The 2021 Call of Duty League season has displayed unexpected roster moves. From the LA Guerrillas to the Dallas Empire, multiple organizations have made questionable roster changes throughout the 2021 season. This trend continued on May 4, when the LA Thieves benched TJ “TJHaLy” Haly and replaced him with Cuyler “Huke” Garland.
Stage 3 of the CDL is currently halfway over, with the upcoming Dallas Home Series as the last event before the Major. However, it seems that the LA Thieves had to go after one of the most consistent players in the CDL in Huke.
LA Thieves bench TJHaLy for Huke
I’ve been benched by Thieves. GL to them. Looking forward to the future.
— Tj (@TJHaLy) May 4, 2021
If there was ever a time for the LA Thieves to make a roster move, now doesn’t seem to be it. The team currently sits atop the standings in Group B with a 2-1 record. They’re now ahead of New York, Chicago and Atlanta; a feat that many thought was impossible.
To make the roster move more confusing, LA just defeated OpTic Chicago in a convincing 3-1 victory. The roster was firing on all cylinders, besting OpTic in three respawn game modes. TJHaLy, specifically, didn’t perform amazingly in this match. He finished with a 0.88 KD. This is the lowest on the roster, which was preceded by a 0.71 finish against Atlanta FaZe the week before.
While TJHaLy’s performance hasn’t been entirely negative, the organization couldn’t pass up the opportunity to acquire Huke. The former champion has been one of the better players in the CDL for the past two years, helping Dallas to a world championship in 2020.
Welcome the Multi-FPS Champion Cuyler "@Huke The Nuke" Garland to the Los Angeles Thieves. #LAThieves pic.twitter.com/lf40VJzCmM
— LA Thieves (@LAThieves) May 4, 2021
The Dallas Empire had released Huke before the LA Thieves decided to go after him. The man caught in the middle is TJHaLy, who has been statistically performing the worst on the Thieves’ roster. Huke now slides into TJ’s role as the main SMG player for LA, a position he thrived in with Dallas.
LA will need to get accustomed to its newly revamped roster quickly. The Dallas Home Series begins on May 6, followed by the Stage 3 Major the week after.
