The New York Knicks suddenly have a chance to add one of their trade deadline targets on the buyout market, essentially for free. After being unable to swap Guerschon Yabusele with San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan, the team pivoted to the trades with Chicago and New Orleans that helped land Jose Alvarado. On Wednesday, however, the Spurs and Sochan agreed to a buyout according to ESPN. Could the Knicks, who have an open roster spot, use it to sign Sochan?
2022 lottery pick could land on the Knicks post-trade deadline
The Spurs took Sochan ninth overall in the 2022 draft, with the forward earning second-team All-Rookie honors before they deployed him as their point guard in Victor Wembanyama's rookie season. He averaged 26 minutes as a rookie, bested easily by the 29.6 minutes he averaged in 73 starts as a sophomore.
As the Spurs roster has developed, though, Sochan's role has decreased. This season, his fourth, he has played in just 26 games for the Spurs. He averaged 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, and one assist per game in just under 13 minutes on average.
It's fair to assume that New York's interest in acquiring the 2022 lottery pick was likely more about offloading Yabusele's contract in an unforgiving second-apron era than Sochan himself. But now that the team has an opportunity to add him on the buyout market, he could provide intriguing frontcourt depth for a squad that sees Mitchell Robinson sit back-to-backs and Karl-Anthony Towns often in foul trouble.
Knicks have a chance to bring Sochan deadline rumors full-circle
It was known ahead of the trade deadline that the Knicks were trying to find Yabusele a new home. The veteran, who signed a week before the team hired new head coach Mike Brown, never seemed to fit the coach's system. New York reportedly tried flipping Yabusele for Sochan, but the Spurs weren't interested for the same reason the Knicks were trying to trade the Frenchman: his player option.
"As recently reported three days ago on HoopsHype, there was also trade chatter of a New York Knicks package of French forwards Guerschon Yabusele and Pacome Dadiet pitched for Sochan, but San Antonio was not willing to take on Yabusele’s $5.78 million player option for next season, league sources told HoopsHype," Scotto reported.
However, things obviously took a turn when the Knicks and Yabusele worked to remove the player option from his contract so that he could have an opportunity to play nightly as part of the Bulls' rotation. That opened the door for New York to trade Yabusele for Dalen Terry, who they flipped to the Pelicans with draft capital for Alvarado.