One Key Insight for Each MLP Transaction of 2026 So Far
The MLP Trade window opened last week and there have already been a bunch of transactions before the keeper deadline hits on February 15th. There are even more rule changes from MLP once again, which make things very difficult to keep track of so you need to just go read Erik Ticeâs stuff for the full breakdown. Weâll try to cover rules relevant to the transactions as we go and pray that we are correct.
Of course, Challenger is now dead and there are 20 Premier teams (RIP NY Hustlers), which is probably better than an 18 and 5 split. It is still far too many teams for pickleballâs current talent pool, but hopefully the consolidation makes things easier to track.
The deals are a little bit difficult to analyze in a vacuum because it is unclear what is to come in the future. Tice has reported there are trades lined up to occur after the second trade window opens following the free agency draft on February 27th. These deals cannot be executed yet because of the 2026 Competition Structure.
LA Mad Drops Receive Max Freeman; Chicago Slice Receive Hunter Johnson & Cash (January 30)
LA Mad Drops: The Menâs Player Pool is Thinner Than You Would Expect. The lack of women is often the biggest pain point for roster construction in MLP, but it is apparent that the menâs talent pool may be equally as thin for teams vying for a title. It is a near certainty that St. Louis drops either Gabe Tardio or Hayden Patriquin, and there is an outside possibility that Dallas drops JW Johnson instead of Tyra Black. Outside of those options, there might not be another top 25 player available in the draft.
That means that a team like the LA Mad Drops, one that wants to contend for a title but is not happy with both its men, needed to make a trade to address their championship aspirations. Max Freeman remains more of a theoretical high ceiling at this point in time. However, it was clear the Hunter Johnson situation did not work out with Ben Johns, and they had to go a different direction. Ben was slated to play a tournament with Freeman in 2025 so there is clearly an affinity for Freemanâs ability.
Chicago Slice: Might as well rebuild. The sentiment with this trade is that the Slice need to rebuild so why not get some cash. They have been so unlucky the past two years and they can start their team with a cost-effective player who is a top 25 MLP male right now.
Chicago Slice Receive Zane Navratil; New Jersey 5âs Receive Cash (January 31)
Chicago Slice: Strategy Appears Unclear. Are they rebuilding or trying to remain competitive? Hunter Johnson and Zane Navratil are not an inspiring 2026 menâs duo. We understand there is the sponsorship connection with Zane-ProXR/Paddletek, but we generally feel that winning is the best way to support your brand rather than aligning players and sponsors to MLP teams. Zane would be outside the top 30 men for us in a full MLP redraft situation. The Slice were a disappointing team last year and weâll have to see what they can do with their women to even put together a playoff team.
Atlanta Bouncers Receive Jay Devilliers; Miami PC Receive Eric Roddy & Cash (January 31)
Atlanta Bouncers. You canât win if you donât try. Weâre higher on Jay Devilliers than we have been in probably the last 3 years, but heâs still got limitations as a player. Atlanta was in a tough spot with Vivenne David retiring, meaning they needed big upgrades in both female spots and their #2 male spots. This is a clear upgrade over Fought and they will be a better team, but it does not inspire a great deal of confidence in them being able to put together a contender.
Miami PC. Cash is king. It is apparent that Miami is not interested in trying to build a championship roster. They are very much in their peak Oakland Aâs era with savvy team building coupled with cost-saving mentality. They sold Eric Oncins for Noe Khlif last year and they outright sell Jay Devilliers this year. Miami has recognized they have pretty much no path to winning a title, even if they spend a huge amount of money. So, instead of spending they are putting together a semi-competitive team and recouping cash.
Atlanta Bouncers Receive Kaitlyn Christian; Texas Ranchers Receive Victoria DiMuzio & Cash (February 1)
Atlanta Bouncers. They are taking the Anti-Miami approach. Paying for Jay Devilliers and paying what sounds like a hefty amount for Kaitlyn Christian? Atlanta clearly wants to be in the mix for 2026 and are refusing to give into the notion that winning is not in the cards. If they can find a competent 2nd female, they will be an upper end, lower half playoff team most likely, but we are curious what the big picture thinking is behind this approach. One thing weâll say is that the pool of intriguing talent on the womenâs side appears deeper in 2026 than it did in 2025.
Texas Ranchers. The Ranchers are a complete mystery but may have something up their sleeve. The trade for Tuionetoa last year was an acknowledgement from the Ranchers that they would only be able to keep one of Etta and Tina Pisnik this offseason, and they seemingly chose to go with Pisnik â although that is clearly not the case after she was traded on Friday. Now that they have traded both Christian and Pisnik, we cannot pinpoint what the strategy of the Ranchers is.
They hit a home run with the Eric Oncins trade and they still have Christian Alshon, which is an elite male MLP duo. Texas ended the season with drama between Alshon being benched by their now former-GM, Ryan Dawidjan, and then having that decision reversed by ownership for the playoffs. It would be odd for the Ranchers to suddenly go sell mode with such a strong foundation and bought in ownership group. Tina Pisnik was close by to Dawidjan so maybe that partly led to her exit.
Even if it is their prerogative to bring Tyra Black on board, there is no guarantee they can win that bid and they would also still need to find a second woman. Do they have another trade up their sleeve? Weâll have to wait to find out.
Bay Area Breakers Receive Mya Bui; Miami PC Receive Alix Truong (February 6)
Bay Area. No idea what this accomplishes. In a rare straight up player trade, Bay Area gets Mya Bui, who profiled in 2025 as a player with upside but begins 2026 without any results to indicate that upside will ever be realized (she did play a good match against Tuionetoa/Schneemann at the Masters). Bay Areaâs roster is currently Bui, Angie Walker and DJ Young. Itâs a tough road for these lower spending Challenger teams suddenly getting the call to the big leagues.
Miami PC. They Donât Believe in Bui. When Miami traded Eric Oncins away for Noe Khlif last year, we speculated that they may not have believed in Oncins but what that analysis missed was other behind the scenes that led to Oncins getting traded to Texas, which we became aware of only after we published. While we may have been unaware of important context last year, there is nothing about this trade that screams anything other than Miami doesnât believe in Mya Bui. As noted above, cash is king right now in Miami and they will save $19,500 from Truongâs keeper cost ($500) vs. Buiâs ($19,500), but thatâs not enough money to incentivize a straight up trade of Bui if they really believed in her. As we see it, this is not a good sign for Bui and a clear stock down for her.
Palm Beach Royals Sign Sofia Sewing for $80,000
Palm Beach Royals Receive Tina Pisnik; Texas Ranchers Receive Cash (February 5)
The Royals are trying to be competitive. The new MLP expansion rules created for the Palm Beach Royals are giving the Royals a real chance at success. The rules allow them to sign 1 player of each gender who is not currently on an MLP roster and trade for 1 player of each gender for cash. We half-jokingly quipped on X that this signing rule should be called the âSofia Sewing Ruleâ.
It was always the expectation that the Royals would try to build an immediate contender. The Sewing and Pisnik fit is not going to be seamless as both players prefer the left. However, having two strong female players, including one with real upside, as a foundation for the roster is a good starting point for Palm Beach.
We wrote about Sewing being an immediate top 25 player with top 10 upside after her signing to the UPA was announced. She was clearly the most intriguing non-UPA signed talent at that time, but with the more recent announcement of Danni-Elle Towsned signing with the UPA, there is a real argument that Townsend is the more intriguing talent.
Erik Tice wrote on X that Townsend is âdefinitely a top 20 playerâ and probably closer to 10 than 20, which felt aggressive to us given that players like Callie Smith and Lea Jansen are right around that top 20 border in the PPA rankings. Ticeâs observation led us to watching some of Townsendâs recent matches and we were extremely impressed by what we saw. Weâre not sure that she can be considered a definite top 20 players, but she has to be right on that borderline and her unique skillset is what is most fascinating. Townsend is not better than Lacy Schneemann currently, but she profiles to us long-term as a taller, more consistent Lacy Schneemann.
Townsend is clearly the best available non-rostered female for the MLP draft and we now think it is a real question as to whether she would have been the better pure pickleball choice than Sofia Sewing â Kiora Kunimoto was actually the better choice if you ask Nico the Lefty.
It will be fascinating to see where the Royals go with their non-rostered male signing. There are a bunch of options available, including Len Yang, who announced his signing with the UPA on Friday.
Las Vegas Night Owls Receive Roscoe Bellamy and Samantha Parker; Dallas Flash Receive Cash (February 6)
Las Vegas. No idea what this accomplishes. Las Vegas has to feel hard done by. They spent a bunch of money to try to win Challenger last year, which is what they did, and the league decides to consolidate Challenger and Premier. Las Vegas will only be able to keep 5 of their 6 players, and they have to drop one of their players, who are all eligible to be kept for 2026.
Itâs hard to see what a roster with some version Pablo Tellez, James Delgado, Brooke Bucket and Chao Yi Wang, Roscoe Bellamy and Samantha Parker will get you in 2026 beyond maybe a playoff appearance. They have a very strong singles group with the additions of Bellamy and Parker. Tellez is what he is and, while Delgado has some high end traits, it doesnât feel like he has the full tool box to be a high-end menâs player. It was never going to be easy for Las Vegas but weâre curious if there is a bigger picture plan other than adding two players who are better in singles than they are in doubles.
Dallas. They have bigger fish to fry. Dallas has to decide who to drop between JW, Jorja and Tyra, but itâs unknown whether Dallas will break the bank to get the player back that they drop. The singles is the last of their worries right now. The Flash decision is the most interesting one of the keeper deadline as it seems as if it will have to be Tyra that they drop simply from the standpoint that the Johnson family will not want to risk breaking up the siblings.
Texas Ranchers Receive Layne Sleeth; California Black Bears Receive Cash (Feb 7)
Texas. Are they really building with Layne Sleeth? We would be very surprised if the Ranchers intend for Sleeth to be a piece of their 2026 roster, but why else pay cash to get her? There are better bench singles players and she isnât close to good enough to be a starting female on a championship team. Pisnik is suddenly a viable player for a team with title aspirations now that she doesnât have to play singles. Weâll have to let this play out for the Ranchers but they are a mystery wrapped in an enigma currently.
California. They wonât be spending. Thereâs going to be a handful of teams content with not being competitive and the Black Bears appear to be one of them. Getting cash for any of their players is a win. Might be the perfect time to bring Rafa Hewett back into the fold!
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