‘Last place for 10,000 years’ Samsung revolts… ‘Sangjik Magic’ wins 5 consecutive wins in opening professional basketball season

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Ahn Hong-seok = The rise of Seoul Samsung, which was the ‘last place’ club in professional basketball for 10,000 years, is unusual.

Samsung won the away game against Wonju DB in the 2026-2027 KCC professional basketball regular season held at Wonju DB Promy Arena on the 17th, and won its fifth consecutive win since the opening.

Samsung won the opening game for the first time in four seasons against Suwon KT on the 4th, followed by successive defeats of Anyang CheongKwanJang, Goyang Sono, and Changwon LG.

It has been 23 years since Samsung's opening four consecutive wins began in the 2003-2004 season.

In addition, at the media day event held ahead of the season, even DB, who was designated as the top candidate for the championship by each team's head coach, was defeated on this day.

Seven of the nine club coaches excluding DB evaluated DB as a candidate to win this season. Not a single director pointed to Samsung.

As expected, Samsung remained at the bottom of the regular league for five consecutive seasons from the 2021-2022 season to last season. In 270 games during this period, they had 69 wins, 201 losses, and a winning rate of only 25.6%.

There was no particular strength reinforcement in the off-season. There was a power leak as national team center Lee Won-seok and guard Park Seung-jae joined the Sangmu team. In addition, ace guard Lee Dae-seong is rehabbing from an injury.

There was a setback in establishing a foreign team that accounted for '80% of a year's crops.' The contract of newly acquired foreign player Derek Williams was terminated in August, as he said he would go to the Greek league, and Chris McCullough was brought in instead.

Nevertheless, the reason why Samsung has changed is largely due to the establishment of ‘teamwork basketball’ by coach Kim Sang-sik, who took over last July.

Coach Kim, who led Anyang KGC Ginseng Corporation (now CheongKwanJang) to a combined championship in the 2022-2023 season, took office at Samsung in mid-July and led the team for a little over two and a half months.

To make up for the power gap, teamwork and fighting spirit were emphasized, and the players showed a 'fighting' on the court that was completely different from previous years.

Defense is the area that has changed the most in Samsung Basketball. Samsung gave up 83.3 points per game (9th) last season, but allowed only 78.6 points (3rd) in the first five games this season.

Rebounding also improved. The number of rebounds per game increased from 33.3 (8th) last season to 38.6 (2nd) this season.

The backbone became stronger. The old form of collapsing helplessly in the fourth quarter is nowhere to be seen.

Samsung started the fourth quarter against Sono on the 11th, trailing 57-68, but came back to win 82-81. In the game against LG on the 15th, they overturned the double-digit score gap and won 93-86. It was a victory that broke a 9-game losing streak against LG.

The role of the solver is played by Kerem Kanter, a foreigner. Kanter hit a 3-pointer 6 seconds before the end of the game against Sono, and recorded 42 points and 14 rebounds in the game against LG, a personal high.

Domestic players also contribute equally.

Veteran guard Lee Kwan-hee scored 19 points against DB. In the third quarter, which was the deciding factor, they scored 12 points.

Sophomore Lee Gyu-tae scored 18 points, including three 3-pointers, in the Jeongkwanjang match and 16 points in the Sono match, while Han Ho-bin, Hwang Young-chan, and Lee Geun-hwi are also doing their part in the game.

However, the season has just begun. There are concerns about the physical burden of key players as they have a lot of playing time.

On the 21st, Samsung will invite ‘star team’ Busan KCC to its home, Jamsil Student Gymnasium. If they win here, they will tie the club's record of six consecutive wins in an opening.