KB and Hana 1Q, who have not experienced spring basketball, are having a busy rain season.
The Korea Women’s Basketball Federation announced the results of the 2023 FA second round of negotiations through a press release on the 20th. Veteran Kim Jong-un, who has been active in Woori Bank Wooriwon for the past six seasons and has won two championships, debuted as a pro for the first time under the conditions of a contract period of 2 years and an annual salary of 250 million won (annual salary of 200 million won and allowance of 50 million won). I returned to Hana One Q. It was a safe (?) choice to stay at Woori Bank in order to steadily aim for the championship, but Kim Jong-un did not turn away from the call of his family’s team.
The team that had the busiest time in the free agency market this year was KB Stars, who fell from the combined championship in the 2021-2022 season to 5th in the 2022-2023 season. KB, which left Iseul Kang, center Kim So-dam, and point guard Shim Seong-young, who signed a contract for a 3-year contract period and a total annual salary of 350 million won (280 million won a year, 70 million won in allowances), was active in Hana One Q for six seasons. They strengthened their power by recruiting ‘Queen of Steel’ Kim Ye-jin for a contract period of 3 years and an annual salary of 80 million won.
Won Woori Bank and returned to Hana 1Q
In the championship match between Woori Bank and BNK SUM, the player who won the series MVP was Danbi Kim, but the heroine of the third match held on March 23rd was Woori Bank’s oldest sister, Kim Jong-un. Even at the age of 35, Kim Jong-un, who played 34 minutes and 45 seconds against young players in their 20s, played a big role in the third game with 18 points and 11 rebounds. In particular, he threw 7 three-pointers and hit 5 with a whopping 71.4% probability, breaking BNK’s will to pursue and making a decisive contribution to Woori Bank’s championship.
Kim Jong-un, who finished the season with a pleasant overall victory, earned FA status along with teammates Go A-ra, Noh Hyun-ji, and Park Da-jeong. Kim Jong-un, who ranked 22nd in contribution in the 2021-2022 season and 17th in contribution in the 2022-2023 season, received attention from several clubs in the free agency market while still showing off his healthy skills despite his considerable age. Among them, Shinhan Bank Sbird, which lost to Woori Bank in the 2022-2023 season playoffs, was the most active in recruiting Kim Jong-un.
However, Kim Jong-un’s choice was not to stay at Woori Bank or transfer to Shinhan Bank, but to return to Hana 1Q, his ‘parent’. In fact, when he left Hana 1Q and transferred to Woori Bank in 2017, he said that he hated the club for neglecting him because he was injured while devoting his youth. However, recently, as Hana 1 Q stayed at the bottom for two consecutive seasons, the hatred for his former team turned into pity, and in the end, Kim Jong-un left Woori Bank, which regained the position of ‘strongest’, and chose to return to the lowest-ranked Hana 1 Q.
Hana One Q is the youngest team among the six clubs, so the oldest players in the 2022-2023 season were Yang In-young, Shin Ji-hyun, and Kim Aena, born in 1995. Kim Jong-un, who is the second oldest in the league after Kim Han-byeol (BNK), joins Hana One Q. In particular, Park So-hee (born in 2003), the rookie of the year in the 2022-2023 season, is 16 years older than Kim Jong-un. Kim Jong-un has a new assignment: to communicate smoothly with Hana 1Q’s young players on and off the court.
In his heyday, when he was the top scorer for two seasons in a row, Kim Jong-un was a player with good stamina, playing an average of more than 35 minutes per game, but in the past two seasons, he could not play more than 30 minutes on average. This means that Kim Jong-un is now a veteran player who must efficiently control his playing time to manage his physical strength. However, during the time Kim Jong-un is active on the court, no team will easily think of Hana 1Q.
‘Stefan Isul’ who stays at KB and seeks to restore honor
Basketball fans’ expectations that ‘no matter how much Park Ji-soo is absent, as a defending champion, he will maintain his mid-ranking position’, were wrong. KB’s ‘beginning and end’ Park Ji-soo, who only played 9 games due to panic disorder symptoms and finger injuries, failed to advance to spring basketball in 5th place with a 10-20 loss (.333 win rate) in the regular league in the 2022-2023 season. . It is the first time in 12 years since the 2010-2011 season (.343 win rate) that KB ended up with a win rate in the 30% range in the regular league.
After the season ended, 5 players, including shooter Iseul Kang, obtained FA status. Kang Yi-seul gave Lee So-hee (BNK) the top spot in 3-point shooting in the 2022-2023 season, and the 3-point shooting queen for 6 consecutive seasons was canceled, but she still has a young age of 29 years old, accurate outside shots, and a good height (180cm) for the position. It was the biggest word in the FA market this year. It was only natural that each club had a high interest in Kang Iseul, who could boost his strength at once if recruited.
However, Kang Iseul had no intention of transferring to a team other than KB in the first place. Kang I-seul, who signed a two-year contract at the time of his transfer to KB, stayed at KB on the condition of a three-year contract and a total annual salary of 350 million won. In the first season of his transfer, Iseul Kang played an active role as KB’s one-two punch with Park Ji-soo and achieved a combined victory, but with the decline of his personal record in the 2022-2023 season, the team also fell to 5th and lost his pride. This is the reason Kang Isul’s resolution for the 2023-2024 season, which is the first season of his new contract, is bound to be different.
KB is a team that succeeded in recruiting from outside along with Hana 1 Q in the second round of FA negotiations. On the 19th, KB signed an FA contract with 174cm forward Kim Ye-jin, who obtained the FA qualification for the first time in his life, for a contract period of 3 years and an annual salary of 80 million won. Kim Ye-jin, who recorded 4.21 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists this season, ranked first overall in steals with an average of 1.9 steals per game. Kim Ye-jin is a player who can be of great help to KB in the outer defense next season.
Meanwhile,스포츠토토 Kim Han-byeol, the oldest player in the FA market along with Kang Iseul, stayed with BNK for a yearly total of 300 million won, while all-around forward Kim Jin-young signed a three-year contract with Shinhan Bank for a total annual salary of 240 million won. Veteran forward Go Ara, who contributed significantly to Woori Bank’s combined victory as a bench member, and Noh Hyun-ji, who is expected to play a bigger role next season, also signed a two-year contract with Woori Bank. On the other hand, Choi Hee-jin, Kim Jong-un and Lee Kyung-eun’s (Shinhan Bank) motive for joining the pros, chose to retire from active duty.