In 2023, it can be seen as a very tumultuous year for Knight. In fact, he led JD Gaming to win three consecutive titles, including two LPL championships and one MSI championship. It can be said that this was a year of great success for Knight. And everything would have remained positive had it not been for two top tournaments in the world of sports in general and League of Legends in particular: ASIAD and the 2023 World Championship. In these two tournaments, Knight performed extremely disappointingly and was one of the main reasons why the Chinese LoL team and JDG came away empty-handed.
After the 2023 World Championship, BLG and JDG executed a mid-lane swap with Knight joining the team of the largest media corporation in the country with a population of over a billion. In a recent matchup, Knight played a significant role in helping BLG defeat JDG for the first time in a final at an official tournament. Admittedly, the scale of the Demacia Cup isn’t particularly large, but this is also Knight’s first victory of the new season.
Recently, according to LPL media, Knight accepted a significant pay cut to join BLG. Specifically, Knight proposed a salary of 25 million CNY (approximately 86 billion VND). However, BLG negotiated a salary much lower than Knight’s initial offer. This amount was revealed to be 15 million CNY (about 51 billion – just a little over half of Knight’s proposal). But after much consideration, Knight agreed to BLG’s offer and signed a 2-year contract.
Initially, fans thought that Knight’s move to BLG was a forced decision for the player at that time. But looking at the contract, Knight is actually undervaluing himself just to join BLG. Because BLG’s lineup for 2024 truly has the potential to win. Knight’s simple goal is to win the World Championship. Thus, he joined BLG. However, there are also some opinions suggesting that it’s not as simple as that.
Moreover, the most significant loss for Knight was against T1 in the Semifinals of the 2023 World Championship. Therefore, it can be said that T1 also indirectly influenced Knight’s decision to join BLG at all costs.
After many difficulties (financially) and the impact from the not-so-good performances of LPL at tournaments like the World Championship, investment in LoL teams has clearly seen a significant decline. Therefore, Knight may have decided on a safe path with a 2-year contract. At that time, Knight will be around 25 years old and perhaps by then, he will have started to consider the final stages of his career.