Go over unique changes and news from the off-season
*dribbling sound while talking* Welcome listeners to our second special episode! This time on the new KBL and WKBL seasons! *stop dribbing* We’re going to cover the changes in the leagues and a brief season preview. I’m also covering the Women’s league since they’re starting soon. Now watch me hit that middie! *swoosh sound* Nothin’ but net!
(pause) One big story since the Sakers won the title is the big roster change in Busan. Heo Ung and Heo Hoon are teaming up for KCC Egis! Heo Hoon transferred from KT for the price of 800 million won over 5 years, and KT got 1.4 billion in compensation. Heo Hoon will be the point guard and older brother Ung will be shooting guard. They’re used to playing together on the national team so there’s no big surprise. So far though, Hoon has been out with an injury. Choi Jin Gwang has been handling the ball in his absence and KCC keeps winning so at least the point guard problem isn’t as bad as it was last year. Also for reasons unknown to me the first KCC home game will be on November 15th, about a month after the season started. I looked at the papers but didn’t see anything and a lot of articles mentioned the stadium getting rebuilt along with Sajik park in 2031. Hmm, checks notes…that’s about 6 years from now. I do not see how B relates to A. I really should have paid more attention in statistics class *joke sting*.
Will the league change to a 2 foreign players on the court system? Over the summer the Maeil Business Newspaper reported about a potential change in the league rules next season. There’s a lot of controversy over how much the Korean players make and how competitive the domestic players are really. To get Korean players more playing time, the league only allows 1 foreign player on the court per team. Team officials seem interested in the idea because the Japanese and other Asian teams have a 2 player limit, and it would help when playing in the EASL. The team officials are a bit hamstrung when it comes to recruiting because they’re basically recruiting a tight counter to the opposite team’s foreign player which is usually a big center or power forward. And it’s a bit tough to recruit a top foreign player to be a backup for that position and pay the amount of money for a bench warmer or extra piece. But they kinda need to because if the main foreign player goes down, their season is toast without a foreign backup. The paper didn’t mention it, but there are situations where the teams can get around the rule through multicultural allowances, Asian Quota, and naturalization of players. Ra Gun-ah the longtime KCC forward slash center was one example of a naturalized player. The papers also mentioned that the officials are concerned without a better D-League, the 2 foreign player system wouldn’t work.
*basketball brick*
The D-League is similar to the NBA G-League and KBO Level 2 in that the teams have a minor league team. In the past there have been issues with the lineups and setup of those teams. One team official in the same Maeil Business Newspaper article I mentioned earlier said he saw a team playing 4 guards on the court. Really guys? Do you think you are Steve Kerr? *joke sting* Anyway, this season all the pro teams and Sangmu military team are participating so I think we’ll see some better training and play. They only play in one stadium which is obnoxious. I’ve said before that putting minor league teams in small cities is a good way to build interest in the sport and get fans outside of your home district. Gunsan almost got the Egis and Sono Skyhawks could use some more fan support in the western gyeonggi area. Kogas is 1 and 9 to start this season so they need their D League team BAADDD. Here’s hoping the KBL improves the D-League since it’s the linchpin that the players and teams need to get needed reps for their new players.
Also I heard the league is looking at changing the rules for Asian Quota players, including a possible pay raise. They want to cap their playing time to 30 minutes starting next year according to Fastbreak. This is due to the teams fielding a lot of talented players and needing to get the domestic players more play time, especially the overpaid ones. They are even talking about capping time to 1 full quarter with a 10 minute break before returning to play. I find this to be a bit of an overreaction. The domestic players are going to be a big draw of course, but it’s not like the NBA where you could field an entire team of Giannis’ brothers from Greece *joke sting*. It would be an odd situation for a Korean team to have a starting 5 of no 100% Korean players, so I think putting a 30 minute cap is a bit much. I still think you’re going to get a lot of playing time for domestic players, provided they can ball to begin with.
In the meantime, the league has adjusted how it handles fouls during transition to improve scoring. I don’t recall it being a problem but last season’s average score was 77 points so they want to see scoring go up. Problem is it means getting players who can actually shoot 3s, something Daegu Kogas needs to look into. And speaking of teams, Samsung Thunder wants to be competitive for once. They signed a good veteran guard in Lee Dae-sung and center Kerem Kanter, Keifer Sykes’ former college teammate at Green Bay. So far…checks notes…nope they still bad. Is anyone surprised? I say Steph Curry should rent the team for a few seasons and play in the KBL to wrap up his career, win a few chips and sell some Under Armors. As of today’s episode the Sakers and the Red Boosters are at the top with Sonic Boom and Egis right behind them. This could be a competitive season so dust off those thunder sticks and get to the arena!
transition music
We’ve also got some WKBL news to cover for once. Busan BNK will face Shinhan on November 16th and this will be the first time the opening game will be between 2 female coaches. The league’s been around for over a decade and THIS is the first time?! C’mon dawg…c’mon mannnn. I feel like we’re in the 1970s and watching Frank Robinson and Bill Russel. Also before the season starts there will be a rules change press conference on the 2nd so we’ll see if they’ve got drastic rule changes in mind. The WKBL will take a break between late Feb and March for the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. Also the schedule changed to 2 Saturday games and 1 Sunday game, with breaktime on Tuesday and Thursday. I really like this change because sometimes the basketball games clash with the football games and the earlier starts means fans like me can travel to see a game, then get the last bus back. Which in my case that bus is often 630 or 7pm. At any rate, it’s hard to really pick a winner when the rosters aren’t finalized, but BNK is looking pretty good. They’ve got guard Natsuki from Japan for this season from Woori though she is a bit short at 5 foot 4 or 162cm. If she dunks at least once this season I’m gonna crown her the new Mugsy Boges *joke sting*.
*swoosh sound*
WKBL has a partnership with MOJ in the works in which the league will set up physical education programs for inmates in juvenile jails. Right now there isn’t a lot of physical education in the prisons so the inmates aren’t getting enough exercise. Some prisons have set up a basketball program for inmates called the Mandela program and it has led to improvements in the population. I see it as a positive; they’re already being punished by being locked up so they need to develop better skills they didn’t get in school or at home for many reasons. And why not learn how to ball? They already got a gym, might as well add a hoop am I right? So I see a positive out of this, and if somehow an inmate becomes a star player in the WKBL, then…alright now that…that would make a good 30 for 30 documentary. Here’s my title: From the courthouse to the court. *joke sting*
Go over the East Asian Super League and Korean teams playing in it.
And now we must talk about the East Asian Super League. They used to handle pre-season tournaments but ever since 2023 they’ve had a kind of champions league, with 2 spots for the KBL champion and runnerup, which this season was the Knights. Recently they added teams from Mongolia and Taipei and Hong Kong. Perhaps they’ll add Vietnam or Guam in the future? The KBL is beginning to take the EASL more seriously here, with Chiba beating SK in the first EASL season championship. In some articles some team officials talked about how the KBL rules hamstring their bench when playing against EASL opponents. This season the games will be on JTBC and streaming site SOOP. Are these games worth a watch? If you’re a hoop head then any basketball can be good basketball. I like LG so I’m going to watch them play from time to time, mainly because I don’t want to get a TVing subscription and SOOP is free. Cheapness is in the Korean constitution under…article 4? Yeah, article 4! Right after that unimportant bit called…the military regulations *joke sting*.
Checking a blog
There is a Twitter X user called 알럽바스켓공 that follows the KBL in English. You should check him out if you use the site more often than I do. I’m more on BlueSky than X these days. Anyway, he had two stories this week which caught my attention. First is about Carl Tamayo from Japan playing for LG. This is the last year of his contract and speculation is that he’ll go to the B League in Japan. LG is still competitive so things get interesting if they win again. Would you stay and go for a 3 peat? Or would you say; that’s enough for me here and I’ll take more money in Japan? The second is about the Knights Jameel Warney the number 1 scorer in the league going down with a calf injury. The team has been struggling and this is not the kind of news they need, especially with EASL games on the horizon.
GOTW: Tonight all eyes will probably be on Daejeon stadium as Hanwha meets LG in Game 5 at 630PM. If Hanwha somehow wins it’ll go back to Jamsil on Sunday and Monday. Another important game is football with Jeonnam Dragons vs Seongnam in Gwangyang on Sunday at 2pm. If Seongnam wants to make it to the playoffs they need to win this game. If the Dragons want pole position in the playoffs, they need to win this game to keep pace with Bucheon. So that’s the pick for the footie fans this weekend. Gyeongnam vs Seoul E-Land is also important for playoff positioning. Speaking of Seoul, the first round of the Women’s K-League will be tomorrow at 2pm with the Seoul Amazones hosting Incheon Red Angels at Seoul World Cup bo-jo field. Whoever wins plays Hwacheon in the 2 round playoff derby for the title! In the K3 we’ve got Pocheon vs Gimhae on Sunday at 2pm. Now, Gimhae 2008 FC is already keyed to get into the K2 so they don’t have much to play for but if they lose and Siheung City wins they would be tied for 1st place with only a few games left in the season. It would be a bit embarrassing for both K3 teams to not even win their league but get promoted regardless. Hey what can I say? Money talks loudly here. In basketball since that was the point of today’s episode but I got sidetracked, I’ll suggest Goyang Sono vs Changwon LG Sakers in Goyang at 2pm on Saturday. LG got beat by New Taipei in the EASL and they’ll want someone to get their groove back on. Also it’s cold outside you’ll probably wanna be indoors anyway. But if you like the cold, we also have ice hockey with Yonsei hosting Goryeo at 6pm tonight. Yonsei is destroying every team by 5 goals a game but who knows what will happen?
Worst Persons: Update edition! I don’t have any new winners but some things came up with the old one that we can talk about. Though I feel like the Hanwha coach deserves a Plutonium award for that bullpen mismanagement in Thursday’s game.
The first nap award update is about the KFA being Criticized for Rising Referee Errors, Lack of Transparency. According to reports in Osen and the Chosen Ilbo, the K League incorrect calls surge to 79 this season, up from 28. They only play like 38 times so that’s about 1 major goof a game day. You know it’s bad when the local media is praising the Chinese Football Association for how well they have managed problems with refs and their transparency in their decisions. No, the pigs are not flying, and yes this is the same league with the gambling problems. That’s how bad the issue with the refs has gotten. Things are so tense that Moon Jin-hee the KFA Referee Committee Chairperson, was summoned as a witness for the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee audit on Monday 27th. When even the parliament needs to take time out of trade negotiations to deal with it, then it’s bad y’all.
A followup from the radon award is about the French sports media criticising Lee Kang-In for winning the AFC award. So we’ve got the Chinese media attacking and now it’s France’s turn to get in licks. According to reports in the Chosun Ilbo, Lee Kang-in edged out Iran’s Mehdi Taremi and Japan’s Takefusa Kubo to claim the honor. They also said Lee Kang-in was a backup player for PSG last season and did not significantly contribute to the team’s success. Despite this, he received the award as Asia’s best player. Although PSG had an excellent season, Lee performed very averagely,”. But the key part of the award is that it’s supposed to go to Asian players and he quote objectively unquote had the most success as defined by the AFC. So, it’s not quite racial discrimination like the Chosun Ilbo and Osen are claiming but maybe a misunderstanding of the rules of the award. Now if the sports papers say he sucks and should be banned from the league, then we’re in a bad place but not today.
An update from the Plutonium award as well today. Chungnam Asan FC gets a license to stay in K2 but needs to pay its players before the end of the year as reported in Osen and Chosun Ilbo. If not, the players become free agents and the committee will get to reconsider the team’s license. But city hall and the province are
*breaking glass sound* We have some breaking news! The news literally broke last night! And now my screen’s cracked *joke sting*. Asan city will provide 2.7 billion won to the team to cover the missing wages, which should keep the team solvent until December. After that the provincial government will need to step in along with any remaining businesses to keep the team financially stable.
And more breaking news from the realm of football! The K League has lifted the recruiting limit on foreign players for all teams! If you want a team of 11 Brazilians, well now you can! Whether or not they’ll be any good is hard to say, but you can only play 5 on the field per team at one time, which is up from the current 4. K2 will also allow 4 foreign players on the field per team. The main reason for this is to make the teams more competitive against AFC and other international team competitions. I think some of this was due to Ulsan getting cooked at the club world cup and Gwangju getting smooshed against the Saudi team. Some are worried about Korean players not getting enough reps, but I feel like that can be solved with reserve teams and much more clever player loans. Please Jeonbuk! Loan some of your players to the San Jose Earthquakes! We need anyone you can send us!
Also in K2 Incheon has won the trophy and will be returning to K1. I bet those Incheon fans are happy considering how upset they were last year. Capital area derbys are back on the menu boys *cowboy yee haw* oh wait they played Seoul E-Land, so technically they never went away. Anyway, in last week’s podcast I said they would play the automatic relegation loser, but that was a misspeak on my part. My tongue gets twisted a few times too *joke sting*.
CPK Avenir Also some funny breaking news. There is a team in Laos called Champasak Avenir FC that’s run by a Korean company that lets fans vote for the starting 11, and I guess the voter that picks the correct lineup gets some kinda award. Y’know what will happen if that system comes to the K-league. Enemy fans would log in to vote and pick Sesame Street characters to be the starting 11. I think my K2 team would lean into it and give everyone character names. It would freak out the betters though. “I’m betting on number 15… who’s now Big Bird. Hummm BIG BIRDDDD?! Oh my gawd! Grover scored 2 goals against Gyeongnam FC! What am I reading right now?! Sports or fan fiction??” *joke sting*
Ending:
Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean Sports because if you didn’t you set the sleep timer too soon *joke sting*. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because trust me they need every ounce of help we can pour on them. If you don’t believe me, spend 5 minutes on Living in Korea subreddit *Joke sting*. If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com or our Facebook page and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to our cycling expert James! A shoutout to our listeners in Quito Ecuador, home of 20 different football teams and 1 basketball team. So you know what they like, no bones about that! And here I was hoping for an ice hockey team *disappointed sound*. Ah well, nothing is as perfect as my show *laughter sound* Next episode will be November 14th and we’re talking about shooting ranges in South Korea. Git yer six shooters ready! Until next time, Korean Sports fans!
Guests of the Hwa-Ting Sports podcast get plastic surgery at Goddess Giddy, the only 5-star clinic in the Sa-chon area! Tired of your husband looking at teenage girls walking by with their blemish-free faces? Now you too can have blemish-free skin! With their patent-pending ablative sandblower skin care machine, they will treat your face like concrete and sandblast the moles and acne pits off your skin forever! (Fast voice) Not responsible for the loss of any ocular equipment, not covered by any insurance company from the western hemisphere.
Notes
https://share.google/6hFxFpWMrkIsXVO5h
https://www.easl.basketball/news/easl-announces-2025-26-season-broadcast-streaming-partners
WKBL Opening match- first time with 2 female head coaches.
Lee Kang-in Wins AFC Award Amid French Media Criticism
https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20251030038300063?input=1195m
Chungnam Asan FC Conditional License Over Wage Arrears
K League lifts limit on foreign players | Yonhap News Agency
The Korean Basketball League (KBL) is reportedly considering introducing a time restriction for Asian Quota Players beginning with the 2026-27 season.
According to South Korean basketball blogger @baekpd1983, the proposed rule would limit Asian imports to 30 minutes of action per game, with only one quarter of full play allowed. Some officials have even suggested requiring a mandatory 10-minute break to further ensure domestic player participation.
“This can be seen as a rule revision to further increase the participation of local players,” the blogger wrote, adding that the KBL secretariat also views the measure as a way to reduce what it sees as an inflated market for Korean athletes, with some players reportedly earning salaries disproportionate to their production.
The Asian Quota system was first introduced in the 2020-21 season to expand the league’s talent pool, allowing teams to sign one additional Asian player, particularly from the Philippines and Japan. Since then, Filipino standouts such as Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, Ethan Alvano, JD Cagulangan, RJ Abarrientos, Rhenz Abando, and SJ Belangel have made a strong impact in Korea’s professional circuit.
While no official decision has been announced, the proposed rule change is expected to be a key topic of discussion leading up to the 2026-27 season. -Fastbreak