Buy low, play now: Why NBA teams should be begging the Wizards for Justin Champagnie

Back in May, I asked if the end of the tanking era would usher in minutes for Justin Champagnie. My thinking on Champagnie hasn’t changed, but my answer has. Which is to say, I still think Champagnie is an average NBA player, and that if the Wizards hold an open competition for forward minutes, he might just take minutes from more ballyhooed teammates.

But while the Brian Keefe and Will Dawkins say they’re excited about the internal competition at training camp, I suspect it’s going to be managed competition. Meaning, they already know who they want to get the bulk of the minutes, and the real competition will be about who starts vs. comes off the bench, and who gets 28 minutes and who gets 20.

What could Justin Champagnie do if he gets steady minutes and a meaningful role? It might take a trade to find out. | Getty Images

Even with the team trying to win games this season, my guess is that Champagnie will be the odd man out — in part because the team cannot lose sight of their long-term goal of contending for a championship in the next few years rather than striving to make the playoffs.

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With any luck, several of the Wizards youth — the guys they want to play ahead of Champagnie — will actually be better this season. It’s certainly possible that Bilal Coulibaly and Kyshawn George will be better, more productive players this season. Same for AJ Dybantsa. Barring injury, there’s zero chance Champagnie will take minutes from Anthony Davis, Alex Sarr, or DeAndre Ayton.

My guess is that after playing 1,300+ minutes each of the past two seasons, Champagnie will have a “break glass in case of emergency” role, at least to start the season. And I wouldn’t be shocked to see him end up in a trade package during the year. For me at least, it’d be fun to see him land with a team that could actually use what he does well.

That’s because what he does well is reasonably valuable. Specifically, he scores efficiently despite meh shooting from deep (just 31.9% last season), competes on the boards and defends. He shot over 60% on twos each of the past two seasons, and he avoids turnovers.

He gives up some size, and…

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Publish date : 2026-09-30 11:00:00

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