‘Special naturalized’ basketball player Laguna (KCC) will be included in the foreign player quota from next season.
The KBL held its 29th Board of Directors meeting at the KBL Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on Sunday, announcing that it has decided to follow the KBL’s foreign player regulations from the 2024-2025 season in relation to specially naturalized player Ragan-ah.
As a result, Ragan-ah, who passed the Ministry of Justice’s special naturalization process in 2018 and received Korean citizenship, 스포츠토토사이트 will continue to play as a foreign player instead of a domestic player.
Although he has played for the Korean national team, he has been classified as a foreign player in the KBL. However, he will now be able to sign and play under the same conditions as other foreign players. When Lagana was a special naturalized player, the team that signed him was allowed to have two foreign players on their roster, including Lagana. However, the salary cap for foreign players was different from other teams, making it difficult to keep both players. According to the KBL salary cap, the total salary limit for two foreign players, excluding Lagunar, was $500,000 (with a maximum of $450,000 for one player).
However, starting next season, when Lagana will be subject to the “foreign player” rule, all clubs will be allowed to have no more than two foreign players, including Lagana, and their combined annual salary cannot exceed $800,000 ($600,000 per player).
Last season, Laguna reportedly earned about 1.3 billion won ($1.3 million) in a four-way contract between his club, the Korean Basketball Association, and the KBL. While there may be additional allowances for the national team depending on negotiations with the federation, if Lagana stays in the KBL for the upcoming season, his base salary will be significantly reduced to a maximum of $600,000 (about $810,000). This raises the possibility of Lagana leaving the KBL.
Lagana’s contract ends at the end of this month. He is eligible to become a free agent and sign with any of the 10 KBL organizations. Born in 1989, Lagunia averaged 15.6 points and 8.4 rebounds in 53 regular-season games last season. In 12 playoff games, he averaged 22 points and 12.3 rebounds to help Busan KCC win the championship.
The KBL also announced that it will expand the number of countries eligible for the Asian Quarter to seven starting with the 2025-2026 season. Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand will be added to the existing two countries of Japan and the Philippines.
The league also changed the draft selection criteria for domestic players. Foreign players who have been registered as members of the Korea Basketball Association for at least five years will be able to apply for the domestic draft. As a result, foreign players who have played in middle, high school, and college basketball for a long period of time, as well as players of mixed nationality, will be able to play in the KBL as domestic players through the draft.
However, they must acquire Korean citizenship before the end of the two seasons of their contract, excluding the contract period after the draft. Failure to acquire Korean citizenship will result in termination of the contract. Korean players who have played at least one season in an overseas league will have their contract compensation and contract period immediately applied without a commitment period.
The voting method for the 2024-2025 season All-Star Game has also been improved to 50 percent fan voting and 50 percent media voting. We’ve also strengthened fan voting eligibility and procedures. Fans under the age of 14 will be able to vote after verifying their family relationship. This is in response to last season’s All-Star Game fan voting, which revealed fraudulent voting by people under 14 who took advantage of the fact that they could sign up for unlimited accounts with one contact.
To protect players, we’ve also created a new process for diagnosing concussions. If a player is suspected to have a concussion based on the initial examination by the medical staff on the field, they will be removed from the game and must submit a hospital certificate to the KBL within 48 hours of the end of the game.
A player diagnosed with a concussion will not be allowed to train or play for at least six days and must undergo another medical examination before returning to play.