Jeremy Sochan is establishing his identity in the NBA as a 19-year-old rookie.
Jeremy Sochan, the 19-year-old Polish rookie on the San Antonio Spurs, has been all over the world thanks to his basketball journey, which has shaped him to be the confident person and player he is today.
Sochan was born in Guymon, Oklahoma to his Polish mother and American father. The family soon moved to Milton Keynes, England, where, at the age of three, Sochan first picked up a basketball.
In England, soccer was the staple, but luckily enough for Sochan, basketball was also popular in his hometown. At 16, he moved down to Southampton for high school and to play professionally for the Solent Kestrels. Sochan also played for Poland’s U-16 team, leading the Poles to a FIBA U16 European Championship in Division B and taking home tournament MVP. Sochan kept improving, and he knew that he could play at a high level.
“Basketball in England isn’t the best,” he said on a Zoom call, his signature tooth gap showing through his smile. So, he decided to transfer to La Lumiere School in Indiana, which didn’t last very long. Just six short months into his junior year, the pandemic hit, so he decided to go back overseas and join Orange Academy in Germany’s ProB league.
“[I’ve been] all over the place,” Sochan said.
Playing professional basketball in Europe allowed Sochan to read the game well and make sense of defensive and offensive schemes. These intangibles, mixed with his incredible physical measurements, caught the eyes of college basketball’s top coaches. Sochan decided to hop across the pond again, a journey he was used to by then, to play at Baylor University.
In 2021-22, Sochan averaged 9.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game for the Bears, the defending national champions. He earned Big 12 Sixth Man honors and was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. A few months later, his impressive freshman campaign landed him with the Spurs, who selected Sochan with the 9th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Sochan fit in right away, thanks to his broad range of experiences leading up to the NBA. He feels his identity as a basketball player is a blend of both European and American styles.
“The American style gave me a little bit of that swag,” Sochan said. “I think the mixture [of American and European basketball] really helped me become myself.”
Sochan’s swag and confidence are evident on and off the court. On the court, his vibrantly dyed hair has become an iconic part of his image. Already this season, he’s chosen lavender, white, pink and a flashy green for the Spurs’ game in Mexico City. Many are comparing the rookie to legend Dennis Rodman, who also colored his hair green and wore No. 10 for the Spurs.
Jeremy Sochan rocking green hair for the Spurs’ game in Mexico City.
Sochan’s confidence also gave him the courage to switch up his free throw routine after struggling from the line to start the season. In a December game against the Houston Rockets, Sochan got to the charity stripe in the first quarter. He received the ball from the referee, dribbled it twice, and bent his knees — same as usual. But this time, he reached into his bag of tricks and shot the free throw one-handed. The shot missed, but a new strategy was born.
Since making the switch, Sochan is shooting 78.1% from the line, up from 45.9% when he was shooting with two hands.
Jeremy Sochan’s one-handed free throws.
Sochan attributes his confidence and willingness to be different to his mother, who always told him to be himself.
“I’m confident because I believe in myself,” Sochan said. “I [want] to show people you can be yourself.”
Sochan is a versatile player. He’s athletic, explosive, and a stat-sheet stuffer. What makes him a special player is his defensive prowess. On any given night, he typically guards the opponent’s best player.
“He competes, guards 1-5. He is a point guard, a four-man. He is a rebounder, a defender,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said recently.
Although Sochan wants to form his own style, he looks to emulate players that are “disruptors” and “irritators,” pointing to Draymond Green and Patrick Beverley as examples.
“I always watch irritating players and how [they] play defense,” Sohan said. “[Beverley’s] annoying and people don’t like [playing against] him.”
Sochan channeled his inner Beverley against the Dallas Mavericks this season by trying to irritate MVP candidate Luka Doncic. Luka was visibly upset that Sochan had played tight and physical defense against him. Some may be hesitant to upset the NBA’s leading scorer, especially as a teenage rookie, but Sochan didn’t back down.
On the offensive side of the ball, Sochan continues to evolve. He was never a scorer at Baylor — he was the team’s 6th leading scorer and never scored more than 17 points in a game. But with the Spurs, he is free to explore his offensive game, and as a result, he is becoming more aggressive, creative, and confident.
In his last 25 games, he is averaging 12.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.8 APG on 44.4% from the field and 32.8% from deep, which are drastic improvements from his first 23 games. He even dropped a career-high 30 points against the Phoenix Suns in late January.
Jeremy Sochan dropping 30 points against the Suns.
Sochan participated in Friday’s Jordan Rising Stars event at All-Star 2023. There were only eleven rookies invited, and Sochan was one of them.
“It’s crazy,” Sochan said, unable to hold back his excitement. “I’ve watched All-Star weekends, and it’s always been a dream [to be] a part of it. It’s really exciting.”
The rookie scored seven points in two games for Joakim Noah’s squad on Friday night, including a rim-rattling, one-handed throwdown.
What may be more memorable than Sochan’s dunk was his hair color. He wouldn’t reveal what color he planned on dyeing his hair, keeping it a much-anticipated surprise for the weekend. He ended up sporting blue, pink and purple wavy lines that ran from the back of his head to the top of his hairline, a Pinterest-inspired design. He even tried to convince his Rising Stars teammates to dye their hair if he made a half-court shot.
Jeremy Sochan is a lot of things, on and off the court. He is a defensive swiss army knife, the colorful-haired rookie, the one-handed free throw shooter, the youngest Pole to ever play for the national team, a Baylor standout, Dennis Rodman’s long-lost cousin, the Spurs’ highest draft pick since Tim Duncan, and a Rising Star, among other things.
Sochan just wants to be himself, and it’s only the beginning for the confident, young rookie.
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