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| KEB Hanabank player Hazmon Gwathmey, left, gives a high-five to Isabelle Harrison. / Courtesy of WKBL |
By Chyung Eun-ju
Coaches from the six teams of the Women's Korean Basketball League (WKBL) want to gradually abolish the policy allowing foreign players in the league.
Each team was allowed two foreign players, but only one could play until the league opted for a new policy allowing two foreign players to play simultaneously in the third quarter for the upcoming season.
The revised policy aimed to increase the league's average score.
But some teams were concerned that they would be at a disadvantage if a foreign player was injured or if they had only one foreign player.
Yongin Samsung Blue Minx lost to KB Stars on Nov. 18, without leading scorer Alyssa Thomas, while KB's Damiris Dantas finished with a game high 28 points and 14 rebounds.
"At the coaches meeting, we talked about discarding the policy about foreigners," said KEB Hanabank coach Lee Hwan-woo. "We can give Korean players more opportunity to play and use the budget used for foreign players to expand the base of women's basketball."
"We do not have a Korean ‘big man' because we do not have many good Korean players," said We Seong-woo, a coach form Woori Bank Wibee.
"I think it would be right to diminish the proportion of foreigner players slowly and then abolishing the policy."
An official from the WKBL said how drafting foreign players is expensive and thought that rather investing the money on "children's club or schools to introduce basketball could be better."
The league also expressed concern that the national team did not have much success in the international games such as the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics when they did not qualify to the quarterfinals.
"When you see international competitions we do better when there were no foreign players," said We, who also was head coach for the national team. "When there are foreign players, Koreans seem to rely on them but when there are none, we can try to nurture players to become more self-reliant."
