Team Liquid have made AD carry Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng, who won four consecutive domestic League of Legends championships with the North American team, available for trade to fellow League of Legends Championship Series organizations, league sources told ESPN.
The news was first reported by independent esports journalist Travis Gafford on Thursday. A landing spot for the veteran North American player has yet to be determined, according to sources. Team Liquid declined a request for comment on the move.
More: The best -- and worst -- landing spots for Doublelift | Riot Games acquires Hypixel Studios | How to get the most out of the turnip market in Animal Crossing
Doublelift will be available to trade amid a very short window between the LCS spring split, which concludes Sunday, and the beginning of the summer split on May 16. The original start and end dates for the splits were altered following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and its affect on scheduling for the Mid-Season Invitational and the remainder of the League of Legends competitive calendar.
Few teams in the LCS are expected to make roster changes during the mid-season because of uncertainty related to the pandemic.
Aside from the small window of time, international players will be unlikely to get visas approved by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as the American government continues to combat COVID-19, which has infected more than 667,000 people in the U.S., according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Additionally, due to economic hardship because of the pandemic, many teams believe they will be unable to raise additional investment funds for the next 18 months, sources said. As a result, many teams have evaluated cost-cutting measures to remain financially solvent until the economy recovers. Doublelift's contract is reportedly in the upper-six figures, according to sources, which could result in a high buyout to recruit him from Team Liquid.
ESPN Daily Newsletter: Sign up here!
In late February, Doublelift became ill with laryngitis and was later benched from Team Liquid in early March. He said on social media at the time that he lacked motivation, a point later emphasized as the LCS spring split no longer awarded championship points to help qualify for the world championship. Doublelift later returned to the team's starting lineup, but Liquid ended the spring in ninth place out of 10 teams, the team's lowest finish since Doublelift joined the organization in late 2017.
Team Liquid were Doublelift's third team in the modern era of League of Legends, after multiyear stints on Counter Logic Gaming and Team SoloMid. He won domestic championships on both Counter Logic Gaming and Team SoloMid but was ultimately removed from both teams.
After Doublelift won a domestic title in North America with Counter Logic Gaming in late 2015 but had a poor performance at the world championship, CLG kicked Doublelift off the roster in favor of younger substitute AD carry Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes. Doublelift then signed with Team SoloMid, where he faced a similar fate: After worlds in 2017, TSM replaced him with star European AD carry Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen, who joined the team alongside then-duo support Alfonso "Mithy" Aguirre Rodriguez.
-- Tyler Erzberger contributed to this report