By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer / San Antonio Express-News, 2026-10-02 13:53:42
2026年9月28日，星期一，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋哈里森·巴恩斯（40号）在圣安东尼奥胜利资本训练中心举行的NBA球队媒体日期间摆造型拍摄照片和视频。
在朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 四年的NBA生涯中，他早已习惯了时不时为球迷签名。
但没有哪一次的签名，能比他在6月29日签下的那个更具分量。
就在那一天，这位神射手前锋与马刺签下了一份为期三年、总价值4500万美元的续约合同，确立了自己在球队未来蓝图中的一席之地，也为一路走来所付出的努力换来了丰厚的回报。
“这对我有这非同寻常的意义，”尚帕尼说，“我很高兴他们信任我能做好自己的工作。”
马刺决定提前锁定年仅25岁的尚帕尼，是他们今夏休赛期“重延续而非求变革”建队思路的一部分。除了从底特律引进了自由球员前锋托拜厄斯·哈里斯 (Tobias Harris) 之外，这支新科西部卫冕冠军在很大程度上保留了上赛季带队打进NBA总决赛的核心班底。
这其中就包括留住尚帕尼，以及与老将前锋哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 达成一份为期一年、价值800万美元的新合同。
主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 表示，这种人员稳定性的回报在于让训练营从一开始就能全速起跑。马刺队无需一切从头再来，而是能够近乎无缝地衔接去年六月停下的脚步。
“球队文化的传承和战术默契（Corporate knowledge）至关重要，”约翰逊说，“你依然会疲于奔命、反复推敲每一处细节。但至少你已经拥有了根基与底座，而去年我们经历了大量的试错，因为那时我们从未有过这样的经历。”
马刺当家球星维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 同样感受到了这份熟悉感。
他表示，与去年的训练营相比，这次大家不用再花费大量时间去摸索队友和教练的行事与打法习惯，而是能将更多精力放在现有的默契上精益求精。
“感觉我们现在彼此之间的了解要深入得多了，”他说，“就好像我们已经清楚什么行得通，什么行不通。”
尚帕尼刚刚经历了一个突破性的赛季，他场均贡献11.1分，并以单赛季命中195记三分球创下了马刺队史新纪录。
而回报便是一份崭新的合同。马刺直接推翻了尚帕尼原本合同的最后一年——那份合同本该在2026-27赛季向他支付400万美元——取而代之的是一份年限更长、薪水更丰厚的长约承诺。
当尚帕尼落笔签字锁定自己的未来时，他情不自禁地回想起自己一路走来的坎坷历程。
作为2022年圣约翰大学的落选秀，尚帕尼在费城只代表76人队出战了区区两场NBA比赛，随后便在2023年的情人节惨遭裁员。
他带着微茫的希望来到了圣安东尼奥，那比文班亚马的到来还要早四个月，当时还没人确切知道马刺未来会建立起怎样的格局。那时的尚帕尼不仅缺少自信，也对自己的前途感到迷茫。
三年半过去了，他已经成长为一支具备争冠实力球队的关键拼图——如今，他也拥有了一份足以彰显自身地位的合同。
“签下那份合同绝对让我忍不住回望过去，轻轻拍拍自己的后背，对自己说：‘行啊，你做对了决定，闯出了一条路。’”尚帕尼说道，“未来还有很长的路要走，但你已经走在正确的道路和轨道上了。”
在尚帕尼收获自己在NBA生涯辛勤耕耘的硕果之际，34岁的巴恩斯则选择留下来，看看自己在圣安东尼奥付出的心血能结出怎样的成果。
巴恩斯是在2024年夏天作为一笔三方交易的附属筹码加盟马刺的，当时德马尔·德罗赞通过那笔交易从芝加哥转投萨克拉门托。两年过去了，德罗赞已经辗转去往丹佛，而巴恩斯则选择在圣安东尼奥再战一季。
“无论何时，只要你有机会参与开拓一项事业，并为之倾注心力、付出汗水，与队友们建立起深厚情谊——你都会希望能继续见证它的开花结果，”巴恩斯说，“在这个行业里，你很多时候根本没有这样的机会。”
尽管随着年龄增长，自己在场上的角色已逐渐边缘化，巴恩斯依然做出了回归马刺的选择。
身披银黑战袍的前134场比赛中他全部首发登场，直到上赛季全明星赛后才改打替补。到了季后赛，他的出场时间被进一步压缩，几乎很难得到登场机会。
2026年9月28日，星期一，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋朱利安·尚帕尼（30号）在圣安东尼奥胜利资本训练中心举行的NBA球队媒体日期间回答记者提问。
上赛季末段，尚帕尼取代了巴恩斯进入首发阵容。而本赛季，如果主帅约翰逊最终决定安排新援哈里斯在该位置首发，两人都有可能进入替补席。
即将迈入生涯第15个NBA赛季的巴恩斯，在34岁这个年纪很清楚自己签下这份合同意味着什么。对此他坦然接受，处之泰然。
“我真心喜欢我的队友们，也享受前几年我们所取得的进步和建立起的一切，”巴恩斯说，“我很兴奋能在这里再战一年。”
尚帕尼对此深表认同。
曾几何时，他来到圣安东尼奥仅仅是为了在NBA争得立足之地。而现在，他收获了更为长久的归宿。
迄今为止，他签下的最重要的一份签名，正是让他能够继续留守这里的这一笔。
“圣安东尼奥是唯一一支给了我梦寐以求机会的球队，”尚帕尼说，“我觉得自己永远都感激他们。”
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
查看原文：Why Champagnie, Barnes are happy to be back in Spurs' fold
Why Champagnie, Barnes are happy to be back in Spurs’ fold
San Antonio Spurs forward Harrison Barnes (40) poses for photos and video clips during the NBA basketball team’s media day at the Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026.
Throughout Julian Champagnie’s four years as an NBA player, he has become accustomed to signing an autograph here or there.
None carried more weight than the one he signed on June 29.
That was the day the sharpshooting forward put his name on a three-year, $45 million extension with the Spurs, securing his place in the franchise’s future plans and rewarding the work that got him there.
“It meant the world to me,” Champagnie said. “I’m happy they trust me doing my job.”
The Spurs’ decision to lock up 25-year-old Julian Champagnie was part of an offseason built more on continuity than change. Other than adding free-agent forward Tobias Harris from Detroit, the reigning Western Conference champions largely stayed loyal to the group that carried them to last season’s NBA Finals.
That included bringing back Champagnie and agreeing to a new one-year, $8 million deal with veteran forward Harrison Barnes.
The payoff, coach Mitch Johnson said, has been a running start to training camp. Rather than starting from scratch, the Spurs have been able to pick up close to where they left off last June.
“Corporate knowledge is important,” Johnson said. “You are still chasing your tail and questioning everything. But at least you have a base and a foundation, where last year it was a lot of trial and error because we had never done it.”
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama has felt that familiarity, too.
Compared with last year’s training camp, he said, this one has required less time figuring out how his teammates and coaches operate and more time building on what they already know.
“It feels like we know each other so much better now,” he said. “It’s like we know what works and what doesn’t work.”
Champagnie is coming off a breakout season in which he averaged 11.1 points and set a franchise single-season record with 195 made 3-pointers.
The reward was a new deal. The Spurs tore up the final year of Champagnie’s previous contract — one that was set to pay him $4 million in 2026-27 — and replaced it with a longer, more lucrative commitment.
As Champagnie put pen to paper and cemented his future, he couldn’t help but look back at how far he had come.
Undrafted coming out of St. John’s in 2022, Champagnie appeared in all of two NBA games with Philadelphia before the 76ers waived him on Valentine’s Day 2023.
He arrived in San Antonio on a wing and a prayer, four months before Wembanyama and before anyone knew exactly what the Spurs were building. Champagnie wasn’t sure of himself or what the future held.
Three and a half years later, he has become a key piece of a championship-caliber Spurs team — and now has the contract to match his place in it.
“Signing that definitely made me look back and just kind of pat myself back and say, ‘Alright, you did something right and figured it out,’ ” Champagnie said. “There’s still more to go, but you’re on the right way and the right path.”
While Champagnie is reaping the reward of the work he has put into his NBA career, the 34-year-old Barnes is sticking around to see what his own investment in San Antonio can produce.
Barnes joined the Spurs in the summer of 2024 as an incidental piece of a three-team trade that sent DeMar DeRozan from Chicago to Sacramento. Two years later, DeRozan has moved on to Denver, while Barnes chose to remain in San Antonio for another season.
“Any time you have an opportunity to start something and you put your effort, you put sweat equity, you develop relationships with guys — you want to continue to see that through,” Barnes said. “In this business, a lot of times you don’t have that opportunity.”
Barnes chose to return to the Spurs despite an on-court role that has begun to shrink with age.
He started his first 134 appearances in silver and black before moving to the bench after last season’s All-Star break. His playing time dwindled further in the playoffs, when he barely saw the floor.
San Antonio Spurs forward Julian Champagnie (30) answers questions from reporters during the NBA basketball team’s media day at the Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026.
Champagnie replaced Barnes in the starting lineup to end last season. Both could be ticketed for the bench this season if Johnson ends up starting the newcomer Harris at that spot.
At 34, Barnes knew what he was signing up for as his 15th NBA season dawns. And he’s perfectly comfortable with it.
“I genuinely enjoy my teammates and I’ve enjoyed the progress and all things that we built in the first couple years,” Barnes said. “I’m excited for another year here.”
Champagnie can say the same.
He once came to San Antonio simply hoping to find a place in the NBA. Now he has found something more lasting.
The most important autograph he has signed so far turned out to be the one that kept him here.
“San Antonio was the only team that gave me the opportunity that I was looking for,” Champagnie said. “I feel like I’m forever in their debt.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer / San Antonio Express-News