Waiving Justin Champagnie was painful, but necessary for Raptors

The Toronto Raptors are a roster full of players who were not highly touted in college, often developing into stars after arriving in town as a late draft pick or an undrafted free agent. Forward Justin Champagnie, who seemed like a perfect scheme fit, was one of those players.

Champagnie was a double-double machine in college, but he went undrafted due to concerns about the 6-6, 200-pound forward being able to replicate those numbers in the pros without a reliable jump shot. Toronto took a chance on him, and he earned a multi-year deal last season as a result.

While he beat out Josh Jackson and DJ Wilson during a preseason competition, Champagnie has played in just two games this season. Between an injury sidelining him at a time when he could have got some run and Nick Nurse’s general stubbornness, Toronto decided to waive the second-year player.

Champagnie was likely waived because he had a partially guaranteed $825,000 payday waiting for him on December 31 that would have jumped to $1.6 million. With Toronto likely planning to change the roster and Champagnie not a factor in their plans, this was only a matter of time.

The Toronto Raptors had to waive Justin Champagnie.

Given the impressive play of two-way guard Jeff Dowtin, Toronto might be willing to sign him to the standard multi-year non-guaranteed contract and sign someone else to a two-way deal. This isn’t the sexiest option, but it might be the most realistic path to go down.

The Raptors could also use that final roster spot on a free agent signing that will make an immediate impact in the paint or on the perimeter. While this hypothetical player likely won’t change Toronto’s fortune by themselves, they could play a part in getting them back on track.

The most bombastic option is Toronto clearing roster space to finalize a massive trade that will change the shape of their roster. If all they had to do to clear space was waive Champagnie and eat the resulting cap hit, it’s easy to see why Toronto did what they did.

Champagnie is too good to float around the free agent pool for too long, as some team will try to either sign him to a two-way contract or a very minimal NBA deal. Let’s just hope he doesn’t do what Yuta Watanabe is doing in Brooklyn and make the Raptors look moronic for making this move.