The New York Knicks are looking to become the first repeat NBA champions since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018, and they'll be bringing back nearly the same team that won the title in June. 

This offseason, the Knicks have re-signed key bench players like Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado, Mohamed Diawara, and Jordan Clarkson. 

They did lose backup center Mitchell Robinson to the rival Boston Celtics, but replaced him with Andre Drummond, who might be an older option but comes in at a much lower price and does a lot of the same things the Knicks relied on Robinson to do. 

On Saturday, they lost another bench player to free agency as Jeremy Sochan signed a one-year deal with the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Knicks picked up Sochan after the NBA trade deadline when he was waived by the San Antonio Spurs. Sochan, who just turned 23 in May, had fallen out of the Spurs' rotation and was looking for a new opportunity, joining the Knicks in hopes of finding new life on a playoff team. 

In 16 games with the Knicks, Sochan averaged 2.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists on 56% shooting from the field. He averaged less than seven minutes per game in the regular season. 

In the playoffs, he was out of the rotation, only appearing in eight of the Knicks' 19 playoff games, playing less than four minutes per game. 

For the Knicks, losing Sochan doesn't change their outlook coming into this season. He was viewed as a solid addition late in the season because of his defensive versatility and ability to get to the rim, but he didn't play enough in the regular season to make an impact. 

The argument for Sochan is that he didn't have enough time to gel with his new team and could've made a bigger impact this season with a playoff run and a full training camp under his belt. 

That might be true, but the numbers for him in New York last season weren't pretty. The team had a -7.2 net rating when he was on the floor, excluding garbage time. The sample sizes are small, but he struggled alongside Jalen Brunson (-2.6 net rating in 22 minutes) and Karl-Anthony Towns (-50.5 net rating in eight minutes). 

Given that the Knicks already have a set rotation that they can count on, Sochan likely wasn't going to see increased minutes throughout the regular season, barring injuries. 

While there is still upside in Sochan's game, the Knicks seemingly felt more comfortable letting him walk and finding a more suitable end-of-bench player who better fits the team.