When news broke that the San Antonio Spurs were releasing former lottery pick Jeremy Sochan after failing to find a deal before the 2026 NBA trade deadline, it placed a very interesting chess piece on the board for teams around the NBA.
Initially landing in San Antonio as the ninth overall pick out of Baylor, Sochan was a major project of Greg Popovich before he transitioned out of coaching into the front office. He played minutes as a point guard in an attempt to become a Ben Simmons-style supersized guard in a positionless basketball system, found success in the full court as an athletic finisher around the hoops, and ultimately transitioned into a sparkplug off the bench for Mitch Johnson when Victor Wembanyama became the unquestioned focal point of the team.
While Sochan's development largely plateaued between 2023-25, with the Spurs opting to use him as a deep reserve in 2025-26, there were still teams that showed an interest in his services earlier this month, even if a deal couldn't be agreed to before the deadline passed.
Now free to sign with any team he pleases, Sochan will not only be looking for a landing spot for the remainder of the season but a potential long-term destination for 2026-27 and beyond. Will he sign with a team with clear NBA Finals aspirations? Or will he instead look for fit over Finals odds, knowing that an impressive stat line to close out the season will help his cause in free agency? Needless to say, his mid-season free agency has the potential to be fascinating.
Jeremy Sochan could finally join the New York Knicks
For a time, it looked like the Knicks were going to leave the 2026 NBA trade deadline with Sochan in their rotation, with San Antonio reportedly not interested in taking back Guerschon Yabusele as compensation due to his 2026-27 player option.
Fortunately for the Knicks, not only were they able to pivot and ultimately leave the deadline with Jose Alvarado, who torched the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night off the bench, but now, they might just be able to have their cake and eat it.
Unlike in seasons past, when Tom Thibodeau would run his starters into the ground during the regular season, the Knicks actually are far more willing to share the load under Mike Brown, with 10 players on the roster having recorded at least 600 minutes of action before the All-Star break. Of those 10 players, however, only four are natual front court players: Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Mitchell Robinson, with Josh Hart having to play up as a 6-foot-5 forward at times due to the team's sheer volume of quality backcourt options.
What kind of role would Sochan play for the Knicks? Is he good enough to guarantee himself a spot in their playoff rotation, when regular contributors like Tyler Kolek and Landry Shamet could be relegated to the bench? That remains to be seen, but he would be afforded a multi-month runway to show what he can do as a forward with some ball-handling abilities, which could then breed playoff opportunities if everything falls his way.
Could Jeremy Sochan find a long-term home with the Phoenix Suns?
Despite having moved on from two multi-time All-Stars in Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, the Phoenix Suns would still be playoff-bound if the season ended today, with the seventh seed in the Western Conference guaranteeing the team a spot in the Play-In Tournament.
With four players who have started at least 40 games for the team in 2025-26, and a fifth, Collin Gillespie, falling just short of that mark at 34, the Suns are building a quality program that can succeed for years to come if everything shakes out in their favor.
What the Spurs don't have, however, is a young forward who can build alongside players like Gilespie, Mark Williams, Khaman Maluach, and Devin Booker into the future, with Dillon Brooks currently 30, and Royce O'Neale the elder statesman of the group at 32. Sochan could immediately benefit from playing alongside floor generals like Booker and Gillespie, who are averaging 6.3 and 4.7 assists per game, respectively, and could form a quality two-man game with Jalen Green on the second unit when the former Houston Rockets guard is afforded a chance to run the offense.
Is Jeremy Sochan the ultimate Philadelphia 76ers reclamation project?
And last but not least, after leaving the trade deadline with just 13 players on standard NBA contracts, could the Philadelphia 76ers be the team that brings in Sochan as the ultimate high-energy guy at the four spot?
After largely looking to fill out their power forward spot with floor spacers during the Joel Embiid era, the 76ers made a conscious effort to change up their gameplan in 2025 in order to take some of the rebounding pressure off of “The Process,” signing Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker on two-way contracts to provide rebounding and hustle on the offensive glass, especially when Tyrese Maxey is driving to the hoop.
So far, the results have been very encouraging, with Barlow earning a standard NBA contract for his efforts and Walker potentially following suit before the end of the regular season, but neither player – nor Trendon Watford, the team's other power forward – is a particularly effective shooter when the ball lands in their hands outside of right under the basket.
While Sochan was never able to become a 3-point shooter in San Antonio, capping out at just 30.8 percent from 2023-25, he did shoot over 50 percent from the field last season, and averaged over 11 points per game over his first 184 games of professional action.
With Maxey and VJ Edgecombe a pair of highly athletic combo guards capable of doing serious damage in the open court, maybe Sochan could become a power forward who splits the difference between Watford and Barlow, all the while providing some pop in the pick and roll as both a screener and ball handler.
