So who is the odd man out? <\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jeremy-Sochan-2.jpg\")
New Knicks Jeremy Sochan will get an opportunity to be in the Knicks\u2019 lineup rotation, according to head coach Mike Brown. Getty Images<\/p>\n
It sounds like rookie Mohamed Diawara. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll play young guys, and I have played young guys in front of vets before,\u201d the Knicks coach said. \u201cBut I\u2019m going to give Jeremy an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diawara, 20, has been a pleasant surprise this season while filling in for injured teammates, flashing two-way potential with a 7-foot-4 wingspan and averaging 20 minutes in the past five games. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s shooting 41.3 percent on 3s and coming off a strong performance in a victory over the 76ers, the last game before the Knicks signed Sochan, a 6-foot-8 defensive specialist who plays the same power forward position as Diawara.<\/p>\n
Brown explained that Sochan, who is just 22 but in his fourth NBA season, gets the edge because of his experience and since there are just two months to determine his value for the postseason.<\/p>\n
![\"Rookie](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Mohamed-Diawara.jpg\")
Rookie Mohamed Diawara, who has played well recently, will be out of the Knicks\u2019 rotation for the time being. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Both Diawara and Sochan are free agents in the summer. <\/p>\n
\u201c[Sochan] knows the league. The league knows him. He knows the officials and vice versa. So he\u2019s going to get an opportunity,\u201d Brown said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, I\u2019m going to play who I think is best for us. Right now Jeremy is new. He hasn\u2019t played for us. So I have to see rather quickly what we have in him before going to the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, there are no guarantees of even a short-term sizable role for even Sochan. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
With Anunoby returning from a four-game absence for Thursday\u2019s big showdown against the Pistons, the Knicks are fully healthy in the frontcourt.<\/p>\n
That means Sochan\u2019s minutes will be squeezed in among those of Anunoby, Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson.<\/p>\n
Brown will put the puzzle together with an eye on getting the newcomer on the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure how many minutes I\u2019m going to play him, but I plan on trying to use him,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd hopefully we get to a point where he\u2019s versatile enough to play one through five for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s conversations with Sochan helped push the power forward to sign with the Knicks despite other suitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at Jeremy, you like his size right off the bat,\u201d the coach said. \u201cEspecially for a power forward. OG is of that size. But nobody else really is of that size. And you look at the versatility, over the years he\u2019s been able to guard [every position]. So to have that versatility on that end of the floor \u2014 it\u2019s huge. Especially if OG is out. We\u2019re a lot smaller if a guy like OG or Josh are both out. And then [Sochan\u2019s] energy, his physicality \u2014 all those things that don\u2019t necessarily show up in a stat sheet, in my opinion \u2014 would be welcomed by any team, and we were lucky to get him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Brown had already removed point guard Tyler Kolek, a 2024 second-round pick, from the rotation to accommodate the arrival of Jose Alvarado.<\/p>\n
Sochan\u2019s role seemed less certain after he was cast aside in San Antonio amid shooting struggles and the emergence of a replacement, rookie Carter Bryant.<\/p>\n
In New York, Sochan will get a chance to win a role back and a rookie will take a step back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve talked a lot and it\u2019s just seizing whatever opportunity I can get,\u201d Sochan said. \u201cAnd I think one of the reasons I picked New York is it\u2019s a really deep roster, a lot of really talented players. I think it\u2019s a pretty cool opportunity to watch and grow from that too. I think I\u2019m still young, too. So just being around players who have established themselves and have done a lot of stuff in this league is a crazy opportunity for me. \u2026 I do believe in myself and I do believe I can do well on the court, too. But I do look at it in the bigger picture. And what\u2019s happening here, I think I can be a part of it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OG Anunoby\u2019s toenail is still missing, but he\u2019ll be back in the starting lineup. Jeremy Sochan arrived and,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,2724,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806,741,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-610869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jeremy-sochan","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkknicks","16":"tag-og-anunoby","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116095141324186799","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}