Yeah, Lucas' chinese fans dropped him like a hot potato. And koreans too. The only ones that still care about him are the international fans, but I don't think that's enough to sustain a idol/celebrity career.
The only exposure we’ve gotten from Lucas since his scandal has been from his Instagram, where his 3 posts have gotten 3.4 million likes, 3.5 million likes, and 4.4 million likes. That is A LOT of international people showing him some form of interest / support, and more likes than any other NCT member has ever gotten on the platform. Even with a small amount of Chinese and Korean fans, he’s still immensely popular and at the very least could be a model when he decides to return to public eye. That’s what he intended to do from the beginning anyway when he audition for SM, so it’s not a long shot.
It was quite obvious from the get go that WayV would have their next comeback without him, but it’s still not definitive proof that he’s out of the group forever or will be sidelined by SM forever. Furthermore, the leaked recent photo of Lucas with Kai is proof he at least still has friends in the industry / company and even Taeil followed him on Instagram just a few weeks ago. His personal Spotify page recently got verified for the first time and the main Spotify page on Instagram just followed his account last week. A production company in Singapore also just followed him.
I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if they bring him back next year in some form or even let him participate in an NCT 2023 event (for 23 members).