Samsung on Lee Dae-sung ‘prior contact’ allegations: “He wasn’t a registered KBL player”

The Seoul Samsung team, which has been accused of having ‘prior contact’ with Lee Dae-sung, who returned to South Korean professional basketball after a one-year absence, claimed that there were no clear ‘guidelines’ involved.

Lee Dae-sung, who signed a two-year, 600 million won contract with Samsung on Nov. 21, chose to ‘break through’ the controversy surrounding him by calling a press conference on Nov. 22.

Lee, who boasted of his top-notch performance in the league, including being the top scorer among domestic players for two consecutive seasons, curiously announced a year ago that he was leaving Korea because he wanted more competition, much to the dismay of basketball fans.

He has been very vocal about his disagreements with his former team, Daegu KOGAS, stating that he is “sorry” but “there was no sincere offer,” and referring to the club’s response as “embarrassing” 메이저 토토사이트 seven times.

Another point of interest is whether Lee and Samsung engaged in “prior contact,” which is prohibited by the KBL.

Some suspect that Lee, who is close to Kim Hyo-beom, who became Samsung’s official head coach last month, agreed to join Samsung early on and acted as if he was waiting for an offer from KOGAS.

It is believed that he had already decided to join Samsung before registering with the KBL as a ‘non-contracted’ player to enter the free agency (FA) market.

“When I received the offer (from Samsung), it was actually a situation where (the club) could not make an official offer (until the termination of his contract with Japan’s Shihoshis Mikawa), and I think there was no big problem with opinions and things like that because I was close to coach Kim Hyo-beom, so I was comfortable with it, to the point where I knew it even if I didn’t say it,” Lee said.

“In fact, at the end of the negotiations with Mikawa, my contract had to be terminated before I could do anything, so that’s how it happened,” he added.

As for his relocation, he explained that he and Kim were “on the same page” with the same management company, but it wasn’t until he received an official offer from the club that he began negotiations with Mikawa.

He declined to comment on how much detail he discussed joining Samsung with the commander while having an enemy in Mikawa.

“The exact details of the contract we talked about were negotiated during the free agency period,” said a Samsung representative at the press conference, adding, “We haven’t heard of them saying, ‘Hey, do you want to play for Samsung?’ because they are acquaintances.”

“I think that’s between them. It’s a private relationship,” he said, adding, ‘Honestly, I don’t know exactly what their status is.’

The official asked whether Lee, who played in Japan’s B League, which has a different system from Korea’s, and a different method and duration of free agency negotiations, could be strictly judged by KBL standards for prior contact.

“(Lee Dae-sung) was not a registered player in Korea until now,” the official said, “I don’t know if (what we did) was pre-contact, but we need to confirm that. There should be clear guidelines,” the official said.

“Also, we need to see if unsigned players (like Lee Dae-sung) are subject to the pre-contact ban during the free agency period. An unsigned player is just someone who has been a free agent for a year,” he pointed out.

“Since this is the first case, it should be used as a lesson learned and clearly defined in the new system.”

The KBL announces free agents the day after the end of the playoffs each season. Clubs and players are prohibited from contacting each other for contracts or negotiations until the announcement is made.

However, even if Lee and Kim can prove that they actually talked about joining the league, it’s hard to say how far the league can go in regulating such close “Saddam” exchanges.

KBL said, “We will look into this case and comprehensively review whether there is any violation of regulations.”