{"id":839181,"date":"2026-09-07T05:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T05:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/839181\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T05:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T05:48:11","slug":"south-korea-sensation-joins-nba-team-in-major-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/839181\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea sensation joins NBA team in major deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hyunjung Lee earns a massive shot to play in the NBA for the upcoming 2026-27 season, leaving Nagasaki Velca of the Japan B.League by signing an Exhibit 10 training camp deal with the Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n<p>South Korean fans are set for major anticipation heading into the next 2026-27 season, as their national sensation earned a golden opportunity to reach the NBA.<\/p>\n<p>Hyunjung Lee, the sharpshooting ace from South Korea, has officially parted ways with Nagasaki Velca to pursue his NBA dream, the Japanese B.League franchise announced in a press release.<\/p>\n<p>Nagasaki expressed full support for Lee after the 25-year-old star agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal to join the Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/a\/status\/2096788043923357721\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">  Hyunjung Lee joins Blazers in a training camp deal <\/p>\n<p>Hyunjung Lee will join the Portland Trail Blazers via a training camp deal, competing for one of the team&#8217;s potential two-way roster spots ahead of the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n<p>The South Korean caught the attention of many as a fan favorite in the San Antonio Spurs&#8217; 2026 Summer League outing, averaging 8.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists across eight games.<\/p>\n<p>Before embracing San Antonio&#8217;s Summer League offer, Lee powered Nagasaki Velca&#8217;s first-ever B.League championship in the previous Japanese basketball season, taking home the Finals MVP honors, a spot in the B.League Season Best 5 (All-League Team), and the Asia Special Award.<\/p>\n<p>He also played for two seasons in Australia, helping the Illawarra Hawks win the 2024-25 NBL title. Lee took a brief playing deal with another B.League team, the Osaka Evessa, in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Hyunjung Lee to fight for a Blazers, NBA roster spot before new season begins <\/p>\n<p>Going to Portland will be a full-circle moment for Hyunjung Lee, as he previously played for the Blazers&#8217; 2024 Summer League team.<\/p>\n<p>He went undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft out of Davidson, but Lee earned a playing shot from the Golden State Warriors&#8217; NBA G League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors, throughout the 2022-23 season.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Lee is taking a prove-it approach to fulfill his ultimate NBA dream. If he makes the cut in the Blazers&#8217; lineup, he will join Yang Hansen to form a rare and compelling Asian duo in Portland.<\/p>\n<p>Before heading to the Blazers&#8217; training camp, Lee will first headline the South Korea men&#8217;s national team in the upcoming 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. He previously starred in the nation&#8217;s split two-game slate during the fourth window of the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers.<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/es\/plus?utm_source=basketnews_com&amp;utm_medium=bn_plus&amp;utm_id=UA-259273-31&amp;utm_campaign=banners_free_content_for_not_members_bottom_2\" class=\"banners_paid_content_info_block_white banners-paid-content-info-block-white\" data-google-interstitial=\"false\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                                                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"bn-plus-img img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788760091_301_bn-plus.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                            Suscr\u00edbete a BN+ y consigue acceso a contenido exclusivo.<\/p>\n<p>                                                            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                                Si te gusta nuestro contenido, por favor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=basketnews.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">haz clic aqu\u00ed<\/a> y a\u00f1\u00e1denos como tu fuente preferida. Nos ayudas mucho y nosotros nos comprometemos a ofrecerte siempre las \u00faltimas noticias de baloncesto.<\/p>\n<p>                                            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hyunjung Lee earns a massive shot to play in the NBA for the upcoming 2026-27 season, leaving Nagasaki&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-839181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}