SEOUL (Korea) - The Korea Basketball League will be back in action with an excited triple-header opening day on Friday, October 9. The previous season was cut short on March 24 due to the COVID-19 situation, but all 10 teams are back to claim the trophy this year.

Seoul SK Knights and Wonju DB Promy were named co-first placed teams of the regular season last year and will be highlighted in the opening day games. Seoul will play 2018-2019 champions Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus, while Wonju will face Seoul Samsung Thunders at 2:00 PM (local time). The final game of opening day will be between Anyang KGC and Incheon E-Land Elephants at 6:00 PM (local time).

Before we get the chance to dive into the exciting action of Korea basketball, let’s quickly introduce the 10 teams competing this year!

Teams

Anyang KGC (Previous season : 26-17)

Balanced firepower and great foreign players greatly helped Anyang to a much improved record this past season, ending with a third-place finish. They’ve missed the presence of national team star Oh Sekeun, but having Jeon Seong-Hyen step up has softened the blow. Jeon averaged double-digit scoring for the first time in his career last season and Anyang are counting on him to keep that up this year.

Busan KT Sonicboom (Previous season : 21-22)

Busan have two of the brightest youngsters in Korean basketball on their team in Yang Hong-Seok and reigning MVP Heo Hoon. Yang impressed with averages 12.1 points and 5.7 boards last season, but was outdone by his teammate Hoon who scored 14.9 points while dishing out a league-leading 7.2 assists per game. The supporting cast might need to step up a bit, but the stars seem to be set in place for Busan.

Changwon LG Sakers (Previous season : 16-26)

Changwon dropped from a third-place finish two seasons ago to a second-to-last finish last season. That’s what happens when you lose a star like Kim Jong Kyu in free agency. Kim Si-Rae is good enough to carry the team up to a certain level, but he’ll need more help if the team aims to build their way back to the top.

Goyang Orions (Previous season : 13-30)

Despite their league-worst record from last season, Goyang actually have one of the better line-ups on paper. Lee Seung-Hyun, Choi Jin-Soo, and Heo Il-Yong are all skilled versatile forwards who are returning to the team. Add in recently acquired Lee Dae-Sung and this certainly becomes a team that just has to finish higher than they did last season…  right?

Incheon E-Land Elephants (Previous season : 21-21)

Incheon made it to the Finals for the first time in franchise history two seasons ago and missed out the chance to win it all to a historically great Ulsan squad. Two seasons later, they are still one of  the better teams in the league thanks to their backcourt tandem. Park Chan Hee is still a fantastic floor general, aiding Kim Nak-Hyun to a breakout season last year. Kim has improved all of his major statistical categories in each of his first three seasons in the league, most recently finishing with 12.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Jeonju KCC Egis (Previous season : 23-19)

There aren’t many teams that would be able to trade away a player of Lee Dae-Sung’s level and still continue to churn out wins. Jeonju, however, should have the manpower to do it. From Ra GunA, Song Kyo-Chang, and Lee Jung-Hyun, there’s just too much talent lying around in Jeonju’s line up.

Seoul Samsung Thunders (Previous season : 19-24)

Ever since making it to the Finals in 2017, the Thunders have just not been the same. However, The two-man tandem of Lee Kwan-Hee and Kim Jun-Il has been nice as both players were able to finish the past season with double-digit scoring averages.

Seoul SK Knights (Previous season : 28-15)

Injuries have kept the Knights back at times but when they are full force in health, they are truly hard to stop. Kim Sun-Hyung and Choi Jun-Yong are legit studs who can score and facilitate. Combine the two stars with a veteran like Kim Min-Soo and a youngster An Young-Jun and you get one of the best teams in the league.

Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus (Previous season : 18-24)

The past season was uncharted territory for the proud club from Ulsan. It’s been so long since they’ve had a losing record, yet there they were at the end of the season at 18-24. It’s going to be tough to rally back after the trades (Ra GunA and Lee Dae-Sung) and retirement (Yang Dong-Geun) but Ulsan’s history of success suggests that they will be able to bounce back. They have a bunch of savvy veterans like Ham Ji-Hoon and Lee Jong-Hyun which should make the rebuild a bit easier.

Wonju DB Promy (Previous season : 28-15)

Wonju are among one of the more successful KBL teams with 3 titles and 6 trips to the Finals. Even though they missed out the Playoffs entirely in 2018-2019, they bounced back all the way to finish at the top of the standings last season. The addition of Kim Jong Kyu (13.3 points, 6.1 rebounds per game) completed the three-headed monster for Wonju which also includes Doo Kyung-Min (14.4 points, 4.4 assists per game) and Heo Ung (13.7 points per game).

There will be even more attention focused on last season’s co-first placed team as they acquired Japan’s Taichi Nakamura to fill in the first ever Asian Player Quota in the KBL.

FIBA