Why Jeremy Sochan is an NBA champion whether the Knicks or Spurs win the title originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Jeremy Sochan plays for the New York Knicks, and so he’d like the Knicks to win the NBA Finals and claim a championship.
Sochan, though, is in a fascinating position. If the San Antonio Spurs lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy instead, Sochan will still get a ring.
Either way, Sochan is a winner — sort of.
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How does this work?
Sochan played for the Spurs first this season before joining the Knicks.
He played 28 games with San Antonio, his last of parts of four seasons with the team that drafted him.
The Spurs waived him on Feb. 11, though, and the Knicks then signed him on Feb. 13.
Sochan appeared in 16 regular season games with the Knicks, and he has now added five playoff appearances for New York prior to the beginning of the NBA Finals.
Jeremy Sochan is officially an NBA Champion
He will receive a ring whether the Knicks or Spurs win pic.twitter.com/aORwrOpkEK
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) May 31, 2026
There is no hard and fast rule on which players get rings versus which don’t. A team could choose to withhold one from a guy who started the season with them and didn’t finish it.
Tradition generally has guys who played as much as Sochan did for each team lined up for a ring either way.
It sure would be a more fun beginning to June if the team he’s currently on won the whole thing, but if the Spurs beat the Knicks instead, Sochan still played for a championship team for part of this season, too.