Cebu-based Team Adroit wanted to surprise not only Dota 2 fans in Los Angeles, but also basketball junkies when they unveiled their Kobe Bryant tribute jersey during a recent trip to the City of Angels.
The Cebuanos were supposed to wear the special uniform in the postponed ESL One Los Angeles Major. The team was already in LA prior to the event's cancellation.
The jersey carried the iconic Lakers colors of purple and gold, with the number 24 printed in front as an homage to the late NBA legend. "Adroit" is written on the uniform using the classic Lakers font, while also having Kobe's numbers 8 and 24 in the upper left portion.
Instead of letting the uniform go to waste, the team visited the perfect place to express their admiration for the Black Mamba: the Staples Center in Downtown LA. However, it looks like the Adroit will still have to wait months to use it in an official match.
Just days after the postponing the third Major Championship of the Dota 2 Pro Circuit, Dota 2 developer Valve announced the cancellation of the fourth Major and Minor tournaments due to the rising COVID-19 concerns:
"After careful consideration of the current state and trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the health risk that this presents to competitors, staff and fans alike, we have made the difficult decision to cancel to the 4th minor and major tournaments of the DPC season."
The fourth major was scheduled from May 2 to 10 in Moscow, Russia. Sixteen teams were supposed to compete for USD 1 million prize pool and 15,000 DPC points.
Valve earlier postponed the ESL One LA Major due to the rising cases of coronavirus in the US, as well as travel restrictions to European countries imposed by President Donald Trump.
Aside from canceling the fourth major, the developers have also noted that they are studying as to whether to continue with the current season's fifth and final Major and Minor, which are set in Singapore this coming June.
"Given the high fluidity of the state of both the pandemic and geopolitical landscape, we will keep following the situation and decide how to approach the final major and minor of the season as the weeks progress."
If the situation worsens, Dota 2 fans may see a postponement, or worse, cancellation of the annual culminating tournament The International, which is slated for August in Stockholm, Sweden.
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