“I’ve been thinking of leaving without any regrets when the time comes for me and the team to be good. I decided that now is the time.”

On the 23rd, Yang Hee-jong (39), captain of professional basketball KGC, explained his retirement declaration as follows. The day before, Yang Hee-jong announced through the club, “I have decided to retire at the end of this season토토사이트.” Many fans were puzzled because the contract with KGC had two more years left until the 2024-2025 season, and the captain of the regular league 1st place team announced the timing of his retirement during the season.

Yang Hee-jong, who we met on the 23rd at Anyang Gymnasium, the home stadium of KGC, said, “I didn’t feel much until I announced the time to retire.” I felt it,” he said. On the day he announced his retirement, his wife Kim Sa-ran (35) said that Yang Hui-jong, who was checking cell phone messages in a dark room, would close his eyes to see if he was crying.

Yang Hee-jong, who made his professional debut at KT&G (now KGC) in 2007, is a ‘one-club man’ who only played for this team. From his debut season, he played in all regular league games (54 games) and played an active role as a forward representing the league. In particular, he showed unrivaled performance on defense. He was selected as the defensive 5th girl six times and received one runner-up emergency.

However, in the past two seasons, the number of games played has decreased significantly due to the aftermath of large and small injuries. He only played 28 games in the 2020-2021 season and 29 games in the 2021-2022 season. It is only these two seasons, excluding the 2010-2011 season (played in 8 games), when he joined the team at the end of the season after being discharged from the management, that he did not play more than 40 games. Because of this, there was an evaluation that the ‘aging curve’ (the decline in performance as you get older) began.

Even at the age of 39, as of the 26th, Yang Hee-jong has played in 45 of the team’s 46 games this season, playing an average of 11 minutes. As of this day, the team is leading with 34 wins and 12 losses, 4.5 games ahead of second place LG (28 wins and 15 losses). This is why Yang Hee-jong says that the current situation is ‘a good time for me as well as a good team’.

Team juniors promised to hold the championship trophy to the departing ‘Captain’. Yang Hee-jong, who took over as captain in 2014, has led the team as a ‘locker room leader’ by serving as captain for nine years until this season. Yang Hee-jong said, “I couldn’t inform my juniors of the retirement announcement first, but the juniors who heard the news came all at once and said, ‘I will definitely let you lift the championship trophy.'”

In the meantime, Yang Hee-jong has won three championship matches and one regular league championship. Personally, it is said that winning the 2011-2012 season, when the team reached the top of the championship for the first time since its foundation, is the most memorable. He now said he would “pour everything” to win the team’s fourth and final championship.

KGC decided to hold a retirement ceremony for Yang Hee-jong during the DB match on the 26th of next month, the last home game of the regular season.