Professional basketball free agent Choi Joon-yong (29, 2m), the ‘biggest fish’, transferred to Jeonju KCC.
Another big player, Oh Se-geun (36), recently moved from Anyang KGC to Seoul SK, and this is a super-large surprise move that took place just before the free agency (FA) market closes this year.
According to the Sports Chosun coverage on the 21st, it was confirmed that the KCC club recently met with Choi Jun-yong and completed a free agency contract with a total compensation of 600 million won and a contract period of 5 years.
This is the first time Choi Jun-yong, who has established himself as a franchise star for 7 seasons since his debut in Seoul SK in 2016, has moved to a different team.
When Oh Se-geun, who had grown as KGC’s ‘one-club man’ since 2011, made a new nest with SK, another ‘one-club man’ Choi Jun-yong left the nest.
Choi Jun-yong, the main character of the regular league MVP in the 2021-2022 season, played only 26 regular league games due to an injury in the 2022-2023 season, but averaged 12.7 points, 3.8 assists and 5.9 rebounds. In the playoffs and championship match, he had to watch his team unfortunately runner-up because of an injury. When SK lost to KGC after a bloody battle in the 7th game, the value of Choi Jun-yong’s existence was still the same to the extent that it was evaluated that the result would have been different if Choi Jun-yong had played normally.
When the FA market opened, there were various ‘theories’ surrounding Choi Jun-yong’s future. With the strong prospect that Choi Jun-yong will leave SK, it is known that Wonju DB, Suwon KT, and Seoul Samsung have entered the race to recruit Choi. There were even rumors that he was seeking to advance to overseas leagues such as Japan and the United States.
There was only ‘seol’, but Choi Jun-yong did not show any movement or progress in negotiations between SK and the club he wanted to recruit, and the prospect that he would remain in SK was strong.
In the midst of this, KCC, which had been taking a wait-and-see attitude, jumped in at the last minute. The interests of the KCC club, which would invest in Choi Jun-yong’s value as a player and build a mighty power, and Choi Jun-yong, who wanted to take on new challenges as much as he had achieved without regret at SK, coincided.
Among these FA players, Choi Jun-yong is second in the ransom rankings following Oh Se-geun (600 million won) along with Lee Dae-seong (33, Korea Gas Corporation) with a salary of 550 million won as of the 2002-2023 season, but was considered super-special in FA utility value. Despite his tall stature, he has multiplayer abilities, and considering his age, his future value is much higher than Oh Se-geun and Lee Dae-seong. It is for this reason that KCC made an unprecedented proposal of 5 years, the upper limit of the FA contract period.메이저사이트
Choi Jun-yong, who made his professional debut with the 2nd overall ranking in the 2016 rookie draft, experienced two championship wins and one regular league championship, and became the first regular league MVP in his life when SK won the combined championship in the 2021-2022 season.
With the addition of Choi Jun-yong, KCC is expected to emerge as a strong contender for the championship next season by forming a luxurious team of four national players, including Heo Woong, Song Kyo-chang, and Lee Seung-hyun.