Jeremy Sochan had offers from teams in Europe and Australia but he’d rather wait for another NBA opportunity, he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape.
Sochan was waived after spending training camp and the preseason on an Exhibit 9 contract with the Trail Blazers. He’s currently in the G League with the Texas Legends, the Mavericks’ affiliate, after being selected No. 1 overall in the G League draft last month.
Sochan hopes to get promoted to the Mavericks’ roster at some point. He’s also eligible to sign a deal with any other NBA team, since holding a player’s G League rights is separate from controlling a player’s NBA rights. Sochan is no longer eligible for a two-way deal since he has four years of NBA service.
“I will always be pretty prideful about my journey, because it’s very unique,” Sochan said. “I’m in this situation now. It kind of felt weird being a little unemployed, but it is what it is. And I’m going to work, stay ready and do everything I can to prove myself. And most importantly, the people around me know that I’m still hungry. I’m still the same guy.”
Sochan was the ninth overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft and spent his first three-and-a-half years with the Spurs. The 6’8″ forward averaged at least 11 points per game in each of his first three seasons as San Antonio experimented with his role, deploying him for stretches as a point guard or a small-ball center.
However, Sochan fell out of the regular rotation during his fourth year in 2025/26 and was granted his release after the trade deadline, allowing him to sign with the Knicks. He didn’t play much in New York either, averaging just 6.9 minutes per game in 16 regular-season appearances and 3.3 MPG in eight postseason outings, but he won his first NBA championship when his new team beat his old team in the NBA Finals.
“It was kind of a full-circle moment in a way,” Sochan said. “With the Spurs, the first couple years was a lot of losing, growing. And being in a playoff moment and the Finals against a team that I started with was a crazy feeling. I couldn’t describe the emotions. It was crazy. The last game I played the last [eight] seconds. It was definitely a crazy feeling.”
This fall, Sochan thought he’d make the Trail Blazers’ final roster even though he didn’t have a guaranteed contract.
“I wouldn’t be able to tell you that I saw it coming,” Sochan said of being waived. “The way the last couple years have gone, I can understand why it’s happened, and I can see the reasoning. It’s funny because when you look at NBA teams and what the rosters look like, it’s a mixture of players, and I definitely believe that I belong on an NBA roster.”
Sochan said the Knicks had interest in him as a training camp invitee and he also heard from the Clippers.
