From the position of LPL Spring 2020 champions and last year’s world championship contenders, JD Gaming has gone through a serious decline, even though there weren’t many personnel changes. The peak of this downturn was that the team failed to secure a spot in the LPL Summer 2021 Playoffs, leading to an early farewell to the 2021 World Championship.
After a completely failed season, many rumors have circulated about JDG undergoing a major overhaul in personnel, with plans to clean out the entire roster, keeping only Kanavi while recruiting new stars to build a playstyle around this player.
However, recently, Kanavi made a statement that felt like a “cold shower” for JDG fans when he expressed his desire to return to the LCK in the near future. He even revealed that winning the LCK championship has been his biggest goal since he entered the professional player scene.
Kanavi’s statement has received quite a mixed reaction from fans. Although in reality, this player did not confirm that he wanted to leave JDG at this moment, it seems that his departure is merely a matter of time.
Immediately, Korean media erupted with conflicting reports about many LCK teams intending to recruit Kanavi, with the most likely candidates being T1 and Hanwha Life Esports.
T1 is said to have been monitoring Kanavi since last season, after he had a successful 2020 year with one championship and a second-place finish in the LPL. However, according to many sources at that time, T1 was not really willing to spend money to trigger this blockbuster move, due to the team’s direction since its rebranding focusing on developing young talents.
Currently, alongside Cuzz, T1 boasts two other promising jungle talents, Oner and Ellim, but if their performance at the 2021 World Championship does not meet expectations, it is possible that the team will have to break its old policy and spend money to recruit stars like Kanavi.