One win, but Marrei’s absence will be long—LG “Injury announcement ready, substitutes on standby”
The absence of Asem Marei, the nucleus of the Changwon LG Power, will be longer than expected. LG has made a decision and is preparing to play without him for the time being.
LG played without Marrei for its home game against Seoul Samsung in the 2023-2024 regular season at Changwon Gymnasium on Saturday. Marrei has been sidelined with a sore knee since the game against Seoul SK on Nov. 9. It was LG’s third game without him since starting the second half of the season after the All-Star break. The team waited for Marei to recover, but decided against it.
Marais suffered a bone bruise in his knee. However, as his condition hasn’t improved, LG is preparing an injury report. On the 26th, an LG team official said, “He has a bruised kneecap and a bone bruise, so he has been resting for some time, but he is still uncomfortable. We decided to have him diagnosed through a KBL-designated hospital on the 29th, as we believe it is better to let him heal and return.”
Once the diagnosis is made and the recovery time is known, LG plans to place Marei on injured reserve and play the season with a substitute player during that time. “We have already decided on a replacement player in consultation with the field,” explained an LG team official.
Dubbed the “Rebounding King,” Marei is the ace in the hole for LG. LG is currently battling hard at the top of the standings. They are in fourth place, 1.5 games behind second-place SK and 0.5 games behind third-place Suwon KT.
In addition to Marei, LG also lost Justin Gutang to a calf injury. “It’s not a serious injury, but we don’t expect him to be able to play in the next game,” LG said.
Despite being without Marei and Gutang, LG got the win. They cruised to a 100-74 victory over last-place Samsung. It was their eighth straight win over Samsung dating back to last season.
Yang Hong-seok led the way with 28 points, including four three-pointers, while foreign player Juan Tello added 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and Lee Kwan-hee had 15 points and four rebounds.
Despite strong performances from Ishmael Lane (19 points, 7 rebounds) and Cha Min-seok (13 points, 6 rebounds), Samsung allowed LG to shoot 14 three-pointers in the loss. Samsung has lost eight straight games.