Jeremy Sochan feels ‘blessed’ to get the Knicks opportunity after the Spurs’ difficult exit

Jeremy Sochan arrived with his hair dyed in Knicks colors and excited to move on from his ugly end in San Antonio.

“Just not a real opportunity, in my opinion,” Sochan said of this campaign with the Spurs before being fired last week and signing with the Knicks. “And it is what it is. It’s a very deep team. And maybe I didn’t agree with Coach, and Coach didn’t see anything I could do for the team.”

“And it is what it is. And I’m just blessed to have the opportunity where I can grow and flourish.”

Sochan’s availability on the buyout market would have been a shock before this season, when he put together three campaigns averaging more than 25 minutes and earned a spot on the 2023 first-team All-Rookie roster.

But Sochan never joined forces with head coach Mitch Johnson, who replaced Gregg Popovich. He regularly collected DNPs before the All-Star break. A major hindrance to Sochan’s playing time, according to people familiar with the situation, has been the 22-year-old’s poor jump shooting.

His career efficiency from deep is less than 30 percent. Sochan’s defense, which had previously facilitated a major role, has been uninspiring in limited action this season.

“It’s hard. In my entire career, even looking beyond the NBA, I’ve never really been benched and gotten DNPs. So you go through a process of wondering why or what’s happening,” Sochan said. “It can be stressful. But at the end of the day, I come from England, where basketball isn’t big. So I know my worth. I know what I can bring to the team, and I’m blessed that the organization here [in New York] saw that. And I’m super excited to get a fresh slate and show what I can do.”

According to sources, the Knicks were interested in Sochan at the trade deadline, but the Spurs were not interested in their bid for Guerschon Yabusele.

So the Knicks struck when Sochan hit the market.

The plan is to give Sochan a chance as a reserve force, with coach Mike Brown saying on Wednesday he wants to test the new player before the play-offs. Sochan – who often dyes his hair and opted for orange and blue before his Knicks debut – will get a fresh start on a bigger stage.

“Very excited. The culture here, with the Knicks and New York in general, is crazy and very global. And I feel like I’m global too,” said Sochan, who was born in Oklahoma to a Polish mother and grew up in England. “So I’m just super excited to be here and just grow with this city and the club.”