The Spurs’ 2022 draft class has now been fully swept away.
Jeremy Sochan, Blake Wesley and Malaki Branham were all first-round picks, and all three were waived over the weekend as teams across the league cut rosters ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. San Antonio’s three selections from that class all tried to land elsewhere and came up empty.
Sochan got a look from the Blazers. Branham got a shot in Orlando from former Spurs associate head coach Sean Sweeney.
Wesley was trying to crack the Clippers. None of those chances stuck.
That’s another reminder of how badly that draft class missed for San Antonio, even if the bigger picture has worked out just fine. The Spurs whiffed there, but they still ended up in position to land Victor Wembanyama the next summer. In that sense, the failure mattered less because it helped set up the franchise’s turn.
Sochan’s path has been the most jarring. The Spurs waived him in February, he signed with the Knicks, and four months later he was lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy with the club the Spurs were chasing.
He barely played, but he still got a ring. Now he’s on his third team in a year.
Branham and Wesley at least have a softer route available. Both were let go on Exhibit 10 deals, which are designed for exactly this kind of roster churn, and each could still wind up with the team’s G League affiliate.
Sochan was on a straight non-guaranteed camp deal, so there’s no affiliate safety net for him. If no one claims him today, he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
For San Antonio, the bigger story is that it’s not living in that draft mess anymore. Champagnie, Carter Bryant, Harrison Barnes and Tobias Harris are all better fits at this point.
Sochan defended well, but he didn’t give the Spurs enough on the other end. The others offer more across the board.
Wesley and Branham were never going to be stars, and nobody was pretending otherwise. But there was enough runway for both to become useful depth pieces, and both Coach Pop and Coach Johnson gave them every chance to prove it. It never took.
And with three all-star-level point guards already in the picture, the Spurs don’t need backup playmaking to carry much weight anyway. Jordan McLaughlin and Ja’Kobi Gillespie are handling that job now, and they won’t be seeing much action once the season starts. For San Antonio, that’s the better setup.
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For San Antonio, the challenge is no longer just about picking up SGA at the point of attack and hoping the defense can hold up after that. The Spurs now have to track him through actions away from the ball, while also finding ways to clog Williams' passing lanes and keep Oklahoma City from turning simple movement into easy looks. It is a tougher assignment than last season, and one the Spurs will have to solve if they want to make life uncomfortable for the Thunder again. [Read more 🡒]
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Head coach Mitch Johnson said Harris is still progressing, but he needs more time on the court before he is ready to go. For a team that signed him to help steady the rotation and provide leadership, the early absence is a reminder that the Spurs will have to open the year without one of the most experienced pieces they added. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Suddenly Face A Real De'Aaron Fox Fit Question
After a playoff series loss that sharpened the focus on what still needs to be fixed, the Spurs are looking at their roster with a little less certainty than they had before. Dylan Harper is now being viewed as the teams second-best player, and that changes the conversation around how the backcourt is supposed to take shape from here. San Antonio has also built around promising young guards like Stephon Castle, giving the franchise a young core that already feels crowded enough to force some hard decisions.
So when De'Aaron Fox starts popping up in trade speculation, it is not just noise. The idea of a deal with Toronto involving RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley hints at how seriously the Spurs may have to weigh fit against talent, especially with so many guards already marked as part of the future. Foxs presence would bring obvious ability, but the bigger question is how he would slot alongside Harper, Castle and the rest of a backcourt that already has a lot of developmental value tied up in it. [Read more 🡒]