Jeremy Sochan Is Already a 2026 NBA Champion. Here Is How the Knicks-Spurs Finals Made It Happen
Jeremy Sochan can start clearing space in his trophy case. The 2026 NBA Finals have not even tipped off yet, and the New York Knicks forward has already won.
It is one of the great quirks in basketball. Sochan plays for the Knicks now. He used to play for the San Antonio Spurs. Those two teams are about to fight for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. So no matter what happens, somebody is sending Sochan a ring this summer.
The path here is a story all by itself. The Spurs drafted Sochan ninth overall in 2022 out of Baylor and started him 149 times across his first three seasons. He averaged double-digit points in all three of those years and grew close with Wembanyama, who once dyed his hair blonde as a rookie-season tribute to Sochan. Then the rotation tightened, the team got younger, and Sochan played just 28 games as a reserve this past season before San Antonio released him in February. The Knicks signed him days later after he cleared waivers.
If the Knicks win, Sochan obviously gets a ring. He is on the roster. If the Spurs win, the unwritten rule is that championship teams send rings to traded-or-released players who contributed to the regular season. The Spurs are a class organization. Wembanyama is a close friend. There is virtually no scenario where San Antonio leaves Sochan out.
That is two paths to jewelry, and zero paths to nothing. Even Vegas would have trouble pricing odds that good.
The bigger question is whether Sochan can actually contribute to the Knicks in a meaningful way during this Finals run. He has been a depth piece in New York since the signing, getting spot minutes during the playoff push but not cracking the rotation in the Eastern Conference Finals. Tom Thibodeau is famously stingy with his bench, and Sochan will need to earn every second.
Still, his skill set could matter against the Spurs. Sochan knows San Antonio’s actions. He knows the personnel. He knows Wembanyama’s tendencies as well as any active NBA player. If Thibodeau needs a forward who can switch onto Wemby for short stretches without getting blown by, Sochan is worth a look. His former teammates probably know that too.
For Sochan personally, this is a layered moment. He spent three years in San Antonio as the bridge between the post-Spurs Foundation era and the Wembanyama future. Then the team decided he was not part of that future. Now he gets to either help beat them or watch them celebrate as friends, and either way he walks away a champion.
The Knicks-Spurs Finals tips off in early June. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and the New York rotation will get most of the storylines. Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox and the rising Spurs will get the rest. But somewhere on the New York bench, Jeremy Sochan will sit with the calmest pulse in the building.
He already cashed in. Now he just gets to watch the rest of the league argue about who joins him.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
