Sentinels and Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan had a public break up as the team moves into the Riot Games’ partnered league and finalizes its 2023 roster, but the professional player does not seem shaken by the recent developements.
ShahZaM and Sentinels have had an extremly public parting of ways as the player learned the team has potentially signed his replacement live on stream. The drama continued as the CEO of Sentinels, Rob Moore, said on Twitter that ShahZaM was fully informed that he might not be brought back to the team for the 2023 season, but that the was the sequence of events unfolded was not ideal.
ShahZaM did have an emotional response on stream, choking up when he saw the news, but rebounded the next day on stream as he committed to continuing his Valorant career.
“I’m not going anywhere, still competing,” he said when asked about his career on stream. “I’ve been extremely fortunate the last three years. This is just a natural thing of life.”
I want to address a few things from this year. I messed up responding to all the criticism. The way I handled it made it seem like I couldn't take accountability for our failures. With all the negativity it became impossible to ignore and instead of owning up to it, I fed into it
— G2 ShahZaM (@ShahZaMk) October 3, 2022
He went on to say that he’s been in esports for a long time and that he has been in this situation before.
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ShahZaM’s future outside of Sentinels
While the team and ShahZaM have yet to officially part ways, his contract has not yet expired, the writing is on the wall. Every team in the international leagues has yet to announce their full roster, so ShahZaM could potentially sign with one of them.
Another option for the veteran would be to jump into the Challengers league in the second tier of Valorant esports and try to fight for promotion into the top league.
ShahZaM could also retire from pro play but remain in Valorant through coaching. Many teams have yet to announce their coaching staff as well.
Fans of Valorant can keep track of ShahZam and the rest of the Valorant offseason with our rostermania tracker.