The Asian quarter system was introduced in the KBL from the 2020-2021 season to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic professional basketball, expand the global market, foster players, and promote marketing. In the first year of its introduction, the recruitment target was limited to Japanese players, but from the 2022-2023 season, it was expanded to players with Filipino nationality.
From the 2025-2026 season, more diverse Asian quarter players will be available. Through the 29th 7th board meeting on May 17, KBL decided to expand the number of Asian quarter players to a total of seven countries from the 2025-2026 season. Five countries have been added: Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand to Japan and the Philippines.
It is hard to start talking about the Asian quarter without Albano. A dual citizen of the Philippines and the U.S., Albano played in the KBL court as a member of the DB starting from the 2022-2023 season. During the 2022-2023 season, he played in 53 games with 13.3 points, 5.1 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.4 steals, including 1.5 3-pointers for an average of 30 minutes and 30 seconds.
It has been upgraded even further in the 2023-2024 season, which recently ended. During the 2023-2024 season, Albano made remarkable contributions to ranking No. 1 in the regular league with 15.9 points, 6.6 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals, including 1.7 3-pointers for an average of 31 minutes and 47 seconds in all 54 games of the regular league. Based on Korean players, Albano ranked third overall in scoring, second in assists, and fourth in steals. The 3-point shooting success rate was 40.6 percent (91/224). In the entire league, only Yoo Ki-sang (42.4 percent) and Andrew Nicholson (41.0 percent) made more 3-pointers than Albano and displayed better success rates. 에볼루션 바카라사이트
Thanks to this performance, Albano was selected as the MVP of the domestic player, beating his teammate Kang Sang-jae by three votes in the 2023-2024 regular league press corps vote. Albano is the first player who is not a Korean national to win the MVP of a domestic player.
DB, which settled in the semifinals of the playoffs by winning the wire-to-wire title in the regular league. Albano, who led his team’s offense throughout the season, was somewhat disappointed in the playoffs. Albano had 15.0 points, 4.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.3 steals, including 1.3 3-pointers, in an average of 31 minutes and 42 seconds in the four semifinal playoff games against Busan KCC. There is no significant difference in the figures of the record, but the assessment is that it was sluggish due to the nature of the short-term playoff. In particular, the 3-point shooting success rate dropped to 20.8% (5/24), showing signs of being shaken by the opponent’s intensive checks.
However, Albano’s prowess is not in doubt. DB announced his renewal on May 14. With a two-year contract, his annual salary is W342.5 million before tax. Let’s see if Albano can continue to be a strong player in the next season.