As the Minnesota Timberwolves sift through the market for help at power forward, Jeremy Sochan stands out as one of the few real upside bets still hanging around in free agency. He’s young, he was a lottery pick in 2022, and there was a stretch early in his career with the San Antonio Spurs when he looked like a versatile defender who could connect enough on offense to matter.
But the same issue that pushed him out of the Spurs’ rotation this past season is the one that makes him a shaky fit for Minnesota: he doesn’t shoot well enough. Sochan has hit just 28.6 percent of his 3-pointers for his career, and that kind of number can shrink a player’s usefulness fast. He was ultimately waived and signed with the Knicks, where he also failed to earn a rotation role.
That’s why, even with August approaching and the free-agent pool thinning out, Sochan may not be the clean answer for a Timberwolves team trying to solve a very specific frontcourt problem. At 23, there’s still a case that he could get his career moving in the right direction. The question is whether Minnesota is the right place for that gamble.
The fit issue is hard to ignore. Over the last two seasons, the Timberwolves have already dealt with a frontcourt that clashed because Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle are not floor spacers.
Sochan would create a similar headache, just in a different form. His shooting limitations would make it tough to play him alongside Gobert or Joan Beringer, and with LaMelo Ball in the mix, Minnesota doesn’t need Sochan’s best offensive trait anyway: his playmaking.
That’s part of what makes the idea less appealing. The Timberwolves traded for LaMelo in part to add ball-handling and playmaking, but floor spacing came with that move too. A non-spacing frontcourt has already made things awkward for everyone involved, and repeating that formula would be a problem Minnesota can’t really afford.
Sochan’s age and flashes of upside keep him on the board as a plausible cheap signing, but his lack of spacing is severe enough to make it tough to see a real role for him. In the modern NBA, complete non-floor spacers have a hard time staying on the floor, and Sochan fits that description.
At this point in free agency, Minnesota probably isn’t finding a starting-caliber power forward. A player who can simply soak up minutes is a more realistic target, and Georges Niang is an example of someone who could slide in and provide that kind of value.
If the Timberwolves do decide to take a swing on Sochan, it’s not the kind of move that would be easy to criticize. The upside is there, and the market is thin. Still, his shooting problem could leave him stuck on the bench, and that alone may be enough to send Minnesota in another direction.
In Other News...
Naz Reid Could Reopen A Painful Timberwolves Trade Debate
Naz Reids move from Minnesota to Charlotte already had the feel of one of those deals that can age in a hurry, and the reason is simple: the Hornets are expected to give him a much larger role and more minutes than he had with the Timberwolves. For a player whose value has long been tied to what he can do in a bigger offensive lane, that kind of opportunity changes the conversation fast, especially for a Wolves fan base that has seen former players leave and immediately look more comfortable somewhere else.
The trade will also be judged through the lens of what Charlotte is building around LaMelo Ball, whose injury history adds another layer of uncertainty to any long-term evaluation. Minnesota did bring back draft compensation, mostly in the form of swaps, so the final verdict is not just about Reids production in a new uniform but whether the Wolves gave up a useful piece for enough future flexibility. If Reid takes off the way some around the league think he can, this is the sort of deal that could reopen an old debate in Minneapolis. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets May Be Headed For The Painful Move Wolves Fans Wanted
Minnesotas offseason addition of LaMelo Ball has already reshaped the way the Timberwolves are being viewed in the West, giving the roster a jolt of talent that feels like a clear step forward. While that move has Wolves fans thinking bigger, Denver has mostly taken the opposite path, with the Nuggets making only modest additions such as Marvin Bagley III and otherwise spending the summer trying to keep their books from getting tighter.
The real concern in Denver is not just what they added, but what they may have to give up to stay flexible. Matching the offer sheet for Spencer Jones squeezed the cap situation further, and Peyton Watsons restricted free agency still hangs over the roster picture, leaving the Nuggets with a difficult balancing act before they can even think about another upgrade. For Minnesota, the appeal is obvious: if Denver is forced into painful salary-dump decisions just to manage its cap, that is the kind of opening the Wolves have been waiting to see. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Suddenly Have The Leonard Miller And Josh Minott Problem
Leonard Miller and Josh Minott barely got a real runway in Minnesota before the Timberwolves moved on, and now both names look a little more complicated in hindsight. Miller was sent out in the Ayo Dosunmu deal, while Minott had his team option declined last summer, decisions that made sense at the time for a team trying to manage its roster and timeline.
Since then, the Wolves depth chart has shifted enough to make forward help a real need, which is why the two former young pieces stand out even more. Miller has flashed with the Bulls, and Minott has shown some useful versatility with the Celtics and Nets, leaving Minnesota to wonder whether the answer at forward might have already been in the building. [Read more 🡒]