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Seoul SK Knights clinch KBL regular season title in record time with victory over Wonju

Published: 17 Mar. 2025, 12:34 Updated: 17 Mar. 2025, 16:34

PAIK JI-HWAN
[email protected]

The Seoul SK Knights celebrate winning the 2024-25 KBL regular season title after a 75-63 victory over Wonju DB Promy at Wonju Gymnasium in Wonju, Gangwon on March 16. [NEWS1]

The Seoul SK Knights secured the 2024-25 KBL regular season title on Sunday after a 75-63 victory over Wonju DB Promy with eight games left to go, becoming the earliest team to win the trophy in KBL history.

The Knights’ win over the defending regular season champions in Wonju, Gangwon, coupled with second-place Changwon LG Sakers’ 90-62 loss to Suwon KT Sonicboom on Sunday, handed the Knights their fourth regular season title.

The title comes in the Knights’ 46th game of the season, one game fewer than Wonju, who set the previous best record in the 2011-12 campaign.

The Knights can now turn their attention to the postseason, which will determine who takes the KBL Championship trophy.

The last time the Knights swept both the league and championship titles was during the 2021-22 season.

The other five teams that will vie for the coveted championship trophy have yet to be determined. In the KBL, the top six teams enter the postseason, which consists of the first and second rounds of playoffs and the championship.

The No. 4 and 5 teams play in the first round of playoffs, with the winning team facing the league champions in the second round. On the other side of the bracket, the No. 3 and No. 6 teams play each other in the first round, with the winner reaching the second round to face the league runners-up.

The two winners of the second-round playoffs will then face each other in the season finale championship.

Reaching the championship would also provide the two finalists with tickets to the East Asia Super League (EASL) — an international league in which multiple teams from across Asia compete annually — next season.

Suwon KT Sonicboom's Heo Hoon shoots during an East Asia Super League game against the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots at Suwon KT Sonicboom Arena in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Oct. 23, 2024. [EASL]

KBL teams that qualify for the 2025-26 EASL will experience the largest edition of the league, which will expand next season. An EASL official told the Korea JoongAng Daily earlier this month that the league will likely include two more teams for a 12-team format starting next campaign.

Only the KBL Championship winners and runners-up qualify for the EASL, while the KBL regular season winners do not.

A host of teams have swept both the league and championship titles in the same season before, but last season was an exception. Busan KCC Egis became the first team to win the championship after finishing the regular season in fifth place.

Egis were able to compete in the 2024-25 EASL thanks to that unprecedented run.

The Knights also reached the 2023-24 KBL postseason after finishing their run in fourth place, but ended their run in the first round of the playoffs to eventual championship winners Egis.

The ongoing regular KBL season will last through April 8, with the postseason tipping off later that month and lasting through May.

As things stand, the Sakers are in second place, with Sonicboom in third, Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus in fourth, Daegu Kogas Pegasus in fifth and Wonju in sixth as of press time Monday.

Reigning champions Egis, meanwhile, sit in eighth place on the 10-team table.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]