Live updates: 2026 Major League Pickleball draft
Last Edited
Feb 27 2026
Category
News
The Major League Pickleball free-agency draft is scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. ET.
All teams made their keeper selections earlier this month, and there are now 66 open roster spots to fill during the draft. The order will be determined by a bidding process similar to past years. You can watch a live stream of the draft on the Major League Pickleball YouTube page.
Read next: Ranking the best players available in the 2026 Major League Pickleball free-agency draft
- The initial 28 picks of the draft will be dedicated to filling the first two female and first two male roster slots on teams that did not keep at least two of each (16 female / 12 male to be selected).
- The final 38 picks will be used toward open 5th and 6th roster slots (18 female / 20 male to be selected).
Following the draft: Trade Window #2 will open on Monday, March 2, at 10 a.m. ET.
New this season, teams can use all six players on their roster in a match. That means we will likely see teams use their picks for their 5th/6th players to draft "singles specialists." We also could see instances where one player only plays men's doubles and not mixed doubles, or other flexible roster configurations.
Below is a running list of draft selections, which team they were drafted to, and how much the team spent on the pick.
Stay tuned for more MLP draft coverage later in the day on Friday.
2026 Major League Pickleball draft selections
1. Anna Bright, St. Louis Shock, $1.23 million. New Jersey and St. Louis were in a bidding war for the No. 1 overall pick. St. Louis eventually won out. Columbus was also in the bidding up until about $600,000.
2. Jorja Johnson, New Jersey 5s, $800,000. Dallas was the main competition for this pick.
3. Danni-Elle Townsend, Columbus Sliders, $180,000. Texas and Dallas were also in the bidding.
4. Lea Jansen, Texas Ranchers, $105,000. California and Dallas were also involved.
5. Ting Chieh Wei, Chicago Slice, $75,000.
6. Mari Humberg, Chicago Slice, $90,000.
7. Dylan Frazier, Brooklyn Pickleball Team, $170,000.
8. Jack Sock, Orlando Squeeze, $105,000.
9. Tama Shimabukuro, Utah Black Diamonds, $125,000.
10. Jonathan Truong, Phoenix Flames, $85,000.
11. Meghan Dizon, SoCal Hard Eights, $85,000.
12. Tyson McGuffin, Palm Beach Royals, $65,000.
13. Cailyn Campbell, SoCal Hard Eights, $65,000.
14. Armaan Bhatia, SoCal Hard Eights, $40,000.
15. Kiora Kunimoto, California Black Bears, $45,000.
16. Camden Chaffin, Phoenix Flames, $35,000.
17. Will MacKinnon, SoCal Hard Eights, $40,000.
18. Len Yang, Bay Area Breakers, $35,000.
19. Callie Smith, Dallas Flash, $50,000.
20. Daria Walczak, Atlanta Bouncers, $45,000.
21. Judit Castillo Gargallo, Phoenix Flames, $45,000.
22. Sahra Dennehy, Texas Ranchers, $35,000.
23. Genie Bouchard, Florida Smash, $20,000.
24. Chris Haworth, California Black Bears, $30,000.
25. Nico Acevedo, Miami Pickleball Club, $10,000.
26. Ella Yeh, Bay Area Breakers, $10,000.
27. Estee Widdershoven, Miami Pickleball Club, $10,000.
28. Mohamed Anouar Braham, California Black Bears, $10,000.
--- This marks the point where every team had four "starters" ---
29. John Lucian Goins, St. Louis Shock, $25,000.
30. Elsie Hendershot, St. Louis Shock, $28,000.
31. Braden Jacobson, Las Vegas Night Owls, $30,000.
32. Jalina Ingram, Chicago Slice, $35,000.
33. Luca Mack, Texas Ranchers, $26,000.
34. Donald Young, Atlanta Bouncers, $24,000.
35. Michael Loyd, California Black Bears, $21,000.
36. Gabriel Joseph, Los Angeles Mad Drops, $18,000.
37. Emma Nelson, California Black Bears, $21,000.
38. Wyatt Stone, Phoenix Flames, $18,000.
39. Victoria Di Muzio, Utah Black Diamonds, $17,000.
40. Alex Walker, Orlando Squeeze, $11,000.
41. Tom Protzek, Chicago Slice, $17,000.
42. Alli Phillips, Columbus Sliders, $15,000.
43. Rafa Lenhard, SoCal Hard Eights, $14,000.
44. Clayton Powell, Miami Pickleball Club, $11,000.
45. Matthew Barlow, Brooklyn Pickleball Club, $11,000.
46. Alexa Schull, Phoenix Flames, $11,000.
47. Zoey Weil, Florida Smash, $10,000.
48. Genie Erokhina, Bay Area Breakers, $11,000.
49. Luc Pham, Bay Area Breakers, $9,000.
50. Alex Crum, Columbus Sliders, $9,000.
51. Ava Cavataio, Texas Ranchers, $10,000.
52. Yates Johnson, Orlando Squeeze, $7,000.
53. Chris Crouch, Florida, $5,000.
54. Aiko Yoshitomi, Miami Pickleball Club, $4,000.
55. Naomi Phuong Nguyen, SoCal Hard Eights, $4,000.
56. Ivan Jakovljevic, Dallas Flash, $4,000.
57. Samantha Parker, Dallas Flash, $5,000.
58. Martin Emmrich, New Jersey 5s, $2,000.
59. Tyler Loong, Utah Black Diamonds, $2,000.
60. Tamaryn Emmrich, Palm Beach Royals, $2,000.
61. Keilly Ulery, Atlanta Bouncers, $2,000.
62. Paula Rives Palau, Los Angeles Mad Drops, $2,000.
63. Grayson Goldin, Palm Beach Royals, $1,000.
64. Lina Padegimaite, New Jersey 5s, $1,000.
65. Brandon French, Carolina Hogs, $1,000.
66. Isabella Dunlap, Carolina Hogs, $1,000.
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