Jack Sock hits a backhand flick.
Jack Sock was one of four players dropped at the Player Keeper Deadline that was also taken in the first round of the 2024 Premier Level draft. Major League Pickleball

Hustlers drop entire roster, and Shock say goodbye to Fahey: All the moves from the MLP Player Keeper Deadline

The Player Keeper Deadline for the 2025 MLP season has officially passed, and we now have the results.

All teams were allowed to keep up to three players from last season, as long as they pay MLP half the amount of draft capital initially spent to select that player via the dynamic bidding process.

To be eligible to be kept, a player must:

  • 1.     Be under UPA contract through at least 2025
  • 2.     Be one of the 88 originally drafted players from 2024
  • 3.     Not have been waived at any point during the 2024 season
  • 4.     Have ended the season on a team roster
  •  

Each team was also required to drop at least one player from its roster at the Player Keeper Deadline.

Every player that was dropped—as well as every other UPA-contracted player not on an MLP roster—will have a chance to be drafted during the Premier Level and Challenger Level drafts, which will take place on Mar. 2 and Mar. 3, respectively.

I’ve listed—by level and team—which players were kept and dropped, as well as the general reason for each drop.

I’ve also included each player’s keeper cost. If a player’s cost is not listed, it means that they were either taken in the Challenger draft in 2024 or picked up off of waivers at some point last season. In both cases, the keeper cost would be zero.

Let’s get into the details.  

 

Premier Level (6 players per team)

Atlanta Bouncers

Carolina Pickleball Club

Chicago Slice

  •          Dropped: Jack Munro, Megan Fudge, Allison Harris, Brendon Long
  •          Kept: Chicago had no players that were eligible to be kept. (Contract)
  •          $pent on Keepers: None
  •          Draft Needs: 3 males, 3 females
  •  

Columbus Sliders

  •          Dropped: Callie Smith (Team choice) ($74K)
  •          Kept: Andrei Daescu ($265K), Parris Todd ($92.5K), CJ Klinger ($1K)
  •          $pent on Keepers: $358.5K
  •          Draft Needs: 1 male, 2 females
  •  

D.C. Pickleball Team

Dallas Flash

  •          Dropped: Augie Ge (Team choice) ($10.5K)
  •          Kept: JW Johnson ($195K), Jorja Johnson ($142.5K), Tyra Black ($92.5K)
  •          $pent on Keepers: $430K
  •          Draft Needs: 2 males, 1 female
  •  

Los Angeles Mad Drops

Miami Pickleball Club

New Jersey 5s

New York Hustlers

  • Dropped: Susannah Barr (Contract), Jack Sock (Team choice) ($275K), Riley Newman (Team choice) ($275K), Lea Jansen (Team choice) ($77K)
  •          Kept: New York did not keep any players.
  •          $pent on Keepers: None
  •          Draft Needs: 3 males, 3 females
  •  

Orlando Squeeze

Phoenix Flames

SoCal Hard Eights

St. Louis Shock

  •          Dropped: Kate Fahey (Team choice) ($8.5K)
  •          Kept: Anna Bright ($295K), Hayden Patriquin (102.5K), Gabe Tardio ($92.5K)
  •          $pent on Keepers: $490K
  •          Draft Needs: 1 male, 2 females
  •  

Texas Ranchers

Utah Black Diamonds

Challenger Level (4 players per team)

Bay Area Breakers

California Black Bears

Brooklyn Aces

Florida Smash

Las Vegas Night Owls

Nashville Pandas

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