Lee Myung-kwan,
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Lee Myung-kwan, who became the light and salt of Woori Bank, also dreams of becoming a college athlete success story.
There are often cases where players who have ability but do not shine due to various reasons make a breakthrough through trade. Asan Woori Bank’s forward Lee Myung-gwan (27) is a representative case. As a former college player who said it would be difficult to survive on the professional stage, he is holding on steadfastly and is about to reach a turning point in his basketball career with a new team this season.
Lee Myung-gwan played 29 minutes and 21 seconds in the Woori Bank Woori WON 2023-2024 women's professional basketball game against Incheon Shinhan Bank held at Dowon Gymnasium in Incheon on the 11th, scoring 11 points and 6 rebounds to help the team win 72-52. Contributed to a 20-point victory.
Lee Myung-kwan left Yongin Samsung Life Insurance through a trade ahead of this season and settled at Woori Bank. The resource that Woori Bank gave to Samsung Life Insurance was 185 cm big man Bang Bo-ram. Woori Bank had high hopes for him as a rare big man, but it was difficult to get a chance to play at Woori Bank, which has a strong team of starting players, and eventually sent him to Samsung Life Insurance and in return chose Lee Myung-kwan, who could give the rotation some breathing room.
Lee Myung-kwan, who was barely able to spend the off-season with his teammates due to surgery for plantar fasciitis after the transfer, did not have enough time to blend in with Woori Bank's team colors. Nevertheless, he is performing excellently for a sixth man with 7.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists, even though he only played an average of 26 minutes and 30 seconds in the 10 games since the opening. In particular, he is filling the void of Yoo Seung-hee, who is out for the season due to a ruptured cruciate ligament.
In an interview after the Shinhan Bank match, Lee Myung-kwan said, “I am not greedy because my body condition and balance are not good yet. “He is playing with the mindset of helping the team, focusing on defense and other difficult tasks rather than attack,” he said. “They said it would take three months to recover from surgery after the transfer, but the speed was a little slower. “I wondered if I could really do it because we didn’t work together in the off-season, but it’s amazing to play like this,” he said.
Lee Myung-kwan, who said he was honored to play on the same team as his role model Kim Dan-bi, said that after transferring to Woori Bank, he could not help but be impressed by each and every play of the players. Myunggwan Lee said, “I was playing my first practice game and when I looked around, I saw (Kim) Danbi next to me and (Park) Hyejin on the other side. “I felt like I was watching a celebrity,” he said. “I shouted an exclamation in my mind as I watched him play a passing game. “He made plays that only basketball experts can make,” he explained.
Myung-kwan Lee is a college graduate who is rare in women's professional basketball. Most female professional basketball players, if they have the skills, do not go on to college but enter the professional league immediately after graduating from high school. From the club's perspective, if there is any possibility, it is better to systematically develop professional players at a younger age. Even in the women's professional basketball rookie draft held last September, none of the seven college graduates had their names called.
Although he is a sixth man and not a starting player, the reason Lee Myung-kwan wants to play harder is because he wants people to have hope through him. Myung-kwan Lee said, “I hope that by watching college graduates like me play in the pros, players currently playing in college can have hope that they can also advance to the pros.” He added, “For that to happen, I have to spend this season in good health. “If I follow the path I am taking, a good day will surely come someday,” he said emphatically.
Although he says not yet, it seems that Lee Myung-gwan's utilization will increase for the time being. Park Hye-jin, the spiritual leader of Woori Bank, underwent a thorough examination of her right knee, which was injured in the first quarter of the match against Shinhan Bank, and found that her medial ligament was damaged and she would be unable to play for six weeks. Now there is room for him to go beyond being a sixth man and become a starting player.
