Jeremy Juliusz Sochan (; born May 20, 2003) is a Polish-American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He is also a member of

Poland men's national basketball team The Poland men's national basketball team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w koszykówce) represents Poland in international basketball competitions. They are controlled by the Polish Basketball Federation (PZKosz). Poland has competed at the EuroB ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only two private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to j ...

. He played in England for a number of years as a youth.

Early life and career

Sochan was born in the United States, in Guymon, Oklahoma. His mother Aneta was a Polish basketball player for Polonia Warsaw who played Division II college basketball at Panhandle State. While there, she met Sochan's father, Ryan Williams who played for the men's basketball team. Sochan comes from a family with rich sporting traditions. His grandfather Juliusz Sochan, after whom he received his middle name, was a director of the basketball section of AZS AWF Warsaw and the president of the Warsaw Regional Basketball Association, his great-grandfather

Zygmunt Sochan Zygmunt Sochan (24 December 1909 – 5 February 1998) was a Polish footballer who played as a midfielder, manager, and member of the Polish resistance movement in World War II. Early life Sochan was born and grew up in Tomaszów Lubelski. In his ...

was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player for Warszawianka, making 94 appearances in the Ekstraklasa (Polish top division) before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when he joined the Polish resistance against the German occupiers and was Stutthof concentration camp survivor. Sochan took his first steps in basketball while living in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, first as a youth for the MK Trojans in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

, before moving to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and playing for the

Solent Kestrels The Solent Kestrels are an English professional basketball club based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. Founded in 1998, the Kestrels play their home games at the Solent Sports Complex at Solent University, and compete in NBL Division 1, t ...

youth team and

Itchen College Itchen Sixth Form College (also known as Itchen College) is a mixed sixth form college in Bitterne, Southampton, Hampshire, England. It was established in 1906 and was originally a mixed secondary school, it later became Itchen Grammar School un ...

.El. EuroBasketu: do kadry trafił dzięki mamie. Jeremy Sochan niedługo spróbuje zaśpiewać "Mazurka Dąbrowskiego"
Jakub Kłyszejko (''Sport.TV.PL''), 20 February 2021. Accessed 23 February 2021. Sochan began his high school career at

La Lumiere School La Lumiere School is a college preparatory boarding and day school located on a 190-acre campus in Springfield Township, LaPorte County, Indiana, United States. About La Lumiere School is affiliated with several educational associations: * C ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he left America. Sochan committed to playing college basketball for Baylor in July 2020.

College career

On January 8, 2022, Sochan sprained his ankle during a game against

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

and missed several games. Following the season, he earned the Big 12 Sixth Man Award and was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. His team would later get a #1 seed in the

2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the ...

, but lose in the second round. As a freshman, he averaged 9.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. On April 15, 2022, Sochan declared for the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...

, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.

Professional career

Solent Kestrels (2019-2020)

At the age of 16, Sochan started his professional career for the

of the National Basketball League.

OrangeAcademy (2020–2021)

In 2020, Sochan joined the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

club

OrangeAcademy OrangeAcademy is a professional basketball club based in Weißenhorn, Germany. The team currently plays in the ProA, the second highest professional division in Germany. The team plays its home games at the Dreifachturnhalle, which has a capacity o ...

of the

ProB The ProB is the third-tier level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 24 teams, separated into a Northern and a Southern Division. Officially, the ProB is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consi ...

San Antonio Spurs (2022–present)

Sochan was selected by the

with the ninth overall pick in the

2022 NBA Draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...

. Sochan joined the Spurs' roster in the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus ...

, but later was ruled out after being placed in the NBA's Health and Safety Protocol after testing positive for

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

. On July 8, 2022, Sochan signed a rookie-scale contract with the Spurs. On December 22, Sochan scored a then career-high 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a 126–117 loss to the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

. On January 28, 2023, Sochan scored a career-high 30 points in a 128–118 loss to the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

National team career

Sochan had represented both Poland and England nationally at the junior level. As part of Poland's under-16 national basketball team, he led his team to the title at the

2019 FIBA U16 European Championship Division B The 2019 FIBA U16 European Championship Division B was the 16th edition of the Division B of the FIBA U16 European Championship. It was played in Podgorica, Montenegro, from 8 to 17 August 2019. 24 teams participated in the competition. Poland me ...

in Montenegro. There, he became tournament MVP.Ulm hat zwei neue Basketball-Nationalspieler
Sebastian Schmid ( Südwest Presse), 26 February 2021. Accessed 28 February 2021. Sochan has been a member of the Polish national basketball team. In his first game at the

EuroBasket 2022 qualification The EuroBasket 2022 qualification was a basketball competition that was played from November 2017 to February 2021, to determine the 20 FIBA Europe nations who would join the automatically qualified co-hosts Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, and G ...

, he led Poland over

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

88–81 when he became the youngest player to ever play for Poland. He played 29 minutes in which he scored 18 points, including a four-point play (3 pointer plus foul and free throw) at the end and a game-deciding block.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Baylor , 30 , , 1 , , 25.1 , , .474 , , .296 , , .589 , , 6.4 , , 1.8 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , 9.2

References

External links

Baylor Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sochan, Jeremy 2003 births Living people American men's basketball players American people of Polish descent Basketball players from Oklahoma Baylor Bears men's basketball players Citizens of Poland through descent La Lumiere School alumni People from Guymon, Oklahoma American expatriate basketball people in Germany Polish expatriate basketball people in Germany Polish men's basketball players Polish people of American descent San Antonio Spurs draft picks San Antonio Spurs players Small forwards