The free agent (FA) market, which made basketball fans excited, seems to end without a big fish that can change the game.
According to KBL, nine out of a total of 46 people who have qualified as FA have completed their contracts as of the 20th, a day before the end of self-negotiations. “It happened because each club announced the contract, but they did not submit the contract,” a KBL official said. “Most of them will be submitted normally at the end of self-negotiations.”
Within the 30th place in the FA market this year (one compensating player + 50% of the previous season’s remuneration or 200% of the previous season’s remuneration), “big fish” chose to renew their contracts rather than transfer.
Three out of five FA big fish have already renewed their contracts with the original team. Kang Sang-jae (200cm) and Kim Jong-kyu (207cm), the tall duo of Wonju DB that each club coveted the most, were considered good cards to reinforce the height under the basket, but they re-signed with DB without any difficulties. Kang Sang-jae signed a five-year contract for 700 million won in his first year’s remuneration, and Kim Jong-kyu signed a three-year contract for 600 million won.
An official from DB was satisfied, saying, “Unlike what I was worried about, I met with the players twice and got a renewal seal.”
Guard Park Ji-hoon, who was classified as another big fish, also renewed his contract with Anyang’s chief of staff at 550 million won (468,890 U.S. dollars) and a three-year contract as the No. 1 free agent in 2024. Guard Lee Jae-do didn’t just submit a contract to the KBL, but decided to stay with Changwon LG on Tuesday through a 550 million won, three-year contract. Han Ho-do, the last player, is also unlikely to wear another team’s uniform during the self-negotiation period.
At the basketball scene, there are two reasons why the FA market has been relatively quiet.
Players who came to the market first failed to give them enough attractiveness to even accept the compensation. “The goal of bringing in FA is to win,” a team official said on condition of anonymity. “Kang Sang-jae and Kim Jong-kyu showed excellent performances in the regular season, but they disappointed me a bit in the post season. While competing with DB, they had to pay players’ outflows, compensation, and maximum annual salary (Yang Hong-seok, 750 million won) to bring them, but they didn’t feel the attraction. They wanted to focus on promising players such as Heo Hoon, who will become a free agent next year.”
The emergence of Lee Dae-sung, who can be recruited without compensation, influenced the guard position. Lee Dae-sung, who played in Japan’s B League for one year, boasts top-notch skills to the extent that he ranks first in scoring among Korean players for the previous two consecutive seasons. Analysts say that Lee could be brought in if he paid only an annual salary, but there was no reason to suffer bleeding in the FA market.
The benefits were enjoyed by semi-class players who could be brought in without player leakage. Goyang Sono and Daegu Korea Gas Corporation, which declared reinforcement of their power, started recruiting FA to the extent that compensation would not be generated as much as possible. Sono did not submit a contract to the KBL, but he also brought four forwards and a guard, including Jung Hee-jae (350 million won, 4 years), Choi Seung-wook (400 million won, 4 years), Lim Dong-seop (150 million won, 3 years), Kim Young-hoon (60 million won, 1 year) and Hong Kyung-gi (60 million won, 2 years). Korea Gas Corporation also acquired guard Jung Sung-woo (450 million won, 4 years) and forward Kwak Jung-hoon (85 million won, 3 years), who were noted as real players in the FA market.
The remaining concern in the FA market is which team Lee Dae-sung will join now. Lee Dae-sung, who escaped from a double contract by terminating his contract with a Japanese club, is reportedly likely to wear the Samsung uniform in Seoul, which suffered the humiliation of the last place for three consecutive years.
BY: 사설 토토사이트