Jeremy Sochan Signs With Trail Blazers Months After Winning NBA Title With Knicks

Jeremy Sochan has found his fourth NBA home in four years, agreeing to a one-year contract with the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The move comes just months after Sochan won an NBA championship with the New York Knicks, capping a wild 2025-26 campaign that saw him bounce from a buyout in San Antonio to a title run in New York.

The 23-year-old forward was the No. 9 overall pick by the Spurs in the 2022 draft, entering the league with a reputation as a switchable, do-everything defender who could put the ball on the floor for his size. He averaged double-digit scoring in each of his first three NBA seasons in San Antonio, but his role diminished this past year as the Spurs pivoted toward other pieces in their rotation. San Antonio waived him on Feb. 11 after failing to find a trade partner at the deadline, and Sochan signed with the Knicks two days later on a minimum deal.

From Buyout to Banner: Sochan’s Improbable Title Run

What started as a bench-depth signing turned into a championship parade. Sochan appeared in 44 total games between the Spurs and Knicks last season, averaging 3.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists in a reduced 10.7 minutes per contest — modest numbers by his career standards, but he found a niche role defensively for New York down the stretch and through the playoffs. He enters his fifth NBA season with career averages of 9.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists, numbers that still reflect the well-rounded game that made him a lottery pick out of Baylor. Now, instead of chasing more playoff minutes in New York, Sochan agreed to a one-year deal with Portland, according to his agent, Deirunas Visockas of Gersh Sports.

What Sochan Brings to a Retooled Blazers Roster

Portland’s roster looks dramatically different than it did a year ago. The Trail Blazers already made waves this offseason by adding Ja Morant and bringing back Damian Lillard, and Sochan slots in as a versatile forward who can guard multiple positions and facilitate in transition — traits that should complement a backcourt built around two ball-dominant guards. At 6-foot-8 with legitimate positional size, Sochan gives Portland another body capable of switching onto wings and bigs alike, an area of need for a team retooling its identity around star power. His fit isn’t as a primary scorer, but as a connective piece who can defend, rebound and make quick decisions with the ball — exactly the profile a rebuilding contender wants next to two high-usage guards.

Sochan’s journey over the past six months doubles as one of the more unusual storylines of the NBA offseason: a former top-10 pick who couldn’t crack a rotation in Texas, only to end up hoisting a championship trophy in New York a few months later. That title still stands as the signature achievement of his young career, and it’s part of why Portland was comfortable adding him on a modest, prove-it deal rather than committing long term. For fans tracking live NBA odds heading into next season, Portland’s roster overhaul — Morant, Lillard, and now Sochan — is quietly one of the more fascinating storylines of the summer.

Looking Ahead to Portland’s 2026-27 Season

The Blazers still have work to do to round out their rotation, but adding a 23-year-old with playoff and championship experience on a low-risk, one-year contract is the kind of value move front offices covet in August. Sochan gets a fresh start and a chance to reclaim the role he lost in San Antonio, this time with more spacing around him and less positional logjam. Whether he can rediscover his early-career scoring punch remains to be seen, but as a defensive multi-tool with a title on his résumé, he arrives in Portland with more to prove — and, in some ways, less pressure — than at any point since he was drafted.