Three MVP candidates from one team, Park Ji-soo, the winner of the "Great Competition" said, "I really thought I wouldn't get it this time..." [at the WKBL Awards]

*This content was translated by AI.

Park Ji-soo (28, KB Stars), a national treasure center, won his fifth regular league MVP in his career, rewriting the history of women's professional basketball. Park Ji-soo, who tied for first place with the most awards by active players, is now aiming for the most record (7 times) held by coach Jeong Sun-min.

Park Ji-soo won the MVP, the highest honor, at the BNK Financial Group 2025-2026 Women's Professional Basketball Regular League Awards held at the Grand Ballroom Hall of the Seoul Dragon City Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 6th, winning 53 votes, nearly half of the 119 votes cast by reporters. As a result, Park Ji-soo became the fifth MVP after 2018-2019, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2023-2024.

This MVP competition drew more attention as it spread to an unprecedented family fight. Following Park Ji-soo's lead, guard Huh Ye-eun, a teammate, received 31 votes and forward Kang Yi-seul received 24 votes, ranking second and third side by side.

Immediately after the ceremony, Park Ji-soo said, "Yee-eun strongly appealed that she played in all 30 games, and I thought she would not receive it because she played her role as a shooter," smiling and said, "I told my mother that I emptied my mind because there were three candidates this time, but this moment when three of our team's players competed will remain a more special and fun memory than when they were unanimous two years ago."

For Park Ji-soo, who returned to the domestic stage two years after entering overseas leagues, this season has been a series of patience. He played in 24 regular league games and averaged 16.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 2.6 assists, leading the team to the top of the regular league, but the process was not smooth. Park Ji-soo said, "From the first game, we didn't have enough time to work with the players due to injuries, so every moment was a crisis," adding, "Even if we didn't win the meeting during the season, we wanted to be solid and regain our performance."

It is said that overseas experience helped greatly. Park Ji-soo said, "Overseas coaches took a good look at my shot and gave me faith to throw it with confidence," adding, "This gave me confidence in the outer play, and after returning to Korea, I was able to play anomalous plays between the post and the outer play depending on the opponent team."

He also gave bone advice to juniors who will challenge the new stage, saying, "The most important thing is the confidence, boldness, and love basketball that will not collapse under any circumstances."

Now, Park Ji-soo's eyes are on Hana Bank coach Jeong Seon-min's record of winning the most awards ever. Park Ji-soo said, "If you're a player, it's natural to have a record desire. "When I first joined the team, I was amazed to see (Park) Hye-jin receiving the MVP award, but it's meaningful to be on par with her now. I also want to be a senior who is not ashamed of my juniors," he said.

His postseason determination to win the integrated championship, which is a ground task, was also extraordinary. He did not forget the pain of losing to Woori Bank in the championship match after winning the regular league two years ago, and said, "I thought the opponent was complacent at the time, but this time it is different," adding, "We are preparing for a new anomalous defense and the players' confidence has reached its peak." We will definitely achieve an integrated championship by playing with fun and confidence in this playoff," he stressed.

Meanwhile, at the awards ceremony, KB Stars showed off the power of the winning team by winning a large number of key players such as Kang Yi-seul (Best 5 Forward), Heo Ye-eun (Best 5 Guard), and Song Yoon-ha (Six Women's Award), including Park Ji-soo's MVP, Best 5 Center, and 3 Block Awards (1.71 on average). Woori Bank's Kim Dan-bi swept the Yoon Deok-ju Award, the scoring Award, the rebound award and the best five forwards to win four gold medals.

Hana Bank, ranked second in the regular league, caused a stir for coach Lee Sang-beom to receive the guidance award for the first time as a non-winning team, and Saki Iijima (Asia Quarter Award, All Match), Kim Jong-un (Special Award), and Jinan (Best Player Award) enjoyed the joy of winning the award. In addition, Kim Do-yeon (BNK) won the Rookie of the Year Award, Shin I-seul (Shinhan Bank) won the MIP, and Lee Hae-ran (Samsung Life Insurance) won the Outstanding Defender Award.

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*This content was translated by AI.