By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
Things are only getting worse for the SK Knights who, after failing to qualify for the Korean Basketball League (KBL) playoffs, are now dealing with the possibility of losing their two top players ― Joo Hee-jung and Bang Sung-yoon ― for next season.
The Knights finished the season in seventh place and failed to advance to the playoffs for the eighth straight season, with its last birth coming in 2002. The need to resign their top free agents is evident, but due to salary cap space that might not be possible.
Joo, who led the league in assists this season, earned 520 million won last season and explosive scorer Bang received 400 million won. This past season, the Knights paid their players a total of 1.8 billion won, meaning that the team has no room to resign those looking for a bigger contract.
To make matters worse, SK also has to consider opening up its coffers for Kim Min-soo, who led the team in scoring with 14.5 points per game while grabbing 5.7 rebounds ― all while making only 155 million won in his second KBL season.
The Knights acquired Joo, the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2008-09, from the KT&G Kites by sending them Kim Tae-sul, a young guard with enormous potential.
And head coach Shin Sun-woo, who took over the Knights in the middle of this season, is keen on retaining the injury-prone Bang.
While some have questioned Bang's work ethic, Shin has supported his shooter, saying that Bang plays and practices with a lot of emotion.
Until now, the most viable option for creating the much-needed salary cap space has been to release veteran 3-point shooter Moon Kyung-eun.
Last season, the 38-year-old signed a 140 million won contract, a drop of 60 million won from his previous season's salary.
"If the head coach wants me for one more year, I can do it, but I don't want to be on the court while dealing with a (pay) reduction like last season," he said.
The Knights, who had the highest attendance rate with a total of 150,000 people showing up to their games this season, need to plan wisely to keep them satisfied.