OWL Player Kim “Fleta” Byung-sun reportedly still has a chance back onto the Shanghai Dragon’s roster despite Valorant offers tempting him to swap games.
In a Tweet from esports journalist Arran Spake, last year’s Shanghai Dragon players still have a chance back on the roster, which includes the 2021 OWL MVP DPS player Fleta.
At the tail end of 2022, the Dragons released all players and staff for the year, promising to return back in 2023. The reset, some speculate, was due to Blizzard’s licensing contract with NetEase, the owners of the Dragons, ending.
That meant releasing the core of the 2021 OWL Playoffs champions. A number of players have since found homes on other OWL teams, but the star DPS, Fleta, has not landed elsewhere just yet.
Fleta is not the only one who still has a chance back on the roster, as three other ex-teammates still haven’t found a home in OWL during the off-season. But all players will need to go through a trial phase first before being picked up.
Spake also reported that the Former Dragons Support Bebe would come back to the team as an assistant coach rather than a player.
Multiple sources have also confirmed that there is a chance some of last years players may return in 2023 including Fleta. However, they have to make it through the trial process.No player is getting a free pass onto the Dragons 2023 roster
— Haloofthoughts (@haloofthoughts) January 31, 2023
In November last year, Esports writer Bo Hoogland reported Fleta was in deep discussions with a partnered VCT team, and two organizations in Valorant’s Ascension league were interested in him.
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He did not mention which teams they were, nor did he not say with certainty if the move was guaranteed.
Around the time of rumors surrounding the move, Fleta talked to his stream about feeling burnt out with competitive gaming. In a translation of a clip, he explained he isn’t putting much effort into competitive Overwatch, nor Valorant for that matter.
“When you start losing interest, it’s hard to put time into practice willingly,” he said on stream.
Any Valorant offers Fleta may have had would have expired by now as Ascension leagues all over APAC have already started. And all VCT-partnered teams have already locked in their rosters.
But if he did decide to make the switch, he wouldn’t have been alone as he would be joining the likes of Sayaplayer, sinatraa, and Carpe as OWL imports.
