Spurs stand pat at deadline as Jeremy Sochan stays put, eyes finish to season in San Antonio
The clock hit 3 p.m. ET on Thursday and the San Antonio Spurs never blinked. Despite days of buzz around jeremy sochan’s future, the forward remains with the team, which chose continuity over late-hour tinkering as the trade window closed.
Quiet finish to a noisy week
While activity swirled elsewhere, San Antonio joined just two other teams in declining to make a deadline trade, a notable decision for a club with postseason aspirations and one of the league’s brightest young cores. The front office’s stance reinforced a season-long theme: protect flexibility, keep the group together, and let internal development set the pace.
The approach follows a strong start that has outpaced external expectations. Even so, team officials have consistently emphasized a long runway for contention rather than a short-term push that would cost assets or cap optionality.
Sochan’s shrinking role — and what comes next
Jeremy Sochan entered the week as one of the most watched names on the market after sliding out of head coach Mitch Johnson’s rotation earlier this season. The shift traces back to summer roster planning, when San Antonio added Luke Kornet as a dedicated backup five, tightening frontcourt minutes and pressing Sochan into a more situational role.
Despite the uncertainty, Sochan does not plan to pursue a buyout and intends to complete the season in San Antonio. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer, positioning the Spurs to either match outside offers, negotiate a new deal, or explore sign-and-trade pathways. For now, the team preserves leverage while the player gets a runway to reestablish rhythm and value during the stretch run.
Deals discussed but not done
San Antonio held exploratory talks across the week but never crossed the finish line. Discussions with New York that would have brought Guerschon Yabusele and Pacôme Dadiet to Texas stalled over contract mechanics, including a player option. Frameworks with Chicago for Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips, as well as a concept involving Phoenix center Nick Richards, were also explored before fading. By night’s end, multiple names tied to those frameworks — everyone except Dadiet — had moved on to other destinations around the league.
The recurring theme: the Spurs would not sacrifice value simply to make a move, especially for transactions that neither elevated the immediate ceiling nor aligned with longer-term cap and roster planning.
Why the Spurs chose patience
With one of the league’s best records but a seventh-ranked net rating at plus-5.2, San Antonio has proven sturdy without quite reaching juggernaut status. The offense remains a work in progress: the team sits 24th in three-point accuracy this season and 21st at the rim. Victor Wembanyama’s efficiency near the basket continues to spike when paired with table-setting from the point guard line, a reminder that spacing and creation are still coalescing around the franchise centerpiece.
Primary on-ball creators — Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper — are still in the early stages of learning how to drive a playoff-ready offense. With that context, any midseason acquisition would have needed to cleanly fit the developmental arc and upgrade the floor without narrowing future options. The front office ultimately judged there wasn’t a win-now swing available that cleared that bar at a reasonable cost.
Locker room embraces continuity
Inside the locker room, the no-deal outcome landed as a vote of confidence. “If there’s one message to take away, it’s that we have confidence in who we are and in the steps we need to follow,” Victor Wembanyama said after the deadline. “What I like is that the front office trusts the players who are already here, just like I do. We’re on the same wavelength.”
The sentiment aligns with the staff’s emphasis on continuity: incremental gains in spacing, playmaking, and late-game execution are expected to come from repetition as much as from roster change.
What it means for the summer
Standing pat keeps every pathway open. Beyond Sochan’s restricted free agency, veterans Kelly Olynyk and Harrison Barnes remain on the books for now, positioning San Antonio to reassess in July with a full view of the market and internal growth. The team retains picks, prospects, and potential cap mobility — ingredients that can fuel either targeted upgrades or a larger swing when the right fit emerges.
For Sochan, the immediate goal is straightforward: reclaim minutes, impact winning, and strengthen his case ahead of negotiations. For the Spurs, the message is just as clear: the timeline revolves around Wembanyama and a rising core, and patience today is a bet on a bigger payoff tomorrow.
