Kiana Smith
The Korea Basketball Association has decided to pursue special naturalization of Kiana Smith, who plays for the Yongin Samsung Life Women’s Professional Basketball Team.
The Korea Basketball Association held a Sports Fair Play Committee meeting on the 15th and decided to proceed with Smith’s special naturalization application.
Smith was selected first overall by Samsung Life Insurance in the 2022 Women’s Professional Basketball Rookie Draft and was born in 1999 to a Korean mother and an American father.
In the 2022 WNBA, she averaged 2.6 points, and in the 2023-2024 WKBL, she averaged 9.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists.
She swept the 2023-2024 season Rookie of the Year, Sixth Woman of the Year, and 3-Point Shooting Award.
The Korean Basketball Association said, “After preparing the relevant documents, we plan to request special naturalization recommendation qualifications through the Korea Sports Council’s Sports Fair Committee,” adding, “We will push for him to be able to play as a national team member before the 2026 Asian Games.”
Even after receiving a recommendation from the Korea Sports Council, it is expected that joining the national team will be possible starting in 2025 at the earliest, as approval from the Ministry of Justice must be obtained.
Meanwhile, Ra Gun-ah, who played for the national men’s basketball team until the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, recently transferred to a Chinese professional basketball team.
Chinese sports media Sina Sports reported on the 18th that “Henan Changsha of the Chinese National Basketball League (NBL) officially announced the recruitment of La Jian’a,” and that he could make his NBL debut on that day.
The Korea Basketball Association explained, “We approved Ra Gun-ah’s transfer agreement to the Chinese league earlier this month.”
Ra Gun-ah, a former member of the Korean national team, had his contract with the Korea Basketball Association expire at the end of May.
In the KBL, he was a member of the Busan KCC championship team in the 2023-2024 season, but his contract has ended, so it is unknown whether he will play in the KBL in the 2024-2025 season.
The NBL, which corresponds to the second division of the Chinese professional basketball league, is held as a summer league, so its season does not overlap with that of the KBL. 파워볼사이트
