South Korea’s national basketball team won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, defeating the tournament hosts, Japan, 67:57 in the final. Forward Lee Hyun-jung scored 27 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. This is the South Korean men’s national basketball team’s first Asian Games gold since 2014.
Forward’s statistics
According to the Korea Herald, the 25-year-old Lee scored 144 points, made 25 three-pointers and recorded 14 steals in six tournament games. The 202 cm forward also tied the competition leaders in rebounds with 58.
Lee made 52% of his field-goal attempts, 47% of his three-point attempts and 84% of his free throws. Team captain Lee Seung-hyun said it was an honor for him to play for the national team alongside a talented and humble basketball player, and called Lee Hyun-jung a candidate for the role of future captain.
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Military service and career
Thanks to the gold medal, Lee received an exemption from mandatory military service, which will allow him to continue playing for the national team and pursue his professional career without interruption. His mother, former center Sung Jung-a, also won the Asian Games: she claimed gold with South Korea’s women’s national team in Beijing in 1990.
Lee attended Davidson College, where in his sophomore season he recorded 50.8% field-goal shooting, 44.2% three-point shooting and 90% free-throw shooting. In 2022, he entered the NBA draft but suffered a foot injury a few days before it. After that, the basketball player played in Australia and Japan, and also had a brief stint in the G League.
This summer, he played for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Summer League, attended minicamps with the Boston Celtics and New Orleans Pelicans, and signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Portland Trail Blazers before the Asian Games.
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