WATCH: Hyun-Jung Lee makes his NBA G-League debut with the Santa Cruz Warriors with 7 points

SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) — South Korean guard Lee Hyun-jung has made his debut in the G League, becoming the fourth player from the country to appear in the second-tier men’s basketball league in the United States.

Lee scored seven points for the Santa Cruz Warriors, while grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out four assists, as they defeated the Austin Spurs 126-105 at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz, California, on Wednesday (local time).

Lee came off the bench with 6:54 left in the opening quarter, and made a three-pointer late in the second quarter for his first G League bucket.

Watch: https://youtube.com/shorts/i736TvoYhc8?feature=share

He went just 2-of-10 from the field in the game, and made just one of five attempts from downtown.

Lee had two turnovers and recorded one steal and one block.

Lee, 22, was not selected in last summer’s NBA draft, which he’d entered after his junior season at Davidson. He suffered a left foot injury during a workout a week before the draft, forcing him to spend the next six months or so in rehab in South Korea.

Lee traveled back to the U.S. in January, hoping to land in the G League and ultimately find his path to the NBA. The Santa Cruz Warriors, an affiliate of the defending NBA champions Golden State Warriors, announced their signing of Lee earlier this week.

Lee is trying to become only the second South Korean to play in the NBA, following former Portland Trail Blazers center Ha Seung-jin.

Lee averaged a career-high 15.8 points and six rebounds per game in the 2021-22 season, en route to making the Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team.

As a sophomore in the 2020-2021 season, Lee became the first Davidson player to post the coveted 50-40-90 shooting numbers: 50.8 percent from the field, 44.2 percent from the three-point range and 90 percent from the free throw line.

According to Lee’s South Korean agency, A2G, the player has fully recovered from his foot injury and he went through conditioning drills for about a month in the U.S. before signing with the Warriors.

“I am so excited and honored to have a chance to be back on the court again,” Lee said through his agency. “I will try to get acclimated to the team system as quickly as I can, and become a player that the team absolutely needs.”

Lee’s mother, Seong Jeong-a, helped South Korea win the silver medal in basketball at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. His father, Lee Yun-hwan, played semi-pro hoops in South Korea in the 1980s and has been a prominent high school coach since retiring as a player in 1991.

The greatest NBA player to come out of Davidson, Stephen Curry, plays for the NBA Warriors.

Source: https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230223008200315