‘Jun-cheok? cream.’
A week has passed since the Korean Basketball League (KBL) free agency (FA) market opened, and news of the negotiations is pouring in. While the so-called ‘big catches’ such as Oh Se-geun, Moon Seong-gon (KGC) and Yang Hong-seok (KT) continued to scale, the ‘quasi-cheok class’ moved first. On the 15th, Anyang KGC and Jeonju KCC announced free agency agreements one after another. KGC renewed the contract with Bae Byeong-jun (33), and KCC recruited Lee Ho-hyeon (30) from Seoul Samsung.
Each of these two 메이저사이트‘Jun-cheok’ free agency agreements contained their own stories. First of all, Bae Byung-jun is a case of choosing loyalty and love over money. Bae Byung-jun is a player who received a lot of attention in the 2022-2023 season. He was the best Altoran player when KGC achieved the gold medal of the combined championship. He played in 47 regular league games and wrote a “career high” with an average of 8.3 points and 2.7 assists, and in the 7th game of the championship decision, he showed the true value of a clutch shooter with four 3-pointers like heaven. After happily winning the championship, they married Go A-ra (Woori Bank), a women’s professional basketball player, on the 13th, and became the first couple to enjoy a combined championship in the same season, becoming a hot topic.
KGC hurried the FA negotiations considering that Bae Byeong-jun had to go on a honeymoon until the 20th after marriage. On the 14th, right before leaving the country, they agreed on a contract period of 3 years and a compensation of 200 million won (annual salary of 180 million won + incentive of 20 million won) in order to make them go on their honeymoon comfortably.
In fact, there was a team that contacted Bae Byung-jun with a much higher salary condition. Bae Byeong-jun chose to stay after much thought. He could not betray his loyalty to KGC with a single stroke. When he was on the verge of early retirement at Changwon LG in 2018, the team that accepted him and opened up a new player life was KGC. In order to increase his chances to participate in the 2020-2021 season, he transferred to Seoul SK in a trade with Woo Dong-hyun, and tasted the combined championship the following year. Afterwards, KGC was also the team that brought him back and opened a new heyday, saying that he would trust and use it as a replacement for Jeon Seong-hyun (Day1).
Above all else, Bae Byung-joon had to prioritize his wife. Other clubs with ‘good conditions’ were non-metropolitan regional teams. If you go to the provinces in pursuit of money, you will have to live a ‘honeymoon’ for a while, as a weekend couple. Considering his wife Go Ara’s job, it was best not to leave the metropolitan area. Bae Byeong-joon said before marriage, “Ara wants to find a house for newlyweds in a place where my FA team is decided,” but it seems that he chose Anyang because he couldn’t make his wife, who became a reliable ‘victory fairy’, suffer from the newlyweds.
Guard Lee Ho-hyun hit the ‘jackpot’ when he moved to KCC. It was a 300% increase from the previous salary of 60 million won to 240 million won (annual salary of 168 million won + incentive of 72 million won). The contract period is 4 years.
Unfortunately, it was an unconventional recruitment that was possible because KCC’s interests coincided. This free agent market lacked guard resources compared to forwards. The point guard even more so. KCC had a hard time since Yoo Hyun-joon left because there was no authentic number 1 (point guard). In addition, KCC is changing its ‘route’ this year. In the meantime, it was a ‘big hand’ that did not spare investment in player recruitment, but it is transforming into a ‘small hand’. Instead of letting go of all three free agent players, Lee Jong-hyeon, Park Gyeong-sang, and Park Se-jin, the free agency market will be closed early by recruiting only real guard Lee Ho-hyeon.