Ten professional basketball teams have concluded their free agency negotiations and have begun to build their rosters with foreign players making up the majority of their rosters. Runner-up Suwon KT lost top scorer Paris Bass to the Libyan League, while champion Busan KCC is in deep trouble over Lagana, who changed his status.
Bass, who was a double-edged sword with his explosive offense and unfaithful attitude, is leaving Korea. A KT official told The Seoul Shinmun on the 29th, “The Korean Basketball League (KBL) asked us to confirm Bass’s transfer agreement today (29th). The club didn’t know about it. The destination is the Libyan League,” explaining, ‘After the season, Bass asked about the KBL’s foreign salary cap, 카지노 but he did not ask for a salary increase.’
After joining KT last season, Bass led the team in scoring in the regular season (25.4 points) with his flashy dribbling and accurate shooting. His performance in the playoffs was equally spectacular. In the second round of the championship game against KCC on March 29, Bass scored 36 points in the second half alone. Despite being guarded by national team members Lee Seung-hyun and Choi Jun-yong, he was able to overcome them all to give his team the win.
Throughout the season, however, Bass’ nervous reactions to his teammates during games hurt the team atmosphere and he refused to listen to KT coach Song Young-jin’s instructions to focus on teamwork. In the fifth game of the championship series last month, he even took off his jersey and walked out of the locker room after being substituted in the third quarter.
KT considered re-signing him, but Bass was not satisfied with the KBL foreign salary cap of $800,000 (approx. 1.09 billion won) after tax and $600,000 (approx. 819,000 won) maximum for one player. KT, which also parted ways with Michael Eric, was forced to find two new foreigners. The team sent only core guard Jung Sung-woo to Daegu Korea Gas Corporation without signing a free agent, so it is expected to go all out on foreigners.
KCC has been in a battle of wills with Laguna. Lagunia, who changed his status from a special naturalized player to a foreigner on March 17, is in his mid-30s and his skills are noticeably declining, so he will have to accept a second option role and a higher salary to sign. A KCC official said, “There is no progress yet. We are keeping all possibilities open and are having internal discussions.”
The Wonju DBs, who have retained the core of their regular-season No. 1 defense in Lee Sun Albano, Kang Sang-jae and Kim Jong-kyu, are still negotiating for the final piece, Dedrick Lawson. Re-signing Lawson, the reigning Foreign Most Valuable Player (MVP), is essential to avenge a heartbreaking loss to KCC in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.