Champagnie vs Champagnie

In a storybook moment this weekend, St. John's product and Brooklyn bred guard/forward Julian Champagnie will be reunited with his twin brother, Justin Champagnie, for the first time as NBA players.

After signing with the Philadelphia 76ers, Julian Champagnie will face the Toronto Raptors and Justin Champagnie during a Saturday night NBA summer league game in Las Vegas.

While starring alongside his twin brother Justin Champagnie at Bishop Loughlin under Ed Gonzalez, Julian Champagnie initially committed to Pittsburgh.

Originally, Julian Champagnie's initiative was to prolong his career alongside his brother at the collegiate level. The plot changed, however, when Champagnie de-committed from Pitt and decided to carve his own route.

He weighed options and was considering prep school as a possibility to ramp up his options and garner more exposure with an additional year to develop.

The plot changed, again, when Mike Anderson was hired by St. John's in the spring of 2019.

Champagnie went on to author a stellar career at St. John's University, emerging into the focal point and one of the country's top shelf scorers this past season.

While St. John's battled with bouts of inconsistency during a 17-15 2021-22 campaign, Champagnie was the stabilizing scoring source on which the program leaned heavily.

Champagnie averaged 19.2 points and seven rebounds and created a unique threat as a 6-foot-8 shot maker with NBA 3-point range. And the once lesser heralded and more demure brother of the Champagnie twins rapidly evolved into the face of St. John's and a vital, veteran locker room presence during a memorable senior season.

The NBA draft process, which saw Champagnie go undrafted (before penning a two-way contract with Philadelphia), once again reminded Champagnie of being overlooked and unsung. For years, he had to deal with unfair comparisons to Justin (they were clearly different style players) and was considered the less heralded recruit.

All of that changed this past season, when Champagnie led St. John's with multiple games of 25+ points and 10+ rebounds. He even scored 34 points and grabbed 16 rebounds during a win over conference foe DePaul, despite an 18-game layoff due to Covid protocols.

A 32-point performance against Indiana, 24-point game against eventual 2022 national champion Kansas, and 49 points in two games of the Big East tournament showcased Champagnie's ability to commandeer the offensive flow and take game-changing matters into his own hands. He suddenly began appearing on NBA Draft boards and NBA mock drafts and mentioned like program greats such as Chris Mullin and Walter Berry.

Now Champagnie begins his professional career with an intriguing subplot as he matches up against his twin brother.

"It’s really an amazing story, because they’ve been best friends their whole lives and been side by side,” said Adam Berkowitz of New Heights, who coached both brothers together in AAU.

The story opens a new chapter on Saturday night.