov. 22, 2022, but he went scoreless in two games in a 76ers uniform, spending less than seven minutes on court for Philadelphia.

On Feb. 14, 2023, the 76ers waived Champagnie specifically to sign Mac McClung to a two-way contract, allowing the latter to represent the team in the 2023 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

“I thought I was gone [from the NBA] bro, I ain’t going to lie to you,” Champagnie told reporters. “I was always told how small the window is to get your foot in the league and stay there and make a career for yourself. To get an opportunity only in the G League and getting waived with no warning, no nothing, no explanation or anything was tough.

“It was tough for a 22-year-old kid who was just thinking of chasing my dreams and telling myself I can do this. I didn’t have any clue where I was going to end up. My agent told me it could be anywhere.”

The Spurs claimed Champagnie off waivers two days after the Sixers released him, and he went on to average 11.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 15 games with the Spurs during the 2023-24 season.

On his mentality with the Spurs, Champagnie told Andscape: “Just make it work. No matter what happens. No matter what it is. Make that s‑‑‑ work. Be coachable.”

When Champagnie arrived in San Antonio, he was stepping into Gregg Popovich’s domain. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer had set the NBA’s all-time coaching wins record the year prior, and Champagnie knew that impressing the five-time championship coach would go a long way toward securing his spot in the league.

“Coach Pop was here, and I heard nothing but great things about him,” Champagnie told Andscape. “They would always tell me, ‘If you’re good, a good person and a good player and be on his side, you’ll play.’ So, I always made it a point to be on his good side. Do the right things. Listen. Be coachable. He gave me a chance. Thanks to him. I owe everything to him.”

The Spurs saw enough from Champagnie during the final two months of the 2022-23 season to re-sign him to a four-year, $12 million contract that offseason.

He has been a fixture in San Antonio’s starting lineup since, helping usher the franchise into a new era as Mitch Johnson took over coaching duties after Popovich suffered a stroke in 2024.

This year, Champagnie played in all 82 games for the second season in a row and averaged career-highs in points (11.1), rebounds (5.8), and assists (1.5) per game.

He sparked the Spurs in their big Game 7 win by scoring 18 of his 20 points off 3-pointers, and he will be eligible to sign a four-year, $87 million contract extension with the Spurs if his $3 million team option for next season is not exercised.

“Julian’s amazing. He deserves everything that he gets,” Wembanyama told reporters. “And he’s the type of guy that makes you want to die for him on the court, because he gives so much effort, and he’s got such an amazing story.”

Said Champagnie: “I’ve seen the ups, downs and in-betweens. So being able to push through and get there today is surreal.”

When the buzzer sounded on Saturday’s big win and the Spurs officially advanced to their first Finals since 2014, Champagnie reflected to when he was in New York City playing for St. John’s and dreaming about making it to the NBA.

“I was literally thinking about my first year at St. John’s,” Champagnie told Andscape. “A kid playing basketball, hooping, not knowing what was going on. At the end of that year, I made a commitment to myself. I said, ‘You know Julian, you don’t want to work a regular job after this. You want to play basketball for a living.’

“That summer, going from my freshman to my sophomore year, I made my biggest jump. I got in the gym. Locked in and stuck to it. Didn’t waver. Put the work in. Excuse my language, but that s‑‑‑ paid off. Staying the course. Not being too high or too low. That s‑‑‑ pays off.”