It was a whirlwind of uncertainty for San Antonio Spurs wing Julian Champagnie during his rookie season in the NBA.

He began the 2022-23 year with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-way contract, but he was cut about halfway through the season. Just a few days later, the Spurs claimed his contract off waivers and he finished off the season still on a two-way contract.

Champagnie didn't play much during his time with the Sixers. He suited up in only two games before he was waived and wasn't able to show much. But he took it as a learning experience and was able to come to the Spurs with a little bit of knowledge that he didn't have before.

“Staying ready is very, very important. For those games, I wasn't prepared. I wasn't too ready to kind of get in the game and perform,” Champagnie said. “Even though one game I think I played like a minute and the other one five, five minutes is a lot of time in the NBA especially for a guy trying to find his way. Staying ready is kind of the biggest thing that I've been trying to do since then.”

When Julian Champagnie joined the Spurs, he got to play right away and was given an opportunity that he didn't have with the Sixers. From mid-March to the end of the season, he was a consistent presence in the rotation. He played in 15 games including three starts.

That kind of opportunity is huge for a young player and Champagnie took full advantage. During that 15 game stretch, he averaged 11.0 points per game and 4.0 rebounds with shooting splits of 46.1 percent from the field, 40.7 percent from the three-point line and 82.4 percent from the free-throw line. He scored 20+ points in three of his last five games. For him, it was a combination of Gregg Popovich's system and just getting the chance to play.

“I think a little bit of both, honestly. The system definitely was what my college system was like, a lot of flow, a lot of movement, cut, back cut, run around, run around in structure, that was kind of the idea. That worked for me,” Champagnie said. “Pop has given me a lot of confidence, and especially my teammates, I give it to them the most. My first couple of games I played alright, trying to figure it out. But the last bunch I kind of took my game to a new level.”

Julian Champagnie entered the 2023 offseason as a restricted free agent when the Spurs tendered him a qualifying offer. But he wasn't waiting for a new deal for long. He ended up being one of the first players to sign a new contract when the free agency moratorium period was lifted. The Spurs had rewarded him with a standard contract for four years and $12 million.

When the Sixers had cut him, he had no clue what his next move was going to be. He certainly did not expect to end up with the Spurs and he certainly did not expect to have this kind of long term stability heading into this season. What he did know was that once he got to San Antonio, he was going to have show something on the court right away.

“It felt great, especially not knowing where I was gonna end up. And that was the worst part about it was I got cut from Philly fairly late in the season around the All-Star break,” Champagnie said, “Just not knowing where that was going to take me, it made me nervous and scared. So coming here it was like, okay I'm gonna figure it out. I got to figure it out. That was the mindset behind it.”

This season, Julian Champagnie has played sporadically for the Spurs. He's suited up in five of the team's first eight games and has played in 7.2 minutes per game. Overall he's been averaging 1.8 points per game and 0.8 rebounds. The most amount of playing time he's had this year was the 16 minutes he played during the Spurs blowout loss to the Indiana Pacers back on Nov.6.

When he has gotten on the court though, his role has changed a little bit from last season. Last year he was counted on as being more a scoring threat. This season, his role is more of a do it all kind of player who does the dirty work and contributes in ways that don't always appear on the stat sheet.

“I'm a glue guy. The guy that's gonna come in and take his man seriously, play defense and climb up that ladder,” Champagnie said. “Obviously right now I'm not in as much as I want to be in, but I'm a team guy and I love my team. I want to see us all be better as a unit. Right now it's just make my teammates better and fit my role.”

And with each day that passes this season, the main thing Julian Champagnie wants to get is more experience.

“Experience, I think experience is the biggest thing for me this year,” Champagnie said. “Last year I got my first real NBA season games in, so experience is the biggest thing for me right now. That's just what I want to get out of it, just having those games under my belt where it's like, okay I've seen it before, I've seen that before.”