Justin Champagnie's Contract Providing Great Value for Wizards

There's an argument to be made, however, that none of those home-developed pieces are playing on the biggest scam contract of the bunch. Justin Champagnie has already been accepted into Washington's fan base as one of the harder players to part with, having long-since proven himself as an indispensable rebounding and defensive presence in the Wizards' rotation, and his impact numbers agree with that strong assessment.

The Sporting News' Steph Noh was interested in seeing how each player's respective contracts aligns with how much value they actually provide to the court, and found that Champagnie's $2.3 million annual salary is one of the biggest steals in the sport. According to a combination of games and minutes played and DARKO, an impact metric based on box scores and estimated +/- statistics, he's worth the equivalent of someone making $16.6 million annually.

Assessing Champagnie's Value to the Outside

Noh would likely admit that DARKO is a flawed measurement that needs context to fully understand. Just about every player on the Wizards will suffer from such estimations, as their regular beatdowns will only lower the disparity between their actual impact and the numerical results of each game, and Champagnie is no different in this regard.

What many casual fans will fail to account for with the wing is his youth, as his mature playstyle makes it easy to forget that he's merely 24 years old. That's younger than most other intriguing role players around the NBA, but on a Washington roster that's extremely picky about which veterans they employ, he's one of the oldest amongst players regularly trusted by Wizards head coach Brian Keefe.

As cheap as his yearly paycheck already looks, he was earning the league-minimum until quite recently. It wasn't until March of last season when the Wizards finally signed him to a full deal, and even then, the money remains unguaranteed.

It may as well be by this point, as he's remained a fixture in the Wizards' competitive formula for much of the season. They rarely pull out wins, but they're usually in every contest thanks to Champagnie's instinctive rebounding, positive physical defensive profile and his re-discovered jumpshot. He has the complete package to be a two-way play-finisher, and prying him away from D.C. would cost nearly as much as it would take anyone else in the squad's young core, regardless of his real-life price tag.