One of the most anticipated sporting events of each year is not even an actual sporting event; it is the annual NFL Draft. Each year, fans eagerly anticipate what their favorite team will do to improve for the next season. For Major League Pickleball, it is only a matter of time before the annual MLP Draft becomes a major pickleball event. Each year, more and more information will be published about the next draft and how teams can improve. Fans of the top teams will wonder if their team can keep all the top talent, while fans of lesser teams can start speculating on which star their team can potentially grab to turn their fortunes around. Like an NFL team drafting a star quarterback, if your MLP team can snag a top 10 player, that can move your team from a non-contender to a playoff team in one year.

 

For 2026, each team will have to look at what players, if any, they are forced to drop. They will also look at every other team to see who will be let go and be eligible to be drafted. Smart teams will plot multiple strategies so they can react to an ever-changing player landscape. Let’s go team by team, looking at who they are likely to drop, and what their options are for a 2026 draft strategy. As you will see, many teams have a fairly simple outlook, while a couple of teams have some very hard choices to make. All options are based on current MLP rules (which could change between now and draft day), and the work of Erik Tice of The Dink, who determined which players each team has to drop.

 

 

There are quite a few teams with easy choices, either with obvious drops, or who do not need to drop anyone. Let’s start with the teams who do not need to drop anyone (all teams will be listed with the three men first, then the three women), or the teams with easy drops (players outside the top 25 that are easily replaced)

 

Atlanta: Jaume Martinez Vich, Todd Fought, Eric Roddy; Vivienne David, Victoria DiMuzio, Rachel Rettger. Fought will likely be replaced. Upgrading the team will all depend on Atlanta’s willingness to spend money.

 

Brooklyn: Riley Newman, Dekel Bar, Patrick Smith, Jackie Kawamoto, Rachel Rohrabacher, Hannah Blatt. A team likely to just bring everyone back. A solid playoff team, but their chance to be a top team will depend on whether Bar can regain top form.

 

Carolina: Brandon French, Ivan Jakovljevic, Craig Johnson, Liz Truluck, Danna Funaro, Ava Ignatowich. French and Jakovljevic must be dropped, so this team could have three new men. There will be a number of good men available, if a team wants to spend big. There are also up and coming men who can potentially be had cheaply. A good GM playing for the future could pick up some young talent that could be kept three years and see if the player develops. As to the women, Truluck is decent, but their team lacks the top tier women that are needed to be a playoff team. Finding top women is either super expensive or impossible. Better to bet on young talent and take some chances.

 

Chicago: James Ignatowich, Max Freeman, Carlos Di Laura, Callie Smith, Vivian Glozman, Pierina Imparato. Chicago can keep everyone or no one or something in between. Last year, they blew it up and spent big, but missed the playoffs. If I were the GM, I would drop Di Laura and Imparato, creating openings for one man and one woman. I would then look for an opportunity to bid big if a top player becomes available; if not, I would pick up a young player with potential.

 

Columbus: Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Ross Whitaker, Lea Jansen, Parris Todd, Marcela Hones. Whitaker is the only must drop, so Columbus will retain their core (assuming they spend the retention money to do so). Another team that can and should take a flier on a young player for the bench.

 

Miami: Jay Devilliers, Yuta Funemizu, Juan Benitez, Tammy Emmrich, Mya Bui, Tatiana Ruhl. Very similar to Atlanta or Chicago. They have a top 4 that help them be middle of the pack, so the move is to voluntarily drop Benitez and Ruhl, looking for opportunities to pick up a better player in the draft.

 

New York: Zane Ford, Donald Young, Stephen Madonia, Dominique Schaefer, Helena Jansen, Luana Stanciu. Stanciu must be dropped. They have Helena Spiridis on the reserve list, but it is unknown if she will be able to play in 2026. Either way, they should drop Madonia and either Jansen or Spiridis to create openings for one man and one woman, and join the list of teams looking for an opportunity to improve. Improvement depends on either spending big (like Chicago last year) or going the inexpensive route and trying to hit on new/young talent (as NY tried last year).

 

Phoenix: Jack Sock, Tyson McGuffin, Pesa Teoni, Jessie Irvine, Genie Bouchard, Alex Walker. No one has to be dropped, but considering the poor relationship of Irvine and Bouchard last year, expect one to be dropped, along with Teoni. Phoenix could well take a step back, as it will not be easy or cheap to pick up a player as good as Irvine (I expect them to keep Bouchard). If they drop Bouchard, she should be easier to replace.

 

SoCal: Blaine Hovenier, Ryan Fu, John Lucian Goins, Irina Tereshenko, Jalina Ingram, Cailyn Campbell. They must drop Goins, Ingram, and Campbell. This team is almost certain to take a step back, which is saying something as they were one of the worst teams in 2025. All three women should be dropped. Goins has not yet shown much doubles skill, but he is very young and at least has potential, but he must be dropped too. Ingram and Campbell are good examples of young talent that is worth taking a flier on. So when they are dropped, expect several teams to bid for them.

 

 

Before we get to the couple of teams which have the toughest choices to make, let’s look at a couple of teams that will have to drop a quality player, albeit not a very top player.

 

LA: Ben Johns, Hunter Johnson, Wes Burrows, Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto, Mehvish Safdar. LA has to drop Burrows, but that will not hurt. The drop that will hurt is they must cut one of Johnson, Parenteau, or Kawamoto. This is not really that difficult, as the obvious drop is Johnson. He is a great singles player, but not a top 20 doubles player. Parenteau and Kawamoto are top 20 players, and top 20 women are hard to come by; when you have them, you do not drop them if you can help it. LA could either then try to redraft Johnson, or perhaps bid even higher and go for one of the men likely to be available in the draft who are better doubles players than Johnson.

 

New Jersey: Will Howells, Noe Khlif, Zane Navratil, Anna Leigh Waters, Mari Humberg, Meghan Dizon. NJ must drop one of Howells, Waters or Navratil, so Zane will be cut. They then must drop Humberg or Dizon, likely Humberg. New Jersey can then either hunt for a rising player, or grab a veteran who is solid on the bench. Indeed, they may well just pick Navratil and Humberg back, unless weaker teams outbid them.

 

 

There are six teams left and they all have a very tough choice to make. Expect these teams to all try to drop a good/great player and then spend big to get them right back on the roster.

 

Las Vegas: Pablo Tellez, James Delgado, Brooke Buckner, Zoey Wang. Las Vegas moves up to Premier and current rules say they must drop a player. It cannot be Delgado. This rule seems unfair to Las Vegas, as they only have a four-person roster. I hope MLP sees the unfairness and lets Vegas keep all four. If the rule is not changed, they probably have to drop Tellez, as again the women are just too hard to replace.

 

Utah: Tyler Loong, Connor Garnett, Yates Johnson, Etta Tuionetoa, Allyce Jones, Chloe Igleski. Igleski must be dropped. The tough choice is that Utah must drop one starter: Loong, Garnett, Tuionetoa or Jones. I think they will drop Loong, as he is easier to replace than the women. Look for Utah to just redraft Loong in the auction.

 

Orlando: Federico Staksrud, Dylan Frazier, Grayson Goldin, Lacy Schneemann, Milan Rane, Allison Phillips. Goldin must be dropped. But the tough one is that they must drop one of their starters, either Staksrud, Frazier, Schneemann, or Rane. At first glance, you might think Rane is the likely drop. But again, higher rated men are easier to find in the draft than even lower rated women. Frazier’s game has dropped some since the original 2024 draft. I would drop Frazier and either look to redraft him at a lower price, or look elsewhere in the draft for a replacement. Orlando is likelier to be able to replace Frazier than Rane.

 

Texas: Christian Alshon, Eric Oncins, Wyatt Stone, Tina Pisnik, Kaitlyn Christian, Felicity Di Laura. Stone must be dropped. Texas then has to choose one of Alshon, Oncins, or Pisnik. This is a very tough choice. Alshon is just too good to drop. Normally, I would drop the man (Oncins) and keep the woman (Pisnik) as women are hard to come by. But, Oncins is a rising player, likely now a top 10 player. Pisnik is a declining player, and could well drop out of the top 20 during 2026. Texas is going to take a step back either way. I would keep Oncins as he is just too good to drop. With Pisnik fading, I would rather take a chance on a player like Jalina Ingram, than to drop a super talent like Oncins.

 

Dallas: JW Johnson, Augie Ge, Roscoe Bellamy, Tyra Hurricane Black, Jorja Johnson, Samantha Parker. Dallas is one of two teams with just a brutal choice. They must drop one of JW, Jorja, or Tyra. This is just an awful choice to have to make, as they must drop a top 10 and arguably a top 5 player. But, with that said, I think the obvious choice is to drop JW Johnson. Jorja and Tyra are top 5 women and they are just not replaceable in MLP. If one is dropped, every team should instantly be willing to spend BIG to get them. JW is very good, but the success of MLP teams is based on the quality of the women. If Dallas is forced to replace JW with Bellamy, it will hurt, but that would still be a good team. If they have to replace Tyra with Parker, they will drop out of the top five teams.

 

St. Louis: Hayden Patriquin, Gabe Tardio, Erik Lange, Anna Bright, Kate Fahey, Judit Castillo. Lange has to be dropped, but the one that will really hurt is they must drop Patriquin, Tardio or Bright. There is zero chance they drop Bright, so it comes down to Patriquin or Tardio. This means a top 5 man will definitely be available in the draft. As Patriquin meshes well with Bright in mixed, I am fairly sure Tardio will be the one dropped. St. Louis is a willing spender, so expect them to bid very big to get Tardio back. 

 

 

The first thing to watch for is the deadline to drop players. Teams may try some trades to improve their add/drop options. Will a team (or two) surprise and drop their entire roster? Will a really good player be dropped due to money considerations? We saw that last year with a player like Riley Newman being dropped. But the big mystery will come down to who bids big for Dylan Frazier, Gabe Tardio, and JW Johnson (or Tyra Black). Will a team like Palm Beach spend big to get off to a flying start? Will Dallas and St. Louis defend their status as top teams by spending whatever it takes to reclaim their top players? Will another team surprise and aggressively enter the auction?

 

It is going to be a lot of fun to watch the maneuvers being made. There will be talent dropped and good players available in the auction. Teams will have a chance to improve if they want to spend the money to do so. Who will step up?

 

Follow me on X @pickleball_jim for updates and breaking news.