According to Travis Gafford, Doublelift’s contract is up for sale and it is likely that Team Liquid will trade the ADC before the Summer Split begins. This comes after Team Liquid failed to make the playoffs for the first time in two years and there were many reports that the Doublelift was unhappy with the team. From his own interviews and streams it seemed that not only did Doublelift lack motivation at times but, the team lacked consistency and the ability to adapt. Because of that and possibly some other underlying issues, Doublelift will be traded, but where is the best place for him to land?

Based on multiple sources, Team Liquid has placed Doublelift's contract up for trade. @TheeMarkZ and I discuss the teams he could go to and the implicationshttps://t.co/uGiAvEYyAa pic.twitter.com/rYY0dN1zQw — Travis Gafford (@TravisGafford) April 16, 2020

CLG

Wouldn’t this be the story? “Doublelift’s Career Comes Full-Circle as he is Traded to CLG.” For a team that also had a miserable Split, it would definitely not be the worst possible spot for Doublelift to land. Stixxay has been underperforming for quite some time and it seems likely that his time in the LCS is limited anyways. By adding Doublelift, CLG could either just add him to the current team or completely start over with a rebrand and everything. This could be the jolt that CLG needs and it could act similarly for Doublelift. He could go back to being the main shot-caller for the team and the main carry. Sometimes players on super-teams do struggle when their name is not called enough. On CLG this would not be a problem whether the team stayed the same outside of his addition or if they completely started over because the team would revolve around Doublelift. As long as CLG were willing to take on the money in his contract, there is no doubt that his addition would be most welcomed.

Dignitas

This move would have to start with another being made. That would be Huni getting traded or bought out from Dignitas which is possibly already in the works. After that, Dignitas could make an actual trade of Johnsun for Doublelift. While the trade wouldn’t be equal in terms of talent, what Team Liquid would be getting is an NA bot laner with some solid upside. They would allow Johnsun to grow with an incredible team around him that could easily make up for any of his mistakes or shortcomings as a young player. TL would likely have to fill Doublelift’s spot with another NA talent unless the team was willing to give up Broxah or CoreJJ. As for Dignitas, this would be a solid trade for the short term. Doublelift would be back with aphromoo and while the team would need a new top laner. There are definitely some options as Dignitas have both of their international slots available and they could pluck someone who is splitting time in another league or go find the best available talent. In a straight-up trade scenario, this is probably the best option for both teams.

TSM

Before diving too deep, Kobbe has been a very solid player for TSM. He never really lost lane or the game for his team and had plenty of pop-off moments. That said, Doublelift might just be a better fit for this team and could make them the true contender that Cloud9 and the LCS need. TSM have a strong top and mid lane while bot lane is relatively neutral in most matchups. Adding Doublelift would make it so that TSM have a winning lane in every lane talent-wise and could play through any of them as their win condition. This would allow for Dardoch to execute ganks more around the entire map instead of trying to only win in top side. Also, the duo of Doublelift and Biofrost is one of the strongest in LCS history. They both still duo-queue together regularly and are good friends. Truthfully, the addition of Doublelift could be enough to start the second dynasty of TSM and at a minimum, it would allow for TSM to assert itself as another strong option at Worlds for the LCS.

Conclusion

While issues surrounding Team Liquid were known and apparent, it is still surprising to see that they are looking to trade their superstar player. Whether they get money back or a player is yet to be seen but, more than likely the trade will just be to get Doublelift’s contract off the books to sign someone else. The biggest problem with this whole issue for Team Liquid is that they will have to get an NA bot laner, of which there are not many to choose from. Otherwise, fans could be looking at the full explosion of the team which is not something anyone would have thought was possible after the amount of success the team has had over the last two years.

Where do you think Doublelift could end up? Let us know in the comments!

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