As Anyang KGC Ginseng Corporation won the professional basketball championship in the 2022-2023 season, each team had no choice but to pay more attention to recruiting Asian quarter players.
Without Lens Abando, who joined this season through the Asian quota system, Ginseng Corporation would have lost the momentum to defeat Seoul SK in the championship match that went up to the 7th game in 14 years.
Abando raised an average of 10.1 points in 7 championship matches, especially in the 2nd and 3rd matches, taking advantage of its unique elasticity and bringing victory to Ginseng Corporation by adding 18 and 14 points each.
Even in the 7th game, where the fates of 카지노사이트 both teams were divided, he made two block shots only in the 4th quarter, which was the battleground, and Oh Se-geun and other big men added ‘height’ to the tired Ginseng Corporation.
Asian quarter players like Abando were one of the main variables that determined the performance of 10 teams this season.
Ulsan Hyundai Mobis’ Filipino player Ronjay Avarientos even received the rookie award.
Avarientos, who played in 51 regular league games and recorded an average of 13.6 points and 4.8 assists, led Hyundai Mobis to 4th place (34-20, 63% win rate) as a practical ‘ace’ beyond a simple rookie.
Lee Seon Albano of Wonju DB also recorded 13.3 points and 5.1 assists in every game, effectively replacing the role of ‘signboard’ Doo Kyung-min, who missed 27 games.
The annual salary of these two players is around 200 million won.
If it is 200 million won, it is outside the 30th place in the total compensation ranking as of this season among domestic players.
Teams that made good use of the Asian quota system used key players and leading players at a relatively low price.
From the next season, the upper limit of the annual salary of players recruited through this system was set at 160,000 dollars (approximately 210 million won) after tax.
This amount will be excluded from the salary cap for domestic players (2.8 billion won in total salary), so teams that do not recruit Asian quota players will actually suffer losses in terms of power.
As a result, it has become important for clubs to ‘recruit Filipino players’, which are famous for their basketball enthusiasm among many Asian countries, but the level of remuneration is lower than that of KBL.
In the Philippine Professional Basketball Association (PBA), which is not an annual salary, but a monthly salary, the maximum monthly salary a player can receive is set at 420,000 pesos (about 10 million won). On top of that, various options such as a bonus for winning a cup competition are added to get additional compensation.
In addition, as the free agent (FA) market opens from the 8th, attention is also focused on the future of the ‘big fish’.
This free agency market is truly a ‘forward fever’.
As tall forwards representing professional basketball became free agents from this day, the choice in this market has become important for teams that want to reinforce their height.
The biggest fish is Choi Jun-yong of Seoul SK.
He was considered the most valuable player in professional basketball until he suffered an ups and downs with injuries this season, including being named MVP last season. Not only his height of more than 2m and the mobility to lead the fast attack, but also his ability in various fields such as shooting, passing, and defense were highly evaluated.
However, this season, he cried over injuries.
Attention is focusing on whether SK, which failed to overcome Ginseng Corporation with a ‘one-step difference’, will continue to accompany Choi Jun-yong, who has not stepped on the court at important moments such as the East Asian Super League (EASL) and PO, as well as only participating in 26 regular league games.
Moon Seong-gon, the “defensive king for four consecutive seasons,” who jointly won the championship with Ginseng Corporation, and Oh Se-geun, the playoff MVP, were also listed on the FA list.
Oh Se-geun, born in 1987, is over 35 years old, so even if he transfers to free agency, the team that recruits him does not have to pay extra compensation, so his value is high.
In this championship game, he averaged 19.1 points and 10 rebounds, proving that he is still the best big man in professional basketball.
However, since he is a symbol of Ginseng Corporation, the possibility of transfer is not high.
After the 7th round of the Champions League on the 7th, Oh Se-geun responded to a reporter’s question about the FA, saying, “It’s not that I haven’t thought of going somewhere else, but it would be strange to go somewhere else. I think the club will pay a lot of attention.” I will think about it and try to get through it well. I will think carefully without making hasty judgments.”
Yang Hong-seok, the leading forward of Suwon kt, is also on the market. Since he is younger (born in 1997) than Choi Jun-yong (born in 1994) and Moon Seong-gon (born in 1993), who compete in the small forward position, his growth potential has always been evaluated as the highest among the three.
Yang Hong-seok participated in 53 regular league games this season, adding 12.6 points and grabbing nearly 6 rebounds (5.9) in each game.
Daegu Korea Gas Corporation’s forward duo Jeong Hyo-geun and Lee Dae-heon are also there.
Jeong Hyo-geun has mobility despite his height of over 2m, and Lee Dae-heon is also evaluated as one of the few native big men capable of one-on-one attacks under the goal using a stocky physique.
Along with the two, Lee Dae-seong, the top scorer in Korea (18.1 points), is also a free agent.
All three are within the 30th place in the compensation ranking, and compensation regulations are applied, so it is unlikely that KOGAS will realistically catch all of them without blood loss.
In addition to Lee Dae-seong, there are many resources outside.
Choi Seong-won, who recorded an average of 11.3 points and 3-point success rate of 53.3% in the championship game, supported Seoul SK’s one-two punch Kim Seon-hyeong and Jamil Warney, and Bae Byung-jun, who contributed to the victory of Ginseng Corporation by hitting 3 points and 4 rooms in the 7th game, are also on the market.