LA Thieves officially confirm Temp as 4th Call of Duty League starter

After an accidental leak from Los Angeles Thieves general manager Muddawg, the Thieves have officially confirmed that Temp will be on their roster for the upcoming Call of Duty League season. This likely ensures that he will be their highly anticipated fourth starter.

OpTic Gaming returned to Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez’s hands in early October 2020. Then, within the month, Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag’s 100 Thieves made a return to competitive Call of Duty by acquiring OGLA’s vacated Los Angeles spot. Now, after weeks of speculation, it seems that the full starting lineup for the new Thieves team is confirmed.

Just days ago, YouTuber and influencer, Mike Majlak seemed to leak that Jordan ‘JKap’ Kaplan would be confirmed as the Thieves’ head coach for the upcoming CDL season during a vlog at the 100T compound. Then, in Kaplan’s announcement video, Eric ‘Muddawg’ Sanders appeared to have leaked the team’s final starter.

While 100T’s massive fanbase already knew the team’s three starters and substitute, this new leak finally confirmed what many had speculated about based on scrimmages. And, just a day later, the leak got (somewhat) validated by Nadeshot and Muddawg themselves.

With the original leak, while discussing JKap’s fit as head coach given his experience as a reputable veteran in the scene, Muddawg casually mentioned some of the team’s more prominent personalities. In doing so, he referenced one player who hadn’t yet been officially announced: Donovan ‘Temp’ Laroda.

“Obviously we have some strong personalities on the team. With Temp and with SlasheR, especially. Those are two guys who will listen to you and that’s something that we need.”  

• Read more: LA Thieves announce JKap as head coach

In a video the day after, Nadeshot and Muddawg indicated they had another announcement they forgot to make. By the end, it’s clear that Temp is the newest member of the black-and-red Thieves team.

Temp is as strong a personality as any in the CoD scene, although the announcement video may try to downplay that passion by seeming to forget about their new acquisition. While he has yet to be confirmed as the starter, most are expecting him to be based on recent scrims.

That leaves the LA Thieves roster as follows:

• Austin ‘SlasheR’ Liddicoat (Starter)
• Kenny ‘Kenny’ Williams (Starter)
• Donovan ‘Temp’ Laroda (Starter)
• Thomas ‘TJHaLy’ Haly (Starter)
• Zack ‘Drazah’ Jordan (Substitute)

Following an up-and-down season with the New York Subliners, Temp is an interesting candidate for a redemption arc with the LA Thieves in 2021. A yearlong starter, New York opted to let him go and, instead, bring in a more veteran presence in James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks.

• Read more: Nadeshot’s thoughts on LA Thieves 4th player

Like Temp’s drive toward former flashes of glory, fans will hope that the entire roster can return to excellence with a return to Treyarch in Black Ops Cold War and improve upon last year’s 10-17 record.