Los Angeles Mad Drops, Chicago Slice make first trade of Major League Pickleball offseason

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Jan 30 2026

Updated rosters

LOS ANGELES MAD DROPS
Men: Ben Johns, Max Freeman, Wes Burrows
Women: Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto, Mehvish Safdar

CHICAGO SLICE
Men: Hunter Johnson, Carlos Di Laura
Women: Callie Smith, Pierina Imparato

Analysis

Chicago is eligible to keep Johnson, as they did not have two players from the 2024 Draft eligible to be kept. Because former Slice members James Ignatowich and Vivian Glozman had their contracts terminated in December, Chicago will have multiple roster spots to fill in the free-agency draft, which is scheduled for Feb. 27. The cash component of this trade will help in that regard.

For Los Angeles, the trade means Ben Johns and Max Freeman will team up for the first time. The two were supposed to play at least one PPA Tour event together in 2025, but because Freeman's contract discussions took longer than anticipated, Johns ended up going with Gabe Tardio for most of his events in 2025 (that worked out OK).

Freeman and Johnson are similar doubles players on paper -- Johnson is No. 25 in men's doubles and No. 19 in mixed doubles in the 52-week PPA Tour points standings. Freeman is No. 28 in men's and No. 23 in mixed. In singles, Johnson is No. 1 and Freeman is No. 25.

We may see more teams target "singles specialists" after MLP announced recently that teams can use all six of their players in the same match. Here's the new rule on lineup changes:

- Teams may set a starting lineup for a match that utilizes more than four players as long as it is part of the lineup submission (for example, teams may use a different male player for men’s doubles and mixed doubles).

- If necessary, DreamBreaker lineups will be determined by teams following the second mixed game, and teams may choose any four players from their roster -- two men and two women -- regardless of any substitutions used during doubles. League officials said they made this change after receiving feedback from teams that wanted to utilize their complete roster within a single match, should they choose.

Even with the downgrade in singles, the Mad Drops will likely be one of the favorites heading into the 2026 season, as they made the semifinals in 2025 after trading for Ben Johns at the trade deadline. The Slice did not make the playoffs in 2025.

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