Jeremy Sochan extension nightmare awaits the Spurs

With the NBA regular season fast approaching, so too is a key deadline for the San Antonio Spurs: whether to extend Jeremy Sochan. That storyline has been on the back burner for most of the offseason, but with preseason nearly here, it has begun to draw more attention.

Recently, Bleacher Report weighed in on the Spurs and the Sochan extension situation. In short, they mentioned that the Spurs should extend Sochan, and pay him $80 million over four seasons

That's a hot take considering Sochan's fit with Victor Wembanyama being a big question mark. Defensively, the sky is the limit; offensively...not great.

The Spurs have a potential Jeremy Sochan problem

The problem of playing Sochan and Wembanyama together isn't necessarily on either player, but more on the fact that their backcourt has three non-shooters. If even one of De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper could shoot, then it would make the potential of pairing Sochan and Wembanyama together far more palatable offensively.

Who knows, that could happen, with Castle being the most likely to become a good shooter. Sochan could too, but he'll have to first prove it.

The Spurs simply can't afford to pay him at least $20 million a year unless he proves that he can be a key part of the team's young core. At the moment, he should be on the outside looking in at the team's young core, consisting of Victor Wembanyama, Harper, Carter Bryant, and Castle.

While he would fit beautifully alongside those players if he proves to be a reliable shooter, history suggests that is unlikely. Players don't magically become good shooters in their fourth season.

His true shooting percentage dramatically increased last season thanks to his improvement as a finisher at the rim. However, his 3-point shooting didn't improve, and his free-throw shooting percentage actually dipped by 12%.

Jeremy Sochan has to prove he's a part of the Spurs' young core

In his defense, he seems to have reworked his jumper this offseason, with it looking better and more compact than ever before. Whether that will translate to the court this season remains to be seen. But if he can prove that he can be a reliable three-point shooter, then San Antonio would still be able to hold on to him next summer.

Granted, it would cost them a lot more to do so, but they will still be in the driver's seat to keep Sochan. That means the Spurs shouldn't extend him before the start of the season unless he balls out in the preseason.

Even then that would only be a five-game sample size, and he would have to drain threes at high volume to convince the Spurs to pony up a big contract. More likely, he will be in a contract year this season and then hit restricted free agency next summer.

That would give him time to prove that he has improved as a shooter and that he can fit in alongside De'Aaron Fox, Wembanyama, Harper, and Castle. If he can emerge as a decent to good mid- to high-volume shooter, then he'd absolutely be worth $20 million annually. If not, then they should let the market dictate how much they should pay him.

Overall, the Spurs have to be extremely careful when it comes to paying Sochan. That's not to say that Sochan doesn't have a future with the team, but he will have to prove he's worth a big contract this season first.