The list of Korean Basketball Federation (KBL) All-Star Game teams to be held on March 14 was announced on Tuesday. The biggest attention was paid to Heo Woong (30, KCC) and Heo Hoon (28, KT). It was none other than whether Lee Kwan-hee (35, LG) and Lee Jung-hyun (36, Samsung) play in the same team.
The two are the representative bitter rivals in the KBL who have hated each other for years. They have been selected in the All-Star Game side by side over the past four seasons, but have never been on the same team. Since the first and second place players are forming a team, they have carefully assigned the two players to different teams. As the league’s top-ranked team coach Kim Joo-sung and LG’s second-ranked Cho Sang-hyun have started to form a team this season, attention was focusing on whether they would get different results. Sure enough, however, the two were also picked for different teams. 월카지노
The relationship between the two is so bad that both the player and the coach are careful. Lee Kwan-hee calls his senior Lee Jung-hyun “the player” in public. Lee doesn’t even mention Lee Kwan-hee. He growls whenever they face each other in a game. It was also the second game of the KBL championship game in 2017 that the relationship between the two was highlighted in earnest. Lee Kwan-hee, then a member of Seoul Samsung, fell down by the arm of Anyang KGC Lee Jung-hyun, and when Lee Kwan-hee got up immediately, he pushed Lee Jung-hyun hard in the chest with his elbow. As Lee Kwan-hee was immediately sent off, the uncomfortable relationship between the two became known. Since then, whenever the two meet, they engage in a war of nerves with their bodies and minds, exchanging insults, dragging each other, and beating each other. In the game on the 17th, which was a recent showdown, he also blocked them with all his might by glaring eyes.
The reason why they fell out is unknown. They say they don’t talk about it often to people around them either. The two, first-year basketball seniors and juniors, have been together for three years at Yonsei University. They were often seen talking to each other on camera. It seems that the relationship was not bad at the time. In the professional league, they played for different teams and then spent a year together in Sangmu again. The majority say that they fell out while they were together.
There are various speculations about the reason. They include, “Lee Jung-hyun bullied Lee Kwan-hee by using his status as a senior,” “Lee Kwan-hee always confronted Lee Jung-hyun,” and “It’s a matter of reason between the two.” However, all of them are not accurate. When asked about the situation at a press conference last season, Seoul Samsung coach Eun Hee-seok said, “My direct investigation into the two players shows that their emotions are not personal at all,” adding, “I think the competition for mutual development is overheated.”
Whenever the two players get tangled up, the referee stops the game for about four to five minutes and goes through a video review. This is to identify wrongdoings and give them fouls. “We know that the conflict is prolonged and they feel tired,” a KBL official said. “We are careful to ensure that the two players compete without going beyond sportsmanship.”