Seven years have passed, but the two still embraced warmly.
Yonsei University Sinchon Campus Gymnasium after the 2016 University League Championship Game 2. As the Yonsei University players congratulated themselves for winning the first championship since the college league was launched, a man headed to the Korea University bench. And he ended his last college game with a hot hug.
Choi Jun-yong and Lee Jong-hyun were highly anticipated players to the extent that they were nominated in the 1st and 2nd overall picks side by side in the 2016 KBL rookie draft. After achieving national domination at Kyungbok High School, they entered Yonsei University and Korea University, respectively, and competed for the top of the university.
However, after going pro, Choi Jun-yong and Lee Jong-hyun’s fates were mixed. Choi Jun-yong overcame frequent injuries and growing pains and eventually became the best player in KBL, but Lee Jong-hyun fell to the ‘injury demon’ and lost all his past skills. The two players should have competed together towards the top, but the reality was cold. 스포츠토토
Such Choi Jun-yong and Lee Jong-hyun stood on the same court for the first time in a long time. Seoul SK and Goyang Carrot met after 471 days at Jamsil Student Gymnasium, where the 2022-23 season KBL 4th round confrontation was held.
It has been 471 days since October 9, 2021, when Choi Jun-yong and Lee Jong-hyun stood together on one court. After the 1st round of the 2021-22 season, we met in the 4th round of the 2022-23 season. In the second round of the 2021-22 season, both players were included in the entry, but Lee Jong-hyun did not participate and the meeting on the court did not take place.
After the game, which ended with SK winning 82-80, Choi Jun-yong posted a picture of him hugging Lee Jong-hyun on his social media, tagging Kang Sang-jae and saying, “I can’t even remember how long it has been since we met on the court. I missed you, don’t get hurt and let’s do well. Let’s be happy.”
If you are a basketball fan who remembers that moment 7 years ago, it is a picture that will make you cry. Also, it was a more meaningful photo as it seemed to revisit Choi Jun-yong and Lee Jong-hyun of those days when they were treasures of Korean basketball.
Time passed, but the friendship between Choi Jun-yong and Lee Jong-hyun was eternal. And it was a moment when I was able to forget for a while the cruelty of the pro world where only winners and losers remain. The two kept another memory like that.
