The 2026 MLP Draft is Friday, so it’s mock draft time. We did the original mock draft back in 2024, and we do one each year, trying to predict where the players will be picked. Under the MLP rules, teams bid for draft positions, not players, starting with the first pick. Whatever team bids the most for the #1 slot gets it, and then can pick any player they want. The bid then moves to the #2 pick for an auction and choice, and so on. Each team selects until all teams have filled their roster with two men and two women. If a team already has two men, it cannot pick a third man until each team has two men; same rule applies on the women’s side. Once all the teams have those four starters, they can bid on a fifth and sixth player for their roster. Bids will be in increments of $10,000 for the four starters, and increments of $1,000 for the fifth and sixth players.

 

Before we try to predict the picks (and prices), let’s review what starting positions each team has open so we know who they can potentially pick.

 

Atlanta (Needs 1 woman); Bay Area (1 woman, 1 man); Brooklyn (1 man); California (2 men, 1 woman); Carolina (None); Chicago (2 women); Columbus (1 woman); Dallas (1 woman); Florida (1 woman); Las Vegas (None); LA (None); Miami (1 woman, 1 man); New Jersey (1 woman); Orlando (1 man); Palm Beach (1 man); Phoenix (2 men, 1 woman); SoCal (2 men, 2 women); St. Louis (1 woman); Texas (2 women); Utah (1 man).

 

Another way to look at it is to list each team that can pick at least 1 man, or pick at least 1 woman.

 

Bay Area, Brooklyn, California, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, Phoenix, SoCal, Utah

Atlanta, Bay Area, California, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Florida, Miami, New Jersey, Phoenix, SoCal, St. Louis, Texas

 

There are a total of 12 starting positions open for men, 16 for women. Not only are there more positions open for starting women, but the teams that need women include some of the teams that have been willing to spend the most money for player acquisitions, such as Dallas, St. Louis, and New Jersey. In addition, five of the very best teams from 2025 need to add a starting woman; Dallas, St. Louis, New Jersey, Texas, and 2025 MLP champion Columbus. Thus, we can see there is likely to be a fierce bidding war early in the auction for the top women players available.

 

With that background, here is my mock draft, predicting the 28 picks of starting players and their auction cost.

 

1. Anna Bright, St. Louis, $525k. Bright is the best player available, a true franchise player. St. Louis’ decision to drop her remains an interesting one. They did so because Bright was the most expensive player to keep at $295k. Dropping her gives St. Louis about $200k extra to bid to get her back. But, there is likely to be a fierce bidding war to obtain her. I predict Dallas and New Jersey will also be after this first pick. Could a fourth team join the bidding? In any event, St. Louis HAS to get her back. With Bright, St. Louis is a favorite to win it all; without her, even if they get Jorja Johnson, the team will fall off some.

2. Jorja Johnson, Dallas, $450k. Dallas made an error dropping Jorja Johnson. They should have dropped JW Johnson. Dropping JW would have given them an extra $53k to bid with, plus the bidding for the top men is highly likely to be cheaper than the bidding for the top women. But that is water under the bridge now, and Dallas has to make up for their error by paying whatever it takes to get Jorja back. I expect Dallas and New Jersey to bid hard for this pick. Texas should also be bidding big. Columbus is a wild card. They do not need Bright or Johnson, but it would sure be nice to get one of them. I just think both St. Louis and Dallas need to bid big to reclaim Bright and Johnson and will do what it takes to do so. Reclaiming both covers up any possible error made in dropping them.

3. Dylan Frazier, Brooklyn, $160k. The third pick is where it gets really interesting and unpredictable. Teams have to carefully look at who is bidding. For example, if Brooklyn, Palm Beach, and New Jersey are bidding, New Jersey can safely drop out of the bidding because the other two bidders both need men only. New Jersey can drop out, expecting to be able to get the 4th pick for a cheaper price.

4. Tyson McGuffin, Palm Beach, $145k. Palm Beach is making an effort to field a quality team year one. Pairing McGuffin with Bar is logical, both on the court and off the court for publicity.

5. Meghan Dizon, New Jersey, $110k. Prices are likely to drop off a lot after the first two picks and then steadily decline after that. I expect New Jersey to take a swing at the top two, but they just do not have the same incentive to get those picks that St. Louis and Dallas do. If New Jersey gets a top 2 pick, they will be almost sure to win it all. If New Jersey gets Dizon, they will be a solid team, right there as one of the group of best teams. I do not see New Jersey as being happy getting anyone besides Bright, Johnson, or Dizon.

 

6. Lea Jansen, Texas, $100k. Jansen was a surprise drop by Columbus. Under the rules, Columbus could have kept her and their whole starting team that won in 2025. Of course, there were rumors that Jansen was dropped in 2025 because of personality issues, and those same issues were rumored again with Columbus, so perhaps that is why Jansen was made available. It is certainly odd for a championship team to be voluntarily broken up. Could Columbus have done it to be in the mix for one of the very top picks? In any event, Texas has two very good men, so they go for Jansen and talent over any consideration of the possible teammate issues.

7. Callie Smith, Columbus, $95k. Columbus fills their opening for a second woman by grabbing the versatile Smith, who is also known as a solid teammate.

8. Mari Humberg, Texas, $90k. Texas comes right back to snag a second woman to play left side to Jansen’s right. Texas needs to be aggressive in getting early picks. If they wait too long, their season will be sunk, despite having two top 10 men on the team.

9. Jack Sock, Orlando, $90k. Unlike last year, I do expect the auction prices to be higher and to stay higher for more players. Orlando looks to make a splash with the exciting pick of Sock. He is playing better doubles of late and recently played well with Lacy Schneemann in mixed doubles, making him a logical choice for Orlando.

10. Tama Shimabukuro, Miami, $60k. Once the better teams fill their starting rosters, I expect the prices to drop a lot, quickly. I also expect several teams will target young players, both for potential and because they will be cheaper to obtain. But, Shimabukuro is going to be an exception. He is going to go earlier than people expect and for more money. The one problem with drafting a youngster like Shimabukuro (14 years old) is that you could be absolutely right that he will develop into a top 20 player, but it might not be for two or three years, and by then you may well have to drop him, per current MLP rules. If Miami avoids young players and goes for the best veteran team they can get, look for them to pick AJ Koller, who would team very well with Yuta Funemizu. I would do the Koller pick if I was Miami and was trying to maximize my wins, but for some reason Koller seems to always get dissed in MLP drafts.

 

11. Danni-Elle Townsend, Chicago, $40k. Townsend comes over from Australia and she will make an immediate impact. She is likely a top 30 woman already, with potential to be higher. It does remain to be seen how she holds up against top competition every week, but for a team looking for a solid female and not willing to pay a high price, the potential of Townsend is intriguing.

12. Jonathan Truong, Utah, $35k. Utah needs a second man to pair with Connor Garnett, and Truong is a sneaky combination of current talent plus potential. If he is picked fairly cheaply, he will be a very good pick.

13. Kiora Kunimoto, Chicago, $30k. I may well be underestimating how high Kunimoto will go. She has been getting a lot of favorable publicity lately due to her doing so well in PPA women’s singles. But, her doubles game is nowhere near as far along as her singles game. I think a team will overestimate her doubles ability and pick her too high.

14. Jalina Ingram, Miami, $25k. Conversely to Kunimoto, I may be overestimating where Ingram will be drafted. She is about the same age as Kunimoto, but she is a better doubles player, with similar potential. The lack of big singles wins will result in her being drafted lower than Kunimoto, but right now Ingram is the better doubles player.

15. Ting Chieh Wei, Atlanta, $25k. Ting Chieh (“Jamie”) Wei is an up and coming player on the PPA Tour. She could go a bit higher than this. It all depends on how sought after the younger players are, as opposed to players a little better but older, and thus viewed as having a lower ceiling.

 

16. Armaan Bhatia, Bay Area, $20k. Bhatia is one of my favorite players in the draft. He is the best player from India, a solid and developing left side player, and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He is 27, so my only question on him is how high is his ceiling? I think a team will get him cheaply and be very happy with the pick.

17. Tyler Loong, SoCal, $20k. Loong is better than where I project him being picked. He is a solid if unspectacular player and likely has hit his ceiling. Thus, I think teams being careful with their money are more likely to be interested in young players with potential. Loong will be a good pick for a young team, to have a solid veteran captain.

18. John Lucian Goins, Phoenix, $15k. Phoenix finally jumps in with a pick of youth and potential. Goins is a very good singles player, who is still learning how to win at doubles. Phoenix is rumored to have a trade in place to ship out Jessie Irvine, so expect Phoenix to go young and cheap.

19. Cailyn Campbell, SoCal, $10k. SoCal going young to team with veteran Loong.

20. Wyatt Stone, California, $10k. Stone is a massively underrated player. He has been around awhile, so people forget he is only 19. He has a doubles win against Ben Johns and he played very well as a fill-in starter for Texas last year. Stone is a good combination of current ability and potential, and he will go cheaply in the auction. The top teams all hope he is there to be picked as their #3 male player.

 

21. Sahra Dennehy, Bay Area, $10k. Dennehy is another Aussie. She is pretty good at singles, with a 3-3 record against Zoey Wang. Her doubles game is decent, although not yet up to par with her singles game. The picks at this point are all about potential.

22. Will MacKinnon, California, $10k. MacKinnon is all potential. He has not played well at 2026 PPA events, but his ceiling is very high. When you watch him, he will hit five shots a game that are jaw droppingly good. The problem is he will also miss two serve returns and three simple dinks in the same game. He is maddeningly inconsistent right now, but his game does have a look similar to that of Hayden Patriquin. Obviously, his overall game is nowhere near that of Patriquin, but a team is going to pick him and think about where he may be in one or two years.

23. Zoey Weil, Phoenix, $10k. Weil is another player fairly new to pickleball, who has shown flashes of talent.

24. Elsie Hendershot, California, $10k. Talk about potential. Hendershot is only 12 years old, but she is out on the PPA Tour competing hard. She lacks a breakthrough win, but that is only a matter of time. Hendershot is tall for her age, which bodes well for the future. Height translates to power, which translates to success. She has a surprisingly developed skill set and shows good patience, which is unusual for a player her age. Barring injury, Hendershot is going to be a top 10 player one day so long as she is committed to the game. The problem with drafting her is the same as drafting Shimabukuro; you know they will be a very good player one day, but will it happen in the next three years?

25. Zane Ford, Phoenix, $10k. Ford should go higher based on talent alone, but I think a player like him may drop due to many teams focusing on even younger players.

26. Cam Chaffin, SoCal, $10k. Another teenager! Chaffin is only 14, but he has a singles win over Federico Staksrud. That win was recent, and recency bias can play a big part in how players are viewed. Chaffin is another young player who needs to learn patience and the details that make doubles different from singles.

27. Victoria DiMuzio, SoCal, $10k. DiMuzio showed a lot of potential early in 2025 and Atlanta went after her hard in the 2025 draft. But her results both in MLP and PPA have been disappointing as compared to the talent she showed. I think a team will draft her, albeit now with lower expectations. Playing for a team with no shot at the playoffs may help her due to the lack of any pressure.

28. Emma Nelson, Florida, $10k. I have no idea what Florida is doing or thinking. They kept three players, all of whom should have been released. I have no idea if they will draft based on current ability (someone like Judit Castillo or Lina Padegimaite) or go for youth and potential like Nelson. Nelson is only 14 and will be on a team due to her high ceiling.

 

There are your 28 picks, giving every team four starters. Once that part of the auction is done, the auction then opens to all 20 teams to fill out their rosters with one man and one woman sub. Some teams will draft specialists, perhaps someone who is a great singles player. Others will go for veteran depth. 

 

Here are players who should be drafted, at least as substitutes if not starters.

 

Solid veterans:
AJ Koller, Anderson Scarpa, Tom Protzek, Marshall Brown, Martin Emmrich, Judit Castillo, Lina Padegimaite, Genie Erokhina, Christa Gecheva

Singles specialists:
Chris Haworth, Rafa Lenhard, Matt Barlow, Mary Brascia

There is your 2026 MLP mock draft. Expect the unexpected is always the key for an MLP draft. Enjoy the draft, and I hope you like what your favorite team does!

 

Follow me on X @pickleball_jim.