South Korean basketball player (born 1987)
Lee Jung-hyun
(born March 3, 1987) is a South Korean professional
basketball
player for
Jeonju KCC Egis
in the
Korean Basketball League
and the
South Korean national team
.
[1]
Early life
[
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]
Lee played baseball and football throughout elementary school. A promising football prospect, he had considered becoming a professional football player.
[2]
He started playing basketball in sixth grade when his elementary school decided to start a basketball team and a classmate recruited him to join the team since he already had an athletic background. As a student at
Gwangju High School
he gained the attention of college recruiters for his shooting skills.
[2]
Career
[
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]
College
[
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]
Lee played college basketball for
Yonsei University
. He was largely unnoticed during his freshman year due to the presence of
Kim Tae-sul
and
Yang Hee-jong
, both in their senior season. During his senior year he was Yonsei's leader in points, assists and rebounds and led the team to the final of the National Basketball Festival (the main collegiate competition at that time) for the first time in five years.
[3]
[4]
Professional
[
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]
Anyang KT&G / Anyang KGC (2010?2017)
[
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]
In the 2010
KBL
rookie draft, Lee was drafted by
Busan KT Sonicboom
second overall and then traded to
Anyang KT&G
in a player exchange.
[5]
Although he scored 19 points and impressed in his debut, he spent his first two seasons as the
sixth man
and went on to the win the Sixth Man Award at the 2011-12 KBL awards ceremony.
[2]
[6]
He enlisted for
mandatory military service
in April 2013 and joined the
Sangmu team
after completing basic training. He was discharged in January 2015, returning to the team roster immediately.
[7]
[8]
During the 2015-16 season Lee was a mainstay of the Anyang team which reached the semi-finals of the play-offs, especially in clutch situations.
[9]
He was the only Anyang player voted into the
KBL Best 5
that season.
[10]
Lee was part of the Anyang team which won a rare "double" during the 2016-17 season, winning both the regular season as well as the KBL Championship. The top-scoring domestic player that season, he was nominated for the
KBL Most Valuable Player Award
(MVP) award but lost to teammate
Oh Se-keun
.
[11]
[12]
Despite his stellar record, Lee instead became better known for an incident during the playoffs, when Anyang KGC met
Seoul Samsung Thunders
in the finals. During Game 2, he elbowed Thunders shooting guard Lee Gwan-hee, his former Yonsei teammate, in the neck while defending him and latter forcefully pushed him down on the ground as retaliation. Both were disciplined and fined for unsporting behavior, with Lee Jung-hyun whistled for a foul and Lee Gwan-hee being ejected for an
unsportsmanlike foul
and suspended for the next game.
[13]
As a result, he was booed by irate Thunders fans throughout Game 3 and failed to replicate his form, only scoring 9 points.
[14]
Jeonju KCC Egis (2017?2022)
[
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]
After his contract with Anyang KGC ended, Lee became a free agent and joined
Jeonju KCC Egis
for the 2017-18 season. In December 2017, he reached a milestone of appearing in his 300th consecutive KBL-sanctioned "A" match (professional match).
[15]
He was voted KBL Most Valuable Player of the 2018-19 season as he led the league in points scored, averaging 17.2 points, among domestic players.
[16]
[17]
His win made him the first Jeonju KCC Egis player in 20 years to win MVP and only the second MVP winner not from a Championship-winning team or league top-three team since the KBL was established.
[12]
In December 2019, he was nominated for and won the Male Basketball Player of the Year, voted for by league coaches and his KBL peers, at the annual
Dong-a
Sports Awards honoring domestic professional athletes across all disciplines.
[18]
Lee was a key player in KCC winning the 2020-21 regular season and reaching the finals of the play-offs, losing the KBL Championship title to his former team Anyang KGC.
[19]
However, he also became a controversial figure when the KBL released a list of players who were caught "
flopping
" (faking
fouls
) that season and his name was at the top of the list.
[20]
Lee's appearance record has extended into the 2021-22 season.
[18]
[21]
in December, he reached the record of playing in 500 consecutive KBL-sanctioned "A" games.
[22]
[23]
National team
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]
Lee participated in the
2017 FIBA Asia Cup
.
[24]
However, his form during the group stage was inconsistent. In South Korea's opening Group C game against hosts Lebanon, Lee failed to score all five attempted three-pointers and his and shooting guard
Heo Ung
's lackluster performance around the perimeter were specifically pointed out as a major cause for South Korea's shock loss to the host nation.
[25]
He bounced back to score 19 points in the next game, a win against Kazakhstan.
[26]
For the next few games, his assist tally increased as he was switched into a combo guard role rather than a forward-shooting guard swingman.
Lee was in the final 12-man squad and named captain for the
2019 FIBA World Cup
.
[27]
[2]
[28]
In their opening Group B game against fifth-ranked Argentina, he scored 15 points, the only South Korean player other than
Ra Gun-ah
to score in the double digits.
[29]
He was injured in the game against China and was forced to sit out of their last game of the tournament, against the Ivory Coast.
[30]
Controversy
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]
Lee's otherwise stellar 2016?17 season was marred by his infamous confrontation with Lee Gwan-hee during the playoffs. It has been speculated that both players, who are not usually known for such physical confrontations on the court, had already been on bad terms since their university days but both players and other fellow Yonsei alumni have declined to further elaborate on the matter.
[31]
Ever since the incident, any games in which the two players meet has received more attention from the media and fans.
[32]
[31]
Their alleged "feud" has been indirectly referenced numerous times during "draft day" for the annual All-Star Game, with fellow players and coaches noting that they should not be placed in the same team.
[33]
[34]
After departing Anyang KGC, Lee gained the moniker
eu-ak-sae
(
으악새
), which is the Korean equivalent of the
onomatopoeia
"Whoops!", from the media and fans due to his "
flopping
" (faking fouls).
[35]
In the 2020?21 season alone, he tallied eleven fake fouls, the most of any domestic player and nearly twice as many as the second-placed
Lee Dae-sung
.
[20]
[36]
[37]
Personal life
[
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]
Lee is a fan of his hometown baseball team
Kia Tigers
and has been spotted attending their games during his off-season.
[18]
[2]
Since 2019, Lee has been occasionally referred to as "big Lee Jung-hyun" (
큰 정현
) by other players and in the media due to another younger player having the exact same name being called up to the senior national team for the same game.
[38]
[39]
"Small Lee Jung-hyun" (
작은 정현
) is also an alumnus of
Yonsei University
and was drafted by
Goyang Orion Orions
in the 2021 rookie draft.
[40]
Although their names are spelled the same in
Hangul
, their given names are written differently in
Hanja
.
[38]
References
[
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]
- ^
FIBA profile
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"[籠球人生 PEOPLE] 努力의 結實, 國家代表 主張 李貞鉉!"
.
Basketball Life (籠球人生)
(in Korean). 2 September 2019.
- ^
"연세대,5年만에 籠球大잔치 決勝에…"
.
Kukmin Ilbo
(in Korean). 27 December 2009.
- ^
"[2009籠球大잔치]<開幕D-2>李貞鉉 '眞價를 보여라'(동영상)"
(in Korean). BasketKorea.com. 15 December 2009.
- ^
"KT&G , 드래프트 1-2順位로 박찬희-李貞鉉 指名(綜合)"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 3 February 2010.
- ^
"식스맨賞 李貞鉉 "李象範 監督님께 感謝드린다"
"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 9 April 2012.
- ^
"이정현·정창영 等 29日 상무 入隊"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 9 April 2013.
- ^
"<프로籠球展望臺> 李貞鉉·정창영 等 常務 轉役 選手들 復歸"
.
Yonhap News Agency
(in Korean). 26 January 2015.
- ^
"에이스 믿은 司令塔, 期待에 副應한 에이스"
(in Korean). BasketKorea.com. 3 March 2016.
- ^
"48 vs 49 颱風 이겨낸 양동근"
.
The Hankyoreh
(in Korean). 22 February 2016.
- ^
"오세근·이정현, 내가 MVP를 받아야 하는 理由"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 14 March 2017.
- ^
a
b
"프로籠球 시즌 MVP 李貞鉉 "2年 前 賞 놓친 게 轉禍爲福"
"
.
JoongAng Ilbo
(in Korean). 20 March 2019.
- ^
"
'揶揄'에 마음苦生...欲心 내려놓은 '人蔘公社 슈터' 李貞鉉"
.
JoongAng Ilbo
(in Korean). 27 April 2017.
- ^
"終結者 양희종, 4쿼터에 뒤집었다"
.
JoongAng Ilbo
(in Korean). 27 April 2017.
- ^
"[記錄] '金剛不壞' 李貞鉉, 300競技 連續 出戰記錄 達成"
.
Jumpball
(in Korean). 26 December 2017.
- ^
"4位팀 KCC 李貞鉉, 프로籠球 MVP 榮譽"
.
The Hankyoreh
(in Korean). 20 March 2019.
- ^
"Lee Jung-Hyun, Rah Gun-A claim MVP awards in KBL while Muharraq rise as Bahrain champions"
.
FIBA
. 26 March 2019.
- ^
a
b
c
"
'KBL의 鐵人' KCC 이정현의 첫 東亞스포츠對象 訪問記"
.
The Dong-a Ilbo
(in Korean). 11 December 2019.
- ^
"이정현 22得點…KCC, 現代모비스 꺾고 先頭 疾走"
.
The Hankyoreh
(in Korean). 3 March 2021.
- ^
a
b
"프로籠球 KCC 李貞鉉, 페이크 파울 10回 個人 最多"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 9 April 2021.
- ^
"KCC 李貞鉉 "'35살 양동근' 보며 刺戟 받아…팀 寄與度 높이는 籠球할 것"
"
.
The Dong-a Ilbo
(in Korean). 26 October 2021.
- ^
"
'金剛不壞' 李貞鉉, 500競技 連續出戰 大記錄 세웠지만…KCC 5連霸"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 25 December 2021.
- ^
"
'500競技 連續' 李貞鉉, KCC 지키는 '最高의 캡틴'
"
.
Jumpball
(in Korean). 25 December 2021.
- ^
2017 FIBA Asia Cup profile
- ^
"[아시아컵] 임동섭 3點 터진 代表팀, 李貞鉉 沈默 아쉬웠다!"
(in Korean). BasketKorea.com. 9 August 2017.
- ^
"
'이정현 19點' 韓國 籠球, 아시아컵 카자흐스탄에 61點差 大勝"
.
JoongAng Ilbo
(in Korean). 11 August 2017.
- ^
"Junghyun Lee 2019 FIBA World Cup profile"
.
FIBA
.
- ^
"國家代表 ? 2019 FIBA 籠球 월드컵"
(in Korean).
Korea Basketball Association
.
- ^
"籠球代表팀 主張 李貞鉉 "實力 車 節減…後半 集中力 아쉽다"
"
.
Yonhap News Agency
(in Korean). 1 September 2019.
- ^
"김상식 監督 "코트디부아르展 9名으로…포기하지 않겠다"
"
.
The Dong-a Ilbo
(in Korean). 8 September 2019.
- ^
a
b
"또 衝突. 브레이크없는 이정현과 이관희, 그들은 왜 和解 못할까"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 6 December 2020.
- ^
"뜨거웠던 이관희VS李貞鉉, 主人公은 김지완…KCC 2連敗 脫出"
.
Jumpball
(in Korean). 2 November 2021.
- ^
"[스포츠타임]'올스타戰 全敗' 허웅의 첫 勝 挑戰… KBL 올스타戰 觀戰포인트 2"
(in Korean).
SPOTV
. 14 January 2022.
- ^
"
'이정현 臺 이관희' KBL 올스타戰 빛낸 찐라이벌戰"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 20 January 2020.
- ^
"籠球 李貞鉉, '으악새' 汚名 벗고 MVP"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 21 March 2019.
- ^
"亦是 '으악새' 李貞鉉"
.
The Dong-a Ilbo
(in Korean). 14 May 2021.
- ^
"[꿈을 만나다] 李貞鉉 "動作 커서 '으악새' 汚名 생겼지만 어린 選手들은 배우면 안 돼"
"
.
Hankook Ilbo
(in Korean). 16 October 2019.
- ^
a
b
"[인터뷰]큰 李貞鉉 "神奇하네"·작은 李貞鉉 "많이 배울게요"
"
.
The Chosun Ilbo
(in Korean). 18 February 2019.
- ^
"
"新人王 競爭요? 3順位 작은정현도 있어요"
"
.
JoongAng Ilbo
(in Korean). 2 November 2021.
- ^
"先輩 李貞鉉 패스, 後輩 李貞鉉 슛~"
.
The Dong-a Ilbo
(in Korean). 30 January 2019.
External links
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