Initially not chosen for the NBA’s Rising Stars game, Jeremy Sochan is in Indianapolis, Indiana over the weekend as an injury replacement. It’s the latest recognition for a player who’s hit several marks for the San Antonio Spurs through his season and a half with the franchise.
Named to the event by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, the second-year Spur will again take part in a mini-tournament that involves four teams and three games. The players are chosen from a pool of the top rookies, second-year players and G Leaguers who have excelled this season. The selections were then sorted out among the four squads that will headline the annual Friday night showcase.
Jeremy Sochan not the only Spur chosen as a 2024 Panini Rising Star
Sochan joins Spurs superstar forward Victor Wembanyama who was previously named a 2024 Rising Star. They are the first teammates in franchise history who are both averaging at least 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in their first two seasons. Sochan and Wembanyama are the first rookie/sophomore duo for the Spurs to average 10+ points and 5+ rebounds per game since David Robinson and Sean Elliott in the 1990-91 season.
A Rising Stars selection last year, the 6-foot-ten forward is the first Spurs player selected to the event in back-to-back years since DeJuan Blair made it in in the February’s of 2010 and 2011.
Sochan’s 2023-2024 season thus far
Sochan is the only player to appear in all 51 games for the Silver and Black, averaging 11.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 29.4 minutes. The former Baylor standout is one of four forwards in team history to have 1,100+ points, 500+ rebounds and 300+ assists within their first two seasons, joining Tim Duncan, Sean Elliott and Gene Banks.
Despite that, he wasn’t initially chosen as a Rising Star. Though he scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in his first game since that announcement (a loss to the Orlando Magic), Sochan maintained his good effort was not related to his “snub.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I just want to compete and be better than next game,” the Spurs fifth leading scorer for the season said.
In a sophomore year that saw him start at point guard for the first month or so of the season, Sochan scored a career-high 33 points vs. the Atlanta Hawks on November 30 and grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds vs. the New Orleans Pelicans on February 2. He registered his first double-double of the season with 31 points and 14 rebounds vs. the Portland Trail Blazers on January 26.
“It slowed down. I’ve still got a way to go. It’s just improving every day,” Sochan has said about his growth.
It’s a progression his Hall of Fame coach believes should have led to a Rising Stars nod initially.
“I don’t know who chooses these things or what the criteria are or anything like that but he’s been great for us,” Gregg Popovich said on January 31. “He’s been a two-way player, which are very far and few between in this league. He’s played well at the defensive end, the offensive end. He’s really grown. Nobody would’ve believed that he’d shoot a three the way he’s shooting it right now. I think he should be there.”
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