Tuesday night, in a blowout Spurs win over the Lakers, where essentially the entire second half was garbage time, Jeremy Sochan still never touched the court for San Antonio.
One day later, the Spurs agreed to waive Sochan, making the forward a free agent, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
This is not a big surprise. San Antonio held on to him through the trade deadline, but gave his representatives the chance to find a trade for the former No. 9 pick, reported Marc Stein of The Stein Line. Sochan is making $7.1 million this season on an expiring contract and would have been a restricted free agent this coming summer if a team acquired him and picked up his qualifying offer. However, teams interested in him (the Knicks were mentioned) knew they could sign Sochan to a minimum contract off the buyout market and decided to wait rather than trade for him.
Sochan was part of the Spurs rotation alongside Victor Wembanyama for a couple of years. However, as the team added depth — Harrison Barnes, Carter Bryant, Julian Champagnie, Kelly Olynyk, Dylan Harper — Sochan was squeezed out of coach Mitch Johnson's rotation. Sochan is a solid defender, but he never developed the ball-handling or shooting the Spurs had hoped for (25.7% from 3-point range this season).
Once he clears waivers (no team is picking up his current salary), some team will likely take a chance on the athletic forward and see if he can fit in its system.