Jeremy Sochan’s shot at Knicks will come at the expense of Mohamed Diawara

OG Anunoby’s toenail is still missing, but he’s back in the starting lineup.

Jeremy Sochan arrived and, according to coach Mike Brown, “will get a chance.”

So who is the odd one out?

It sounds like newcomer Mohamed Diawara.

“I play against young guys, and I’ve played against young guys before for vets,” the Knicks coach said. “But I’m going to give Jeremy a chance.”

The 20-year-old Diawara has been a pleasant surprise this season while filling in for injured teammates, sporting a 7-foot two-way wingspan and averaging 20 minutes in the past five games.

He’s shooting 41.3 percent on 3s and had a strong performance in a win over the 76ers, the last game before the Knicks signed Sochan, a 6-foot-4 defensive specialist who plays the same power forward position as Diawara.

Brown explained that Sochan, who is only 22 but in his fourth NBA season, gets the edge because of his experience and because there are only two months left to determine his value for the postseason.

Both Diawara and Sochan are free agents in the summer.

“[Sochan] knows the competition. The league knows him. He knows the officials and vice versa. So he’s going to get an opportunity,” Brown said. “But at the end of the day, I’m going to play whoever I think is best for us. Right now Jeremy is new. He didn’t play for us. So I have to see what we have in him pretty quickly before we get to the play-offs.”

Still, there are no guarantees of even a significant role in the short term, even for Sochan.

With Anunoby returning from a four-game absence for Thursday’s big showdown against the Pistons, the Knicks are fully healthy in the frontcourt.

That means Sochan’s minutes are squeezed in between those of Anunoby, Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson.

Brown will put the puzzle together in terms of getting the newcomer on the field.

“I’m not sure how many minutes I’ll play against him, but I plan on using him,” Brown said. “And hopefully we get to a point where he’s versatile enough to play for us from one through five.”

Brown’s conversations with Sochan helped push the Power forward to sign with the Knicks despite other suitors.

“When you look at Jeremy, you immediately like his size,” the coach said. “Especially for a power forward. OG is that size. But no one else is really that size. And you look at the versatility, he’s been able to guard over the years.” [every position]. So to have that versatility at that end of the floor – it’s huge. Especially when OG is out. We’re a lot smaller when a guy like OG or Josh is both out. And then [Sochan’s] energy, his physicality – all those things that I don’t think necessarily show up on a stat sheet – would be welcomed by any team, and we were lucky to get him.

Brown had already removed point guard Tyler Kolek, a 2024 second-round pick, from the rotation to accommodate the arrival of Jose Alvarado.

Sochan’s role seemed less certain after he was sidelined in San Antonio due to shooting troubles and the emergence of a replacement, rookie Carter Bryant.

In New York, Sochan gets the chance to reclaim a role and a rookie takes a step back.

“We’ve talked a lot and I’m just taking every opportunity I can get,” Sochan said. “And I think one of the reasons I chose New York is because it’s a really deep roster, with a lot of really talented players. I think it’s a pretty cool opportunity to watch that and grow from it. I think I’m still young, too. So just being around players who have established themselves and done a lot of things in this league is a crazy opportunity for me. … I really believe in myself and I believe I can do well on the court as well. But I look at it in the bigger picture.” whole. And what’s going on here, I think I can be part of it.