Kang Sang-jae (born 31 December 1994) is a South Korean professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He began his career with the

Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League () or simply KBL is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular s ...

side

Incheon Electroland Elephants The Daegu KOGAS Pegasus () is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League (KBL). Founded in 1994, the team has been playing in the KBL since the inaugurate 1997 season. Since 2021, the club is based at Daegu Gymnasium in Daegu ...

and is now playing for

Wonju DB Promy The Wonju DB Promy is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League (KBL), located in the city of Wonju. From its founding in 1996, the team has always been based in its home province of Gangwon. It has the rare distinction of b ...

. and the

South Korea national team South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

Early years

A native of

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

, Kang had been taller than most of his peers as a child and was thus drawn to basketball. He moved to Seoul for high school and attended

Hongik University High School Hongik University College of Education Affiliated High School (), commonly known as Hongik University High School (), is a high school for boys in Seongbuk District, Seoul, South Korea. It is part of a system of schools affiliated with Hongik Unive ...

. With attention focused on Seoul's traditional powerhouses

Yongsan Yongsan District (, ) is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. It has a population of 231,685 (2020) and has a geographic area of , and is divided into 19 '' dong'' (administrative neighborhoods). Yongsan is located near Downtown Seoul, ...

and

Kyungbock High School Kyungbock High School () is one of the oldest modern secondary school in South Korea. It is located in Jongno-gu, Seoul, near Gyeongbok Palace, after which it is named. It was established on April 18, 1921. The school's original name was the No. 2 ...

s, he mostly flew under the radar until the fall 2012 championships, during which he led his high school to win the South Division title and was named tournament MVP.

Career

College

Kang played college basketball for

Korea University Korea University (KU, ) is a Private university, private research university in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1905 by Yi Yong-ik, Lee Yong-Ik, a prominent official of the Korean Empire, Korea University is among South Korea's oldest List of ...

and was teammates with

Lee Jong-hyun Lee Jong-hyun (born May 15, 1990), also known by his mononym Jonghyun, is a South Korean musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He was the former lead guitarist and vocalist of South Korean rock band CNBLUE. He made his acting debut in an om ...

. He was mostly a substitute player during his freshman year but established himself by his junior year, especially during the Professional-Amateur series, in which collegiate teams play against KBL professional and reserve teams. He and Lee, dubbed the "Twin Towers" because of their height, led Korea University to a surprise win over a Sangmu team composed of experienced KBL players fulfilling their mandatory military service. During his senior year, Korea University were overshadowed by a dominant

Yonsei University Yonsei University () is a Private university, private Christian university, Christian research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Yonsei is one of the three most prestigious universities in the country, part of a group referred to as SK ...

team captained by

Choi Jun-yong Choi Jun-yong (; born April 4, 1994) is a South Korean basketball player for Busan KCC Egis and the South Korean national team. He has previously also played for the Seoul SK Knights. Career High school and college career Choi attended Kyungbo ...

in the collegiate league and competitions but Kang impressed enough to earn a call up to the national team.

Professional

Kang, along with Lee and Choi, was considered one of the "big 3" of the 2016 KBL rookie draft. He was drafted third overall by

. In his first season, he averaged 8.20 points, 4.58 rebounds and 0.96 assists as Incheon reached the semi-finals of the playoffs. He won the KBL Rookie of the Year Award. In the 2017–18 season, he averaged 9.63 points, 5.24 rebounds and 1.19 assists. In his 3rd season there, he averaged 11.62 points 5.64 rebounds and 1.39 assists. Kang enlisted for

mandatory military service Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

in June 2020 and was assigned to the Sangmu team after completing basic training. His contract ended following the 2020-21 season and he became a free agent.

signed him and veteran Park Chan-hee in a trade-off with

Doo Kyung-min Doo Kyung-min (born 22 September 1991) is a South Korean professional basketball player. He plays for Changwon LG Sakers in the Korean Basketball League and for the South Korean national team. Early years Doo enjoyed playing basketball as a chi ...

and announced that Kang would be added to the team roster immediately after his discharge. He was officially discharged on December 1, returning to the team for the remainder of the 2021-22 season.

National team career

Junior teams

Kang participated in the

2013 FIBA Under-19 World Championship The 2013 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Czech: Mistrovství světa FIBA do 19 let 2013) was the 11th edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship contested by the U19 national team ...

, where he averaged 18.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1 assists

Senior team

Kang was named into the squad for the

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 31 August to 15 September 2019. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, b ...

where he averaged 2.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0 assist at the tournament. He was called up to the national team several times while in the military due to injury problems.

Personal life

Kang married his girlfriend in May 2020, weeks before his enlistment.

References

External links

Career Statistics
from the

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kang, Sang-jae 1994 births Living people Daegu KOGAS Pegasus players Wonju DB Promy players South Korean men's basketball players Sportspeople from Daegu 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players Basketball players at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games 21st-century South Korean sportsmen Asian Games bronze medalists in basketball Asian Games basketball players for South Korea