Jeremy Sochan Had Chill Answer for Why Jarred Vanderbilt Stuck a Finger in His Face

Tempers flared after the San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night as Jarred Vanderbilt let Jeremy Sochan know he was fed up in the form of a good old-fashioned finger to the face. That's as wild as things got, though, as De'Aaron Fox and others quickly intervened and prevented the situation from growing into anything you'd see on a Bravo reality series.

👀👇🏼Postgame tension flared when Jarred Vanderbilt got in Jeremy Sochan’s face and appeared to jam a finger in his cheek during the exchange. De’Aaron Fox, who played AAU ball with Vanderbilt on the Houston Hoops Nike Elite league, stepped in to help calm things down before it… pic.twitter.com/hKGEp3AcYP

— SpursRΞPORTΞR (@SpursReporter) January 8, 2026

Vanderbilt did not speak to reporters after the game. Sochan, on the other hand, was happy to provide further details.

"I must've said something to him during the game, and maybe it wasn't very nice," Sochan said. "He must have taken it in the wrong way and told me to see him after the game. So, I did. And we just had a polite exchange. I was, I think, intact and very joyful and the other person wasn't. Yeah, he just wasn't emotionally stable in that moment. So, it's something he has to work on. It's just life."

To fact-check Sochan's claim that he was intact and joyful, an alternate angle is available. The young Spurs player was smiling through the confab.

Wrócił Sochan the Instigator. Vando nie wytrzymał. Champagnie zdobywa punkty do honorowego obywatelstwa 😅 pic.twitter.com/2I7gD1N5Nz

— Mateusz Babiarz (@matbabiarz) January 8, 2026

Sochan scored six points in 11 minutes of action. Some of the stuff he did does not show up on the stat sheet, like making Luka Doncic smile.

lol sochan trying to get under luka's skin🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/mwObYroINf

— milo𓆉🇵🇸🇸🇩 (@TT11986) January 8, 2026

Vanderbilt only scored four points in 19 minutes of play, and took the bait. Then got accused of not being emotionally stable. Tough night.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jeremy Sochan Had Chill Answer for Why Jarred Vanderbilt Stuck a Finger in His Face.