LEE Hyun Jung rejoins the Korean national team in the hope of bringing his country back to the podium at the 2025 Fiba Asia Cup in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The 24-year-old sniper is the biggest among the returnees of the Korean national team after chasing his NBA dream.
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He played for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBA G League back in the 2022-23 season before signing with the Illawarra Hawks in Australia and Osaka Evessa in Japan.
Korea is in Group A with reigning champion Australia, Lebanon, and Qatar.
To Filipino fans, Lee was the thorn on the side of Gilas Pilipinas when he kept Korea competitive until the final buzzer during their 2022 FIBA Asia Cup qualifier inside the Clark bubble back in 2021.
But Lee isn’t the only young gun in the roster, with former youth player Yeo Jun Seok and 2024 Korean Basketball League (KBL) Rookie of the Year Yu Ki Sang of Changwon LG Sakers included in the final roster.
It’s almost an entirely new look for Korea with only Kim Jong Kyu (Anyang) and Lee Woo Suk the only holdovers from the 2022 team which finished sixth.
Curiously, there’s also no naturalized player in tow following the retirement of Ra Gun-A (Ricardo Ratliffe) as well as the absence of top gun Heo Hoon.
Instead, part of the Korea roster are Ha Yun Gi and Moon Jeong Hyeon (Suwon KT), Yang Jun Seok (Changwon), Jeong Seong Woo (Daegu), Lee Seoung Hyun (Ulsan), Park Ji Hoon (Anyang), and Lee Jung Hyun (Goyang Sono).
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