Major League Pickleball announced what could go down as one of the most impactful trades of the season so far on Tuesday morning between the Texas Ranchers (8-6, 27pts) and the Carolina Hogs (2-12, 7pts).

Here are the details:

• Carolina acquires Etta Tuionetoa.
• Texas receives Kaitlyn Christian and cash considerations.
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Let’s get into how this move impacts each team’s roster.

Carolina: Ben Johns, Martin Emmrich, Roscoe Bellamy, Etta Tuionetoa, Tamaryn Emmrich, Liz Truluck

Tuionetoa joins Carolina after posting a 14-10 record with Texas in 2025. Despite being ranked just No. 31 in the MLP player standings, she will be a massive upgrade for a Carolina team that has struggled on the women’s side in both gender and mixed doubles.

I would expect her to play mixed doubles with Ben Johns to give the Hogs what should be a very strong No. 1 mixed doubles team. The two struck gold at both PPA events they played together in 2024, and it’s hard to imagine many other mixed pairings beating them in MLP.

Bringing in Tuionetoa should also make it much more realistic for Carolina to force DreamBreakers against good teams, which is something that they have struggled to do so far this year.

The issue, however, is that they no longer have Kaitlyn Christian, who has a lot of value in DreamBreakers as the No. 3 ranked women’s singles player on the PPA Tour (more on this later).

Neither Tuionetoa nor Tammy Emmrich—the Hogs’ projected starters after this trade—are known for their singles prowess. This could prove to be a liability for a team that will need every point it can muster as it looks to overcome an abysmal start to the season and make a push for the playoffs.

Carolina will next be in action at MLP New York, set to run July 3-6.

Texas: Christian Alshon, Eric Oncins, Wyatt Stone, Tina Pisnik, Kaitlyn Christian, Felicity Di Laura

Just as Carolina made this move to improve in doubles, Texas made the deal to get better in singles.

The Ranchers are 0-3 in DreamBreakers so far this season, and adding the aforementioned singles specialist in Christian should help rewrite that narrative.

Christian is certainly not a strong in doubles as Tuionetoa, so the Ranchers may not win as many matches in regulation as they have up to this point, but they should be much better suited to win DreamBreakers with this new lineup.

One thing to watch going forward is what Texas does in mixed doubles. Pisnik and Oncins have been playing mixed together so far this season, but now Alshon and Pisnik are the team’s best mixed partnership, on paper.

Pisnik/Oncins are 9-5 together, and Pisnik/Alshon went 3-1 at the lone MLP event where they played together for Texas in 2024.

It will be worth monitoring whether Pisnik/Oncins stay together, or if Pisnik/Alshon reunite going forward.

The Ranchers’ next outing will be the Edward Jones MLP Mid-Season Tournament, set to run July 9-13.