By Cho Mu-hyun
“Am I a Korean or an American?”
The KCC Egis’ Chon Tae-poong asked this after the game against SK Knight on Sunday, in which he provided 26 points and 9 assists in his team’s win.
But the guard, an ethnic Korean according to Korean Basketball League (KBL) rules, is unhappy about a regulation that will force him to leave his club in March. Ethnic Koreans are limited to just three years with one team.
“I am doing my best since I only have two months left with KCC,” he said, adding it was a case of “discrimination” in expressing his dissatisfaction with the rule.
“I changed my nationality to play in Korea. Why can’t I play for more than three years on one team? I don’t understand,” he went on to say.
The 31-year-old, whose father is American and mother Korean, is one of three ethnic Koreans to be available to other teams in this year’s ethnic-Korean draft, the others being LG Sakers’ Mun Tae-yong (Gregory Stevenson) and Samsung Thunders’ Lee Seung-jun (Eric Sandrin).
All three signed with their current sides in 2009 in the first ethnic-Korean draft.
The regulation was agreed in 2008 by the 10 professional teams to allow players with either a Korean parent or those who gain Korean citizenship to play in the KBL as signed players. They can receive up to 100 million won in yearly salary for their debut year.
While this allows the players to be part of the national team — Lee was central to Korea winning silver at the 2010 Asian Games — it also limits the number of ethnic-Korean player to one per side.
The KBL implemented the rule to balance the strength of the teams, believing that a monopoly on ethnic Koreans, who are often better than the Korean players, could give too much of an advantage to one club.
Those outfits with no ethnic Koreans on their roster prior to the draft have preemptive rights the next time around, with the order determined by lottery. Though the players may stay with their respective team for another three years if no one bids for them, it is unlikely due to their high demand.
Ethnic Korean players have contributed greatly to the rise in popularity of basketball in Korea and increased level of play but their status has long been a controversial issue.
While complaints concerning the regulation are not without merit, native Korean players feel they are treated worse, as they are usually offered smaller contracts.
The rule has been modified several times since its implementation but the KBL is yet to find a satisfactory solution.