by sportswriters Li Bowen, Cao Yibo, Yue Chenxing
NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The final buzzer sounded and the scoreboard read 67-57. South Korea's players poured off the bench and crumpled into one another at midcourt. Lee Hyun-jung stood among his teammates, and the tears came before he could stop them.
"I always seem to cry when I win a championship. The feeling of winning is so wonderful, and I think that is why the tears came. I also know how hard my teammates fought for this gold medal," Lee said after the game.
Lee had played nearly the entire final against host Japan, shooting 8 for 12 from the floor and 5 of 8 from three-point range. He finished with 27 points, 18 rebounds, three assists the whole game.
The teams were tied 28-28 at the break. In the fourth quarter, Lee kept rising to hit, stretched the lead to 13 and snuffed out Japan's last run. South Korea had its first Asian Games men's basketball gold in 12 years.
"I'm unbelievably happy. More than anything, I'm extremely grateful to my teammates," Lee said afterward.
The medal carried weight beyond the podium. South Korea's conscription law requires able-bodied men to serve roughly 18 months in the military. Winning a gold medal at an Asian Games is one of the few ways of achieving an exemption. At 25, Lee had played this final with his career clock on the line. 18 months away from top-level competition would have ruined any chance he has left of reaching the NBA.
That is a dream he has chased for years.
Born on October 23, 2000, in Seongnam, Lee grew up inside a basketball-playing family. His mother, Sung Jung-a, took a silver medal while representing South Korea at the 1984 Olympic Games. His father, Lee Yoon-hwan, played semi-professionally before becoming a high school athletic director and coach. His older sister, Lee Ri-na, played for South Korea's under-16 national team.
Lee did not take the red carpet laid out at home. He moved alone at 17 to the NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia, played for the BA Centre of Excellence and learned English at Lake Ginninderra Secondary College. From there he committed to Davidson, the small North Carolina school where Steph Curry played, choosing the Wildcats over an offer from Washington State.
At Davidson, Lee became the fourth South Korean to reach NCAA Division I. He averaged 8.4 points as a reserve freshman in 2019-20 and made the Atlantic 10 all-rookie team. As a sophomore he started every game and became the first player in program history to shoot at least 50 percent overall, 40 percent from three and 90 percent from the free throw line in the same season. As a junior he averaged 15.8 points and 6.0 rebounds, scored a career-high 32 against Charlotte and was named first-team All-Atlantic 10.
Then came the fall. A foot injury kept him from the NBA scouting combine. A prospect once viewed as a late second-round talent went undrafted in 2022.
He kept going. He joined the Santa Cruz Warriors of the G League in February 2023, averaged 5.5 points in 12 games and played for the Philadelphia 76ers in that year's Summer League. When it did not lead to a roster spot, he signed with the Illawarra Hawks of Australia's National Basketball League and helped them win the 2025 NBL championship.
That July, Lee signed with the Nagasaki Velca in Japan's B. League. He helped the team win that year's championship and was named MVP, making him the first South Korean to earn that honor in the B. League.
This summer he returned to the NBA circuit for his third Summer League, this time with the San Antonio Spurs, and the Portland Trail Blazers later gave him an Exhibit 10 training-camp deal.
Lee thought of his national team coach, Nikolajs Mazurs, while he wept on the Nagoya floor. The coach, alone in a foreign country, reminded him of his own younger self, the teenager who had left for Canberra with no support staff, no family nearby, no guarantee.
Mazurs arrived under anything but certainty. The 45-year-old Latvian was hired in December 2025. Before the Asian Games, South Korea had lost more games than it had won under him, including two straight warm-up defeats to Japan, and doubt followed the team into the tournament.
"A lot of people said that it would be difficult for us to win the gold medal," Lee said. "But under our coach's system, we worked hard to become more coordinated as a team. We did not allow ourselves to become discouraged by outside opinions. I think the fact that we stayed focused on one another and developed our chemistry led to this result."
"Despite everything, he did not become discouraged. He adapted well to us, and we managed to win the gold medal together. I am extremely grateful to him, and maybe thinking about the coach was one of the main reasons I cried so much," Lee added.
South Korea did not win this with Lee alone. Lee Jung-hyun added 14 points and seven assists beside him. Much of Lee's work was more than his three-pointers, 18 rebounds, many snatched over Japan's bigger frontcourt for second shots. A wing who built his reputation as a shooter had played like a center on the glass when it mattered most.
"I kept thinking the same thing: if I had an opportunity, I would take the shot, and I had to run one more step and make one more effort for my teammates. That was all I was thinking about," Lee said. ■
