After having its Golden Road cut short at the League of Legends World Championships in November, Chinese juggernauts JD Gaming will be rebuilding without mid-laner Zhuo “Knight” Ding who will supposedly join Bilibili Gaming ahead of the 2024 season.
JDG, who was downed by eventual champions T1 at the Worlds semifinals, has opted to release Knight with his departure confirmed today via a late Dec. 1 tweet. “His highlight reel of outplays and the three titles in one year will remain forever in JDG’s history book,” the organization said, wishing Knight continued success.
Knight is the second core to depart JDG after a dominant 2023 which included a clean sweep of both the Spring and Summer LPL splits as well as the squad’s iconic win at the Mid-Season Invitational over BLG—for which Knight earned the MVP award after the 3-1 victory. However, it is apparent it was Worlds or bust for the LPL champions with Knight following Bai “369” Jia-Hao out the door.
League pundits thought something was amiss after the JDG CEO confirmed Kanavi, Ruler, and Missing had re-signed with the organization last week, extending their contracts through to 2025. Without Knight and 369 mentioned, it quickly became clear JDG would not be fielding the same squad that dominated the LPL this year.
Knight certainly won’t be leaving competitive League anytime soon as he prepares for his eighth year in the region’s top-flight league. The mid-laner joined JDG in early 2023 after over three years with Top Esports where he won two splits and recorded a semifinal finish at Worlds 2020. He parted ways with TES after the squad crashed out of Worlds 2022 outside of the top eight, joining JDG where he instantly clicked, and the rest was history.
Unconfirmed rumors have circulated Knight is lining up a deal with Bilibili Gaming for the 2024 season, but without official confirmation it remains to be seen what the 23-year-old has in store for the upcoming League season. Should he link up with BLG, he will replace Zeng “Yagao” Qi whose contract expired following the end of the 2023 season.
