"He was free to contact other teams": Sentinels' CEO claims ShahZam knew about Valorant roster changes

Popular American esports organization Sentinels' roster rearrangement bells began ringing when the squad failed to qualify for the Valorant Champions in Istanbul, Turkey this year. While no one can blame them for bringing in new players after a disappointing season, it's not every day that the player a team is attempting to replace learns about it at the same time as the rest of the world.

Sentinels top player Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan said that he realized he had been booted from the organization's Valorant squad live on broadcast, but the club's CEO had a different story. On October 5, rumors leaked that Sentinels In-Game Leader (IGL) ShahZaM will be replaced by his former Complexity Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) colleague Dephh, and a video emerged of the star player reacting to the news live on his stream.

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CEO claims that no offer was extended for Shahzam in Sentinel's Valorant roster

ShahZaM first stated to his audience, "I just found out with you." However, Sentinels' CEO Rob Moore has since explained that the issue wasn't so cut-and-dry, and that Khan knew ahead of time that his position on the team wasn't precisely cemented.

Moore explained that Khan had already been reminded that they were going to bring in new coaches and he was free to contact other teams. While this may not be entirely direct, it seems ShahZaM had been informed of his position in the team prior to the announcement.

Sentinels are apparently looking to bolster their Valorant lineup with the additions of Rory "Dephh" Jackson and Zachary "zekken" Patrone, as well as two famous coaches. The process is still underway, and Sentinels hope to finalize their roster soon so that they can begin boot camp prior to the upcoming competitive season.

Roster reshuffles are often seasonal events that are expected of teams who performed poorly the previous season. Delicate issues of this nature are frequently expected to be thoroughly resolved with participating professional players and personnel, which wasn't the case with ShahZaM as he claimed.

The upcoming arrival of Dephh virtually guarantees that Sentinels will part ways with ShahZaM, whose contract expires at the end of the year. Surprisingly, Dephh and ShahZaM were teammates for over two years for Complexity while they played CS:GO together between April 2018 and October 2019.

The Sentinels' roster is still incomplete, although the organization has explored the addition of several more players internally. Syyko has joined the Sentinels as head coach, while Kaplan will serve as strategic coach.

Zekken and Dephh were instrumental in the success of XSET, which was one of the most dominating teams in North America during the previous Valorant season. XSET qualified for Champions and defeated teams such as Fnatic and FunPlus Phoenix during the event.

Sentinels will play in the kick-off event next February, with all 30 partnered teams from EMEA, the Americas, and Asia. Sao Paulo, Brazil, will host the three-week competition.

It's unknown whether ShahZaM is presently in negotiations with any other team, but with the degree of expertise he can provide to a squad, it's only a matter of time until he's picked.