KennyS, OG CEO say Riot blocked him from being loaned to the org’s VALORANT team

One of the best Counter-Strike players of all time said his switch to VALORANT was blocked by developer Riot Games for “contractual reasons.” 

The CEO of OG, JMR Luna, told Dot Esports yesterday that both G2 and OG agreed to a loan deal that would have seen Kenny “kennyS” Schrub join OG for around two to three months in the French VALORANT Regional League. 

Luna said he was told by his head of esports that was involved in the conversation between Riot and OG that “no loans” were allowed between G2 and OG. He said kennyS agreed to a massive pay cut that would’ve seen him compete alongside OG in VALORANT, his first professional endeavor in the Riot FPS. 

The agreement included a temporary pause on kennyS’ contract with G2 and acted as a loan deal for the player. Riot told OG that kennyS was allowed to play under the condition that he signed with OG. But kennyS is signed and earning a salary from G2 at time of writing. 

KennyS put out a statement earlier today saying that Riot blocked the transfer between the two organizations. “Riot didn’t accept this loan because of contractual reasons, I don’t blame anyone, it is what it is,” he said. 

The reason for Riot blocking this loan remains unclear. Dot Esports has requested a comment from Riot. 

In professional sports, players typically are not allowed to compete against teams they are contracted under since this is a conflict of interest. The English premier league, for example, does not allow loaned players to compete against the team that holds their registration, according to Section U.1 of the season 19/20 handbook. 

But the VRL France: Revolution is an entirely different circuit compared to the VALORANT Champions Tour. OG cannot compete against G2, for example, since the second stage of VRL France leads to the VRL Finals, a tournament that fields all of the best teams in each regional league. 

VALORANT loans have become somewhat common among professional teams, too. In June 2021, Envy acquired Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen on loan from FaZe Clan. In April 2021, Sentinels acquired Tyson “TenZ” Ngo from Cloud9 on an extended loan deal to replace Jay “Sinatraa” Won. Even in March, European organization Fnatic was able to acquire Enzo “Fea” Mestari on loan from Alliance.