The 2023-24 season of professional basketball is set to heat up the winter courts. Busan KCC and Seoul SK are the favorites to win the title as the 10-team league returns to normal with the addition of newcomer Goyang Sono.
The 2023-24 Jeonggwanjang Professional Basketball League will kick off on March 21 with the official opening game between defending champions Anyang Jeonggwanjang and Seoul SK at Anyang Indoor Gymnasium, and will run for six months until March 31, 2023.
KCC is the favorite this season.
KCC, which previously had top-notch players such as Heo Woong, Lee Seung-hyun, and Ragan-ah, signed free agent Choi Jun-yong to become a super team. In addition, former coach Lee Sang-min was appointed as the coach of his hometown team, KCC.
At the end of August, KCC, which was preparing for the new season amid much attention, left Jeonju, where it had been based for 22 years, and moved to Busan.
The team’s performance remained solid amidst the controversy. KCC made a strong impression on fans by winning the 2023 MG Saemaul Bank KBL Cup, a rehearsal for the regular season, for the first time since its inception.
In addition to the performance of domestic players, KCC is considered the No. 1 favorite to win the championship as new foreigner Alize DeShawn Johnson showed outstanding skills to be named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Cup.
KCC’s main rival is Seoul SK.
They lost their ace Choi Jun-yong to KCC but filled the void by signing Oh Se-geun, who won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the championship game last season.
SK’s regular-season domestic MVP Kim Sun-hyung and foreign MVP Jamil Warney have been solid, and the team has been consistent enough to win and finish runner-up in the last two seasons.
The team is also fortunate to have Ahn Young-jun, who helped them win the 2021-22 title, returning from military service.
In his two seasons at the helm, SK head coach Jeon Hee-cheol has compiled a 76-32 record (70.4% winning percentage) in 108 games.
If he can rack up wins early this season, he could break the record for the fastest 100 regular-season wins in a season held by former managers Shin Hyun-woo and Kang Dong-hee (151 games).굿모닝토토
Changwon LG, which acquired Yang Hong-seok from Suwon KT, is also a force to be reckoned with, as is KT, which has defensive standout Moon Sung-gon in its No. 1 rookie Moon Jung-hyun and Heo Hoon returning from the military.
Sono is entering the league for the first time this season. The team was reborn as Carrot (Day One) in the Orions ahead of last season, only to be reborn a year later due to the parent group’s business troubles.
The Sono squad, including head coach Kim Seung-ki, captain Kim Kang-seon, and aces Jeon Sung-hyun and Lee Jung-hyun, are entering the league as a new team for the second consecutive season.
The team’s name has changed again, but its performance is expected.
Last year, SONO defied expectations and made it to the quarterfinals of the playoffs. In the quarterfinals, they fell short of the championship against powerhouse Jung Kwan-jang, but they overcame their power disadvantage with organization, earning them the title of ‘moving basketball’.
The players, who were unable to receive meals due to business difficulties at the end of last season, have been able to focus on their training with the full support of SONO, which has solid financial resources, and it is expected to be interesting to see what results they will achieve this season.