Jeremy Sochan is a Knick.

The ninth overall pick of the 2022 draft signed with New York after clearing waivers, just weeks after the Knicks had discussions about him at the NBA trade deadline.

Sochan, 22, is poised to be a useful member of the Knicks’ rotation over the final stretch of the regular season. With the Knicks battling various on-and-off injuries throughout the season, Sochan is sure to see some key minutes as New York pursues prime positioning in the Eastern Conference standings.

What should Knicks fans expect from the Baylor product?

Let’s break down Sochan’s analytical profile.

Solid defensive reputation

The fourth-year forward has established himself as a solid multi-positional defender at the NBA level.

In each of his first three NBA seasons, the Spurs allowed fewer points with Sochan on the court than when he was off, per Cleaning The Glass:

  • 2022-23 (1,437 minutes): -2.8 (74th percentile among NBA players)
  • 2023-24 (2,179 minutes): -0.8 (60th percentile)
  • 2024-25 (1,366 minutes): -0.6 (56th percentile)

He had an average percentile ranking of 63rd in on/off defensive rating.

In both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 NBA seasons, Sochan held his matchups to a lower field goal percentage than expected, according to NBA.com’s tracking. He was far from elite, but his -0.1% and -0.8% marks reflected slight positive impact on defense.

At 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds with a seven-foot wingspan, Sochan’s matchup versatility is his best defensive attribute. He is not remarkable in any particular box-score metric on defense—for his career, he’s averaging 5.4 defensive rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 0.6 blocks per 36 minutes—but his ability to adequately guard nearly any player on the court is valuable in strengthening his team’s overall defense.

According to Basketball Reference, Sochan has played 78% of his career minutes at power forward, but he’s also played 15% as a center and 7% as a small forward. Additionally, he is very switchable onto guards.

Sochan holds up well when asked to switch onto a ball handler in the pick-and-roll. In 2024-25, when guarding the ball handler in a pick-and-roll, Sochan allowed 0.84 points per possession, ranking in the 68th percentile among all players. This ability would be welcomed on the Knicks, as the only big man on the team’s roster with a better mark in the 2025-26 season is Mitchell Robinson (0.81, 78th percentile).

So far this season, all of Sochan’s defensive metrics have been poor, although he has only played 358 minutes, struggling to find a niche in the Spurs’ rotation. Hence, the team gave him an opportunity to find more playing time elsewhere.

But over a much larger sample of minutes over a three-season sample size, Sochan’s defense was quite good, and that body of work is what the Knicks are hoping he will bring to New York.

His offense is another story.

Extremely raw offensive game

Sochan has struggled mightily to develop his offensive game across four NBA seasons. His play on this end of the court must improve if he is to get his career back on track.

According to Dunks And Threes, Sochan ranks in the 55th percentile among NBA players in defensive EPM (estimated plus-minus). However, he ranks in the 11th percentile in offensive EPM.

Offensive impact is weighted more heavily in a player’s overall rating, so, as a result of his poor offense, Sochan ranks in just the 18th percentile in overall EPM despite his above-average defense.

The main issue for Sochan is that he has struggled to develop a reliable shot outside of his finishing around the rim.

Within three feet of the basket, Sochan is just fine. He’s shooting 67.9% in that range for his career, including 70.5% over the past two seasons, which is slightly above the 2025-26 league average (70.2%).

Anywhere else, though, Sochan is a liability. Here are his career shooting splits by distance, per Basketball Reference:

  • 0-3 feet: 67.9%
  • 3-10 feet: 37.7%
  • 10-16 feet: 34.8%
  • 16 feet to three-point line: 32.8%
  • 3-point: 28.7%

And for a player who has taken 61% of his career shot attempts from outside of three feet (including 26% from deep), these splits have led to a lot of bricks.

Sochan also has a very low free-throw attempt rate for a player of his size (.211). He’s taking just 2.7 free throws per 36 minutes in his career. While he is a semi-decent free-throw shooter at 72.3%, that mostly comes from his 77.1% performance back in 2023-24. In each of his other three seasons, he failed to hit 70%.

Another major problem is turnover proneness. Sochan is averaging 2.3 turnovers per 36 minutes in his career, a very high number for a frontcourt player who is seldom involved in the offense. According to Cleaning The Glass, Sochan has ranked in the bottom-25% of turnover percentage at his position in four consecutive seasons.

The only positive in Sochan’s offensive game is his rebounding. In 2024-25, he skyrocketed to a career-high 10% offensive rebounding rate (after staying below 7% in his first two seasons), placing 29th among players with at least 1,000 minutes. That would fit in with a Knicks team that prioritizes the offensive glass.

Overall, though, Sochan is a liability on offense, and the Knicks would have to carefully consider who he plays alongside to ensure that he does not tank the team on that end of the floor.

For instance, in the 2024-25 season, the Spurs’ offense was able to survive when Sochan played alongside a respectable stretch-five in Victor Wembanyama.

When San Antonio had Sochan and Wemby on the court, their offense scored 116.4 points per 100 possessions, which is equivalent to this year’s 12th-ranked offense. But when they had Sochan on the court without Wemby, the Spurs scored 113.2 points per 100 possessions, equivalent to the 26th-ranked offense.

Given these splits, it would make sense for the Knicks to primarily use Sochan alongside Karl-Anthony Towns. KAT’s spacing and overall scoring ability would compensate for Sochan’s shortcomings, while Sochan can help cover for some of Towns’ defensive woes.

If Sochan plays without Towns, the Knicks’ offense could become quite clogged, likely wiping out whatever positive impact he makes on defense. Perhaps they can survive a few minutes with Sochan as the small-ball five against a smaller lineup—think something like Jose Alvarado, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Sochan.

But if Sochan plays the four alongside players like Mitchell Robinson or Ariel Hukporti, the Knicks’ offense is almost guaranteed to get stuck in the mud.

Overall, Sochan is a fascinating addition to the Knicks’ rotation.

His defensive intensity and versatility will be much-welcomed for a team that has had significantly more trouble on defense than offense. Alongside Jose Alvarado, the Knicks have added two defensive-oriented players in the past few weeks, a tremendous boost to their weaker end of the court.

However, Sochan’s offensive shortcomings will limit his overall impact, and the Knicks must be careful with how they utilize him if they want his minutes to make a positive overall impact.