The Fall of Jeremy Sochan

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PORTLAND, OREGON – NOVEMBER 26: Jeremy Sochan #10 of the San Antonio Spurs looks on against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center on November 26, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Any player going into their fourth NBA season should really be moulding into their final form. Three years of seasoning, coaching, film rooms and strength training should have them at something approaching their best by now. Unfortunately for the San Antonio Spurs, their fourth-year forward Jeremy Sochan is mired amid a career-worst season.

Where previously he had averaged between 11.0 and 11.6 points per game in each of his first three seasons, Sochan is currently at less than half of that in year four, in half of the minutes played. He is losing his offensive role to Harrison Barnes, and his defensive role to Julian Champagnie. At this point, Sochan has gone from starting point guard to bench power forward, while his team has (coincident, but not coincidentally) gone from the basement to competitiveness. Long story short, while his team has gotten better, he has not.

Need The Shot To Come Around

As a rookie, Sochan played 77 games, averaged 26.0 minutes per game, scored 11.0 points per contest, and shot 45.3% from the field. His usage rate hovered around 20%, his defensive versatility was immediately evident, and he finished the season averaging 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists to go along with the decent scoring output all while guarding multiple positions. For a 19-year-old forward drafted ninth overall, those numbers were a stable foundation on which to grow – so much so that the Spurs opened his second season with Sochan starting at point guard, of all things.

Two and a half seasons later, however, the statistical output has not merely flattened, but reversed. Sochan’s offensive efficiency understandably did not grow as his ball-handling role expanded, but has declined once the role contracted. He is shooting 34% on all non-point blank attempts this year, his shot selection and decision-making do not inspire confidence, and his three-point shooting, which was already a concern across his first three years, has failed to improve. Across his first three and a half seasons, Sochan has never exceeded 31% from three-point range, even on a fairly low volume, and with Stephon Castle also struggling from the long line, the Spurs are finding they cannot play down two shooters.

Sochan’s offensive experiment as a primary ball-handler further exposed his limitations. When deployed as a point-forward, his assist rate rose modestly, but the Spurs later traded for a point guard for a reason. Line-ups with Sochan initiating offense posted negative net ratings, and his on-off splits reflected a decline in offensive spacing when he was on the floor. Defenders routinely went under screens or ignored him entirely on the perimeter, compressing the floor and reducing overall team efficiency. This would be less of a problem had he been able to shine in the reduced role now that De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper are in the fold. But he is not.

Sochan’s Defense Not Carrying Him Through

Defensively, Sochan remains capable, but the once-exceptional potential seems not to be coming to fruition, and the defense is not impact-level for a forward whose offensive contributions are limited. His defensive versatility has not translated into measurable line-up advantages, as opposing NBA offenses have continued to target line-ups where he is the weakest shooter, and although Sochan can stay in front of all types of opponents, it is not always happening.

Context, of course, matters. But it does not reverse the downslide. Sochan entered the league as a project on a rebuilding team, but his early opportunities and production created expectations of linear growth. Instead, his efficiency declined as his responsibilities grew, and when those responsibilities were reduced, his counting stats have unfortunately followed. Sochan’s value is increasingly situational, dependent on line-ups that can absorb a non-spacing forward without sacrificing offensive efficiency, but the Spurs do not shoot well enough as a team to allow for much of that.

None of this eliminates the possibility of improvement, of course. Sochan is still only 22 years old. It is however to say that after three and a half seasons, Sochan has not added a scalable offensive skill, his defensive metrics have plateaued, and his role has shrunk rather than expanded. What once looked like a long-term foundational piece now resembles a rotation-dependent specialist, playing in the shadows of Julian Champagnie, a man whom all but the most hardcore of St John’s fans will surely admit they had to Google when he first arrived in Texas.

Sochan’s fall is not dramatic or sudden, but incremental. He has not collapsed as a player, and still has some good performances, but the numbers show that he has not progressed in the ways required to sustain a high-usage or high-impact role. Jeremy Sochan was supposed to be the playmaking two-way forward, something akin to the early days of Kawhi Leonard, and even if he never reached that apex, he was at least supposed to be a disruptor of sorts. As it turns out, though, he is neither – an occasional defender without an offensive profile to call his own.

Mark Deeks I am continuously intrigued by the esoterica and minutiae of all the aspects of building a basketball team. I want to understand how to build the best basketball teams possible. No, I don’t know why, either. More about Mark Deeks