Can 3-Point Dunks Save Women’s Hoops?

The Korean Women’s Basketball League (WKBL), which has been in a slump lately, is in the midst of a controversy.

The WKBL has decided to count dunk shots as three-pointers starting from the opening match on January 5 next year. Hundreds of comments are posted on the Internet in response to articles on this topic. Responses vary from “Let’s just watch them bringing about a change” to “Are you saying that only tall foreign players should be hired? Games may be more dull” and “Their attempt to change themselves is welcome. Three-point shots felt strange when they were first introduced.”

This is a big decision made to draw more fans. The league is betting that fans will come to the games to watch the dunk shots. It does not matter that the three-point dunk shot rule goes against the International Basketball Federation regulations. In North Korea, shots made within the last two seconds of the final buzzer are counted as eight-pointers.

There are more people against the new rule, than those for it. The people who oppose it say that it will not have much of an effect. Maria Stepnova (who played for Kookmin Bank at the time) was the only woman to execute a dunk shot during one hundred years of Korean basketball.

Chung Tae-kyun, a commentator on SBS Sports, says, “Michelle Snow (height: 196cm) of Kumho Life Insurance is about the only active player that can pull of a dunk shot. Dunk shots will be very rare even in the future.”

Many people on the Internet also did not think too highly of the new rule. The WKBL decided to allow only domestic players to compete in the league next year and the new rule seems to go against this situation. Some, however, say that the league needs new elements to keep the games exciting.

It is hard to witness dunk shots during women’s games even in the U.S., the home of basketball. The league is trying to think out of the box, but everyone will have to wait to see if it was worth the effort.

why@donga.com