DB won the 2023-2024 professional basketball match against Suwon KT held at Wonju Gymnasium on Wednesday, 107-103 after extra time struggle. With 38 wins and 10 losses, DB has secured its seventh regular league championship in its history regardless of the outcome of the remaining matches. In addition, DB won wire-to-wire championship, which has never lost the top spot throughout the season. It was also the first place in the regular league that it achieved in four seasons. DB tied for first place in the 2019-2020 season, when the season ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

DB has confirmed its No. 1 ranking for the first time in 48 regular league games this season. It is the second highest record in KBL history.

Team legend Kim Ju-seong's leadership played a big role. Prior to this season, Kim signed a three-year contract with DB, which he had been serving as a coach last season. Since his first season as a coach, he has demonstrated leadership that he showed as a player, and led DB to No. 1 in the regular league. He is the fifth in his KBL career to rank No. 1 in the regular league in his first year as a coach, following Kim Jin, Moon Kyung-eun, Choo Seung-kyun and Jeon Hee-chul.

The victory is all the more significant given that Kim was a former DB legend. As a player, Kim wore the Wonju TG Sambo uniform, the predecessor of the DB, as his No. 1 pick in the 2002 rookie draft. From his professional debut until his retirement in 2018, he played for only one team for 16 seasons. As a player, Kim won five regular season titles and three championships in the championship. He also won two MVP awards in the regular season and playoffs. He was a basketball legend representing KBL beyond the DB team. He is the only player in the history of professional basketball to score 10,000 points and 1,000 blocks. He made history even as a coach.

Coach Kim Joo-sung said after the game, "I feel new because I won the championship thanks to the players' hard work. The players led me well. I'm a poor coach, but the players played the season well so that I could learn. I'm grateful."

Legendary coach Kim Ju-seong not only won the regular league title when he was a player but also as a coach. "When I first came to Wonju, I didn't think I would be there for more than 20 years. I didn't even know where Wonju was. However, it became the longest place I have lived in in my life. That's why fans cheered me up and cheered for me," Kim said.

When his team was confirmed to win the regular league title, Kim hugged and shared joy with the players. When asked to compare his performance to that when he was a player, he said, "Both of them are similar. Back then, I liked them by jumping up and down with the players. But I couldn't do that as I became a coach. If I win the combined title, I want to jump up and down. I'm even happier that my players led me to a championship that lacked players."

He picked "Captain" Kang Sang-jae as the best player in the regular league. "I think Kang is memorable and good. He broke away from his personality as captain and led his seniors and juniors well even though he was in the middle of the age, so he came all the way here," Kim Joo-sung said. "He has skills, and I feel proud that he is in full bloom this year."

Actually, DB had the biggest crisis. It happened before the opening of the season, not in the middle of the season. At the Gunsan Cup, DB had disappointing results. "The Gunsan Cup was the biggest turning point. Honestly, I thought I was preparing for it in my own way, but I had a very disappointing game at the cup. When I got back to the bus, I was like, "What should I do with the players?" I was so angry that I wondered what I should do with the club. The next day, I had video meetings for as long as five hours. I said, "There is only a week left, but I will do intensive training," and several days of training became the turning point."

"For us, more than 50 games were always a crisis and a worry," Kim said. "I told them to do their best," like gaslighting every game, but they tried to overcome whether they knew how I felt. Thank you."

In the game, Didric Lawson scored 47 points to lead the DB to come from behind. Manager Kim Joo-sung said, "He is such a good player that words cannot describe him. He is a high-quality player who tries to contribute in other areas even if there are areas where he falls. Thanks to Lawson, we are maintaining well. Big presence."

In this season, DB will seek to sweep the MVP in the regular season. Lawson aims to become MVP as well as foreign players, and Korean players such as Kang Sang-jae and Lee Sun-bano. "I think Lawson should win MVP, and Albano has grown a lot more than last season. He has grown defensively. Kang is also No. 1 contributing to Korean players. I think his statistics are beyond belief."

"Rawson's knee is not good. If I play a game, I think I have to take a break or two games," he explained.

Kim also thanked coach Han Sang-min and coach Lee Kwang-jae. "I'm having fun communicating with them," Kim said. "I can't do everything by myself. There are things I don't see, but the coaches are actually doing a lot of things. If there is a game, we prepare together. We are doing it while having fun learning from each other with our passion for basketball."

Coach Kim Ju-seong was at the core of Dongbu Mountain Fortress when he was a player. He came out on top with tremendous defense. When asked to compare the power of the Dongbu Mountain Fortress days with that of the current DB, he said, "Personally, I think our team will do well, but I want to say that the team is all strong in hopes that our players will do better. We used to be defensive basketball, and we won the championship because our offense was weak, but our defense was strong. However, I don't think we can match our current players with 70 to 80 points just by defense. Currently, players score 90 points while their defense is not bad. Because they play fast basketball, their opponents are also scoring a lot of points by playing fast basketball. I think the current players will do well."

As for the team he wants to meet in the playoffs, he said, "It's hard to meet any team. We are always in a crisis. There has been no single win over the top team. We are in a fog under the current circumstances. We need to keep a close eye on the remaining games."

[스포츠토토](https://www.totositenet.com/)