Jeremy Sochan

Sochan is a Polish-American forward who entered the NBA as a lottery pick in 2022 and has developed into a versatile defensive player and playmaker for the San Antonio Spurs before moving to the New York Knicks. His path to the league included youth basketball in England, a stint in Germany, and a single season at Baylor that showcased his defensive versatility and energy.

Born on May 20, 2003, in Guymon, Oklahoma, Sochan is the son of Aneta Sochan, a Polish basketball player, and Ryan Williams, an American basketball player who died in a car accident in 2017. Sochan grew up in England and played youth basketball for the MK Trojans in Milton Keynes and the Solent Kestrels in Southampton. He moved to the United States to attend La Lumiere School in Indiana but left during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sochan played professionally for OrangeAcademy in Germany's ProB league in 2020 before committing to Baylor in July 2020. At Baylor, he averaged 9.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game as a freshman and earned the Big 12 Sixth Man Award and All-Freshman Team honors. He sprained his ankle in January 2022 and missed several games. Baylor earned a number one seed in the NCAA tournament but lost in the second round. He declared for the 2022 NBA draft on April 15, 2022.

The San Antonio Spurs selected Sochan with the ninth overall pick. He signed a rookie-scale contract on July 8, 2022. On December 22, he scored a then-career-high 23 points with nine rebounds against New Orleans. For the 2023-24 season, the Spurs experimented with Sochan as the starting point guard for 17 games before moving him back to power forward. He later moved to the New York Knicks.

Sochan plays for the Poland national team after representing Polish junior teams. His maternal grandfather, Juliusz Sochan, was a director of the basketball section of AZS AWF Warsaw, and his great-grandfather Zygmunt Sochan was a football player for Warszawianka and a survivor of the Stutthof concentration camp.

Sochan is a versatile forward with defensive versatility, playmaking vision, and a developing offensive game. He uses his length to guard multiple positions, facilitates for others from the elbows, and attacks the rim in transition. His shooting range and offensive consistency remain developmental areas, but his defensive tools and positional flexibility make him a valuable rotation piece.

Sochan enters each season as a young forward with lottery-pick pedigree and international experience. His trajectory from an English youth league to a German professional stint, a Baylor Sixth Man award, and a top-ten NBA draft pick reflects a unique developmental path and a commitment to expanding his game at every level.