“Fully healed” Lakia returns to Gen.G Valorant roster

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 05/08/2025

Gen.G’s Valorant division has announced the re-signing of Kim ‘Lakia’ Jong-min. The Shanghai Masters winner rejoins Gen.G after a period of absence following a wrist injury.

The Korean star had parted ways with Gen.G in October 2024, at least in part due to his persistent wrist injury that had prevented him from competing. In June 2025, Lakia announced that his wrist was “fully healed” in a LFT post. Now the Korean reunites with his old organisation in a bid to recapture the flame that brought Gen.G to Valorant glory.

The supportive piece was part of the 2024 Gen.G roster that won VCT 2024: Pacific Stage 2 and the Valorant Masters Shanghai 2024, making history by bringing the Pacific region its first international trophy.

Risk and reward: Lakia re-signing a statement of intent from Gen.G

The timing of the change, just days after the announcement that Valorant Champions 2026 will be in Shanghai, has brought out a few jokes from the Valorant community, who believe that Lakia will be Gen.G’s lucky charm in Shanghai.

While in jest, it does reflect the reality that Gen.G are hoping this move can get them back to that competitive level, at the very top of international Valorant. While their year so far has been broadly successful, they have lacked the silverware to reflect the team’s ability to beat anyone on their day.

Gen.G currently sit at the top of their VCT 2025: Pacific Stage 2 group, finishing 2nd in Stage 1 of the regional tournament to Masters Toronto winners Paper Rex. Paper Rex are currently esports betting sites favourites to win the split.

However, Gen.G team outperformed Paper Rex at the Esports World Cup, defeating them in the 3rd/4th place decider match at the tournament, which draws into question whether the move is necessary to achieve their goals.

The overall picture of Gen.G in 2025 then is positive, but when you have tasted the top step of competition, at the very top of the international scene, can you accept 2nds and 3rds?

Despite the aspirational nature of the move, it remains to be seen exactly the form that Lakia will show when initially re-entering the game, and whether he will need time to get up to speed with the highest level of Valorant again.

It is not yet announced whether Lakia will be replacing a member of the roster immediately, widely expected to be Ha ‘Ash’ Hyun-cheol, or whether he will be a sideline piece initially. Regardless, the move has a risk of destabilising a roster who are performing well.

For Gen.G though, they are focused on the potential upside and a return to glory in the home of their greatest success: Shanghai.

Gen.G are currently:

Kim ‘t3xture’ Na-ra
Kim ‘Karon’ Won-tae
Byeon ‘Munchkin’ Sang-beom
Jung ‘Foxy9’ Jae-sung
Ha ‘Ash’ Hyun-cheol
Kim ‘Lakia’ Jong-min

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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