The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 17, he led Samil Commercial High School to the National Sports Festival boys’ title. In its Dec. 31 New Year special, Munhwa Ilbo wrote that the basketball world’s attention in 2003 would be on Ha Seung-jin.
In 2003, he confirmed he would attend Yonsei University and was picked for the senior national team as a high school student. In November he made his senior-level debut at the Korean Basketball Festival, and in December he signed an agent contract with SFX in the United States. In 2004, he applied for early entry to the NBA draft and in June was picked by Portland in the second round, 46th overall. Newsis reported he was the first among Korean players to be drafted.
On Jan. 8, 2005, he played in an NBA regular-season game for the first time, against Miami. In 2006, he was traded to Milwaukee.
In 2008, he joined KCC as the first overall pick in the KBL draft. In 2009, he won the finals title with KCC and the Rookie of the Year award. In 2011, he won a second title.
In 2012, he married. In 2014, ahead of his release from public service, he joined the men’s national team. In 2019, he announced his retirement and opened a YouTube channel about a month later. In 2020, he was confirmed for MBC’s Kkirikkiri.
In 2023, he appeared in Wavve’s Blood Game 2. In 2026, he appeared on JTBC’s Yes Man in January, announced a pro wrestling appearance in March and took part in Blood Game X in July. In September, Jumpball reported that he would join MBC’s Asian Games basketball coverage.
Ha Seung-jin (born Aug 4, 1985) became known on Nov 15, 2002, the year he turned 17, when he led Samil Commercial High School to the National Sports Festival title. On Jun 25, 2004, the year he turned 19, he was picked by Portland in the NBA draft.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.