Report: Spurs exercise team option on Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley

With the San Antonio Spurs season beginning in just two days, there was one last item on the agenda before the team finally turned the page on the 2023 offseason. On Monday the Spurs announced they would be exercising the team option on a trio of sophomores: Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley.

The 2022 draft trio represent the first time the Spurs have made three selections in the first-round of the NBA draft. They will at the very least be signed through the 2024-2025 season.

Sochan headlines this group after earning All-Rookie Second Team honors last season, in which he averaged 11.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Sochan looks like he will be the Spurs starting point guard on opening night, and will be a major factor alongside the newly acquired Victor Wembanyama.

Branham was given an opportunity to have the ball in his hands late last season and made the most of it. In his first season as a Spur, the former Buckeye averaged 10.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists. He led all rookies in points scored in the month of February, putting up 185 total points and averaging 16.8 points per game. He became the first Spurs rookie to score 185+ points in a single month since Gary Neal’s 189 points in March of 2011, per the Spurs press release.

Wesley played in just 37 games for San Antonio last season but has shown glimpses of promise. He averaged 5.0 points, 2.7 assists and 2.2 rebounds at the NBA level, and 20.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.0 steals in the G League.

These players will be eligible for the rookie extension in the fourth-year of their rookie-scale contracts, which falls in the 2025-26 season.