Seoul SK drew anger from fans after a listless performance in its regular-season finale raised questions about whether the team was trying to lose.
On April 8, the final game of the sixth round of the 2025-26 LG Electronics Pro Basketball season was played at Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Arena. SK entered the matchup knowing a win would lock up third place in the regular-season standings, while a loss would drop it to fourth.
As results came in from other arenas, the playoff picture sharpened. KCC lost to DB and Sono lost to KT, fixing the standings among those four teams. SK would face KCC in the six-team playoff with a win, or Sono with a loss.
With SK trailing KCC in the head-to-head series, a string of puzzling plays followed. Late in the fourth quarter, SK’s Lee Min-seo committed a foul that led to free throws, and SK fell behind 63-62.
With about 20 seconds left and the score tied 65-65, Jung Kwan Jang also made an unusual sequence: Kim Se-chang near the halfcourt line appeared to hand the ball to SK, then committed a foul by grabbing an opponent.
SK went to the line with a chance to win by making one free throw, but Kim Myeong-jin missed both. SK then allowed a layup at the other end, with defense that did not appear aggressive. SK lost 67-65, finished fourth and will meet Sono in the six-team playoff.
Fans criticized the game as looking like an “intentional loss.” SK, which finished first in the regular season last year, ended this season’s regular-season schedule under a cloud of controversy.
According to multiple reports, an SK official said, “There was no intention to lose the game on purpose. We did show some disappointing moments at the end, but it wasn’t deliberate.”
The KBL said that because five games were played simultaneously on the final day of the regular season, it would first analyze the SK-Jung Kwan Jang game before making a judgment.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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