G2 in-game leader Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt has guaranteed that the recent changes were not triggered by Richard "shox" Papillon's upcoming wrist surgery.

The French team made headlines earlier on Friday by bringing in former OpTic member Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas on trial to replace star player and in-game leader Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon.

The 25-year-old is due to undergo surgery on a wrist problem later this month, and G2's original plan was to replace him with coach Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux until he made a full recovery - which would take two weeks "at the very minimum", according to recent comments from Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt while at IEM Katowice.

NBK- sheds light on the recent changes

When asked on stream about the recent changes, NBK-, who has taken over as in-game leader, stated that it was shox's wish to change the line-up that ultimately led to his removal from the starting roster.

"shox wanted to make drastic changes to the roster, and the team did not really want to make changes, so he decided himself that he did not want to try me out as in-game leader," NBK- said. "This decision has nothing to do with the surgery."

Shortly after the announcement, Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire wrote that shox "was not coming back to the team" in a tweet that has since been deleted. The 25-year-old has posted a new tweet saying that he was simply referring to the current lineup and that shox "may still play for G2 in the future."

shox has been part of G2 since February 2016, when the organisation signed the former Titan squad. He took over from Kévin "⁠Ex6TenZ⁠" Droolans as in-game leader two months later and guided G2 to success at the ECS Season 1 Finals, DreamHack Tours, ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals and DreamHack Masters Malmö.