At first glance, the 2024 Major League Pickleball season looks like one to forget for the Utah Black Diamonds.

With seven Premier level teams still having matches to play, the Black Diamonds have already locked up last place in most metrics in the Premier level standings.

But the true story of Utah’s season lies beyond the results; it follows a saga filled with trades, financially savvy moves, and big plans for the club’s future.

Let’s get into it.

Roster turnover

Utah, like all teams, began its 2024 campaign with the draft back in April. After four rounds of the dynamic bidding process, the Black Diamonds ended up with a squad featuring Tyson McGuffin, Callie Smith, Tyler Loong, and Alix Truong.

Those players seemed to be a good geographical fit for the team representing the Beehive State; Smith, Loong, and Truong all reside in Utah, while McGuffin lives not too far away in Idaho.

One issue, however, was the dynamic between McGuffin and Loong. They have a long-standing feud, which would have made it difficult for them to share the court together. As a result, the Black Diamonds traded McGuffin to the Orlando Squeeze in exchange for Jay Devilliers (and cash, which we’ll discuss later) before their first match of the year at MLP D.C.

As the matches began, so did the struggles on the court. Utah lost its first six matches across MLP D.C. and the Mid-Season Tournament before trading Devilliers to the Columbus Sliders in exchange for Connor Garnett.

The move made sense on the surface, given that Garnett had previously medaled with both Loong and Truong on the PPA Tour earlier in the year. It quickly paid off, as Garnett helped Utah earn its first victory in his opening match with the team at MLP Salt Lake City.

The Black Diamonds were much more competitive from that point on, but never really threatened to make a playoff push.

Despite being the first team to be eliminated from postseason contention, they continued to be one of the most active teams in the trade market.

Right before the trade deadline in late September, the Black Diamonds made three moves that ended with Utah trading Smith to Columbus and picking up Genie Bouchard a few days later during the final waiver period.

Those were the Black Diamonds’ final moves before finishing out their season at MLP Las Vegas with a roster of Garnett, Loong, Truong, and Bouchard.

Despite a rough year from a standings perspective, Garnett is in it for the long haul in Utah.

“After being traded I feel like I found my fit on the Utah Black Diamonds,” he shared on social media. “We are improving every tournament, and I’m looking forward to next year.”

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Connor Garnett (@congarnett)

 

Money matters

We can’t talk about the Black Diamonds’ season without mentioning money.

Going all the way back to the Premier level draft, Utah was the only team not to dip into any of its own money to bid on pick selections. Each team was given 500K ‘points’ to bid with, and teams could pay to get a maximum of 500K more on top of that.

The Black Diamonds used only a combined 497K on their four picks, which might explain why they didn’t get to make their first selection until midway through the second round.

Now, to how they handled money in trades.

Utah received financial compensation in five of the six trades it executed in 2024; the only one where there was no money on the table was the aforementioned Devilliers-Garnett deal, which was strictly player-for-player.

On top of that, they also received $100 thousand from the Texas Ranchers for the first overall selection in Waiver Period 1, which the Ranchers used to add Quang Duong to their roster back in June.

The Black Diamonds certainly ‘won’ in the financial department.

Building for the future

We’ve established that this year was a tough one on the pickleball court for Utah.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there isn’t reason to be optimistic about the team’s future prospects.

In July, the team unveiled its plans for the Utah Pickleball Center, which will serve as a training center for the Black Diamonds and a venue for future PPA Tour events in South Jordan, UT.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Utah Black Diamonds (@utahblackdiamonds)

 

Utah owner and general manager Connor Pardoe reminded naysayers of that reality on Twitter/X after receiving backlash for the keen interest in money his team has shown throughout this season.

This one is for the UBD haters who are upset about us making trades and being smart with $. …. do you know another team that is investing in a $28M + home facility? Maybe we care the most…. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/RikNLrneX8

— Connor Pardoe (@connorpardoe_pb) October 3, 2024

The facility is expected to open in October 2025.

In a more recent forward-looking move, the team made longtime pro and pickleball icon Ryan Sherry its head coach.

The 2024 season may not have gone the way the Black Diamonds would have liked, but there are plenty of reasons to be excited for Utah going into 2025 and beyond.