I’m Tired: Julian Champagnie is NBA Finals-bound and the 76ers waived him for a dunk-contest guy

Julian Champagnie just hung 20 points and buried six threes in a Game 7 to send the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA Finals, and the Philadelphia 76ers once had this exact guy on their roster and decided they’d seen enough after two games.

Two games. That’s the whole Philadelphia chapter. Back in 2022-23, Julian Champagnie suited up twice, missed both shot attempts, grabbed a steal, and got waived so the Sixers could hang onto Mac McClung — a man whose primary NBA accomplishment is dunking really hard in the dunk contest.

I wish I were exaggerating for effect. I’m not.

He landed in San Antonio, stuck, and quietly turned into a rotation player on a real basketball team. Saturday night he went 6-for-11 from deep and put up 20 in a Game 7 against the defending champs. The Spurs knocked off the Thunder 111-103 and booked the franchise’s first Finals trip since 2014.

The Sixers, meanwhile, were eliminated in Round 2 (again) and are a clown show organization run by Jeff Epstein associate Josh Harris.

Julian Champagnie is in the Finals and the Sixers can’t escape the second round

Julian:

"I thought it was over. I ain't gonna lie to you. Getting waived with no warning, no nothing, explanation or anything, it was tough. Big, big shout out to the San Antonio Spurs taking an opportunity to a kid from Brooklyn" https://t.co/awnFPLVtql pic.twitter.com/5LbOdH86Nq

— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) May 31, 2026

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Here’s the part that should actually sting, and it’s bigger than one waived forward.

Julian Champagnie isn’t alone. Jared McCain became a pivotal rotational piece for the Thunder. Landry Shamet is doing it with the Knicks. James Harden talked his way to Cleveland, although he still came up short when the light’s were brightest. The list of guys who got noticeably better the moment they left Philadelphia keeps growing, and it never once seems to occur to the people in that building that they might be the common thread.

A franchise doesn’t accidentally become a halfway house for players who go win elsewhere. That’s a pattern. Patterns are chosen.

This is just who the Sixers are now

For years the pitch has been that there’s a plan. Trust the process, trust the front office, trust the suits. Then the “plan” walks out the door, signs in San Antonio, and shows up in the Finals while you’re watching from the same couch I am.

I’m not an NBA executive. I’m a guy in Philadelphia who watches every miserable minute of this and goes to sleep with a belt around my neck just to feel something again. I can see what’s in front of me, and what’s in front of me is a Game 7 hero who used to be one of ours.

So here’s where it stands. Julian Champagnie is in the Finals. McCain is becoming the phenom we expected after his rookie season. Shamet is also in The Finals. Harden found his way to a contender. The Spurs are chasing ring No. 6 and the Knicks ripped off 11 straight to meet them. There’s going to be a new champion for the eighth year in a row.

Everybody got out and got better.

Everybody except the people still running this thing.