T1’s star bot laner, Park “Teddy” Jin-seong, is set to transfer to a new franchise for the 2022 League of Legends season, multiple sources told Upcomer on Thursday.
The 23-year-old started 19 games for T1 in the summer season with a KDA (kills/deaths/assists) of 6.4. At the most-recent League of Legends World Championship, though, while T1 made it to the semifinals and lost a closely contested series to fellow South Korean squad DWG KIA, Teddy failed to see any playing time in favor of teammate Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong. Teddy last played at the world championship in 2019, where he led T1 to a top-four finish before falling to Europe’s G2 Esports in the semifinal.
Teddy’s contract with T1 does not end until Nov. 21, 2022, but the League Champions Korea franchise has allowed the player to talk to other teams in search of a starting job for the upcoming season, sources said.
While several LCK franchises are said to be in the race for Teddy, sources also told Upcomer that the South Korean player is receptive to moving abroad, having accepted initial talks with at least a pair of North American franchises so far.
Since joining T1 in 2019, Teddy has won 66% of his starts with an overall KDA of 6.8 while capturing three domestic titles with the organization.
T1 declined to comment at the time of this story’s publishing.
Teddy potentially moving on from T1 is the latest in a string of pre-offseason moves that set up for a hectic upcoming League of Legends free agency period. That period officially opens at 7 p.m. ET on Nov. 15, at which time teams and players are allowed to sign on these verbal agreements, pending approval from League of Legends developer Riot Games.
