The daughter of an Asian Games 스포츠토토 gold medal-winning mother has been selected No. 1 overall by KB.
KB called the name of forward Ko Hyun-ji (Supia Girls High School) first with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023-2024 Korean Women’s Basketball League (WKBL) Draft on Thursday at Cheongju Gymnasium in Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea.
KB exercised its right to the No. 1 pick in the lottery for the first time in four years after the 2019-2020 season. KB won the No. 1 pick in the 50% chance ranking lottery, which is given to the fifth- and sixth-place teams that missed the playoffs last season. Busan BNK took the second pick.
The 6-foot-5 Ko was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the girls’ high school division of the Wangjung Wangjeon in the 2022 Korea Middle and High School Basketball Weekend League. She also competed at the FIBA U-17 Women’s Basketball World Cup and FIBA U-18 Asian Women’s Basketball Championship.
Ko is the daughter of former Sungshin Women’s University head coach Cho Moon-ju, who represented Korea in the 1980s. Cho played center for KB Kookmin Bank and won a gold medal at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing. It’s the first time a mother and daughter have worn the same uniform for generations.
BNK traded Kim to Bucheon Hana OneQ immediately after the lottery, receiving a first-round pick in the 2023-2024 draft and a first-round pick in the 2025-2026 draft the following year.
In the first round, BNK selected forward Kim Jong-yeon (Hyosung Girls’ High School), followed by Shinhan Bank’s selection of last year’s U-17 World Cup representative guard Heo Yoo-jung (Bundang Business School), Samsung Life’s selection of forward Lee Yena (Cheongju Girls’ High School), BNK’s trade of first-round picks with Hana OneQ for forward Park Da-won (Bundang Business School), and Woori Bank’s selection of center Byun Ha-jung (Bundang Business School).
Meanwhile, Shinhan Bank selected Katie Timmerman (USA), the first foreign national to enter the draft, with the second pick in the second round. Hana OneQ selected forward Shin Tae-hee (Sangju Girls’ High School) with the fifth pick in the second round. A total of 29 players applied for the draft, but one withdrew, 28 participated, and 12 were selected.