Major League Pickleball on Tuesday released the list of keeper selections from each team in advance of next month's free agency draft.

League rules mandated that each team drop at least one player from their 2024 season-ending roster, and those decisions were submitted to MLP on Sunday.

Premier and Challenger Level free agency in two weeks will be operated by dynamic bidding for each selection slot to claim eligible players who are not on a roster. This gives teams the chance to utilize whatever bidding strategy they see fit in order to build the best full roster, in a process similar to the 2024 Premier Level draft.

Premier Level teams will acquire between four and six players (depending on how many players they kept) during the free agency draft on Sunday, March 2 -- tentatively scheduled to begin at noon.

Challenger Level free agency will be held the following day, also tentatively scheduled to begin at noon.

Major League Pickleball officials said Tuesday that there are ongoing discussions with a handful of players about signing UPA contracts, which is required in order for a player to be eligible to play in MLP this season. If a team dropped an unsigned player and that player ends up signing with UPA before the free agency draft, that team will have the option to retain the player.

Major League Pickleball 2025 keeper selections

Premier Level Teams

Atlanta Bouncers

Kept: Todd Fought, Vivian Glozman, Jaume Martinez Vich // Did Not Keep: Emily Cederquist

The Bouncers acquired Glozman in a trade over the weekend, and in doing so got a very strong women's player to pair with Fought, who has historically played well in MLP, and Vich, who has had strong results on the PPA Tour so far this year.

Carolina Pickleball Club

Kept: Kaitlyn Christian, Ben Johns, Collin Johns // Did Not Keep: Yana Newell

As of now Newell is not signed with UPA, so this was an easy decision for Carolina.

Chicago Slice

Kept: None // Did Not Keep: Megan Fudge, Allison Harris, Brendon Long, Jack Munro

Unfortunately for Chicago, none of the players on the roster are signed with UPA, so they'll be starting from scratch on March 2.

Columbus Sliders

Kept: Andrei Daescu, Carson “CJ” Klinger, Parris Todd // Did Not Keep: Callie Smith

This wasn't a surprising move from Columbus, who made huge moves to acquire Daescu from the Phoenix Flames and Klinger from the New York Hustlers during the pre-draft trade window. Todd has also had strong recent results with a gold in women's singles and bronze in women's doubles two weeks ago at the Tucson Open. 

D.C. Pickleball Team

Kept: Dekel Bar, Jackie Kawamoto, Rachel Rohrabacher // Did Not Keep: James Ignatowich

This one looked like it was going to be a tough decision for D.C. after the season ended last year, but Ignatowich has not had great results recently and has been dealing with a back injury early this season. But if he can post some good results at this week's PPA Tour Mesa Cup, he'll be high on everybody's draft board on March 2.

Dallas Flash

Kept: Hurricane Tyra Black, Jorja Johnson, JW Johnson // Did Not Keep: Augustus “Augie” Ge

The defending champs also had a painful decision to make after all four team members had great years in 2024. Ultimately, though, Ge was the clear choice given the Johnson siblings' success together in mixed and strong results from Black in recent months.

Los Angeles Mad Drops

Kept: Hunter Johnson, Jade Kawamoto, Catherine Parenteau // Did Not Keep: Thomas Wilson

This decision was pretty much made for the Mad Drops with Wilson's ongoing health issues. He did say earlier this month that he hoped to recover from a breathing issue that kept him out for the last half of 2024 and eventually get back onto the court. But it didn't sound like that would happen anytime soon.

Miami Pickleball Club

Kept: Eric Oncins, Milan Rane // Did Not Keep: Noe Khlif, Bobbi Oshiro

Khlif was not eligible to be kept because he wasn't one of the 88 players originally drafted in 2024, but he will be included in the player pool for the free agency draft. Oshiro is not currently signed with UPA.

New Jersey 5s

Kept: Will Howells, Zane Navratil, Anna Leigh Waters // Did Not Keep: Amanda Hendry

The 5s tipped their hand earlier this week when they traded away Mari Humberg in exchange for Hendry, who isn't UPA signed.

New York Hustlers

Kept: None // Did Not Keep: Susannah Barr, Lea Jansen, Riley Newman, Jack Sock

This was the most surprising move of all, as New York is electing to start from scratch on March 2 when they had several accomplished players they could have kept. But they collected cash by trading away Vivian Glozman to Atlanta and sending CJ Klinger to Columbus in exchange for Newman. We'll see if they are big spenders in the draft to try to rebuild a competitive team. 

Orlando Squeeze

Kept: Dylan Frazier, Lacy Schneemann, Federico Staksrud // Did Not Keep: Vivienne David

David was among the top-tier of women's players heading into last season, but hasn't played many PPAs as of late, while Schneemann has posted several solid results recently, including golds in both women's and mixed at the PPA Australia Pickleball Open. Frazier and Staksrud are good friends who train together often, so keeping them together was expected.

Phoenix Flames -- Kept: Meghan Dizon, Jessie Irvine, Tyson McGuffin // Did Not Keep: Jay Devilliers

Phoenix made a surprising trade last week, sending Daescu to Columbus in exchange for Devilliers and cash. We'll see if they use that cash to grab another top men's player in the free-agency draft.

SoCal Hard Eights

Kept: Judit Castillo, Erik Lange, Irina Tereschenko // Did Not Keep: Max Manthou

Manthou is not signed with UPA, so this was an easy one for SoCal.

St. Louis Shock

Kept: Anna Bright, Hayden Patriquin, Gabriel Tardio // Did Not Keep: Kate Fahey

This predicament for St. Louis was the topic of much discussion recently because their team was so strong with the four players they had. In the end, it seems they couldn't risk breaking up Patriquin and Tardio, who are arguably the best men's team in the league.

Texas Ranchers

Kept: Christian Alshon, Tina Pisnik, Etta Wright // Did Not Keep: Quang Duong

It appears Texas had the opposite theory of St. Louis, electing to ride with Pisnik and Wright as one of the top women's teams in MLP. Duong will likely be a target in the draft for several teams looking for a strong men's player.

Utah Black Diamonds

Kept: Connor Garnett, Tyler Loong, Alix Truong // Did Not Keep: Genie Bouchard

No surprises here, although Bouchard has posted better results as of late. It will be interesting to see how much Utah spends in the draft after spending the least amount of any team in the 2024 Premier Level draft.

Challenger Level Teams

Bay Area Breakers -- Kept: Allyce Jones // Did Not Keep: Jill Braverman, Martin Emmrich, Collin Shick

Brooklyn Aces -- Kept: Daniel De La Rosa, Mariana Humberg, Andrea Koop // Did Not Keep: Blaine Hovenier

California Black Bears -- Kept: Rafa Hewett, Lina Padegimaite, Layne Sleeth // Did Not Keep: Brandon French

Florida Smash -- Kept: Martina Frantova, Travis Rettenmaier // Did Not Keep: Christa Gecheva, Donald Young

Las Vegas Night Owls -- Kept: Brooke Buckner, Pablo Tellez, Chao Yi “Zoey” Wang // Did Not Keep: Chris Haworth

Nashville Pandas -- Kept: Ewa Radzikowska // Did Not Keep: Stefan Auvergne, Tammy Emmrich, Michael Loyd

The expansion to six-person rosters for the 16 Premier Level teams is a major development and will allow teams the flexibility to make lineup changes on a day-to-day basis as well as make substitutions in the event of injuries.

As the rule stands now, Premier Level teams must set their daily lineup the day before each match day, but that rule could change in the future, MLP officials said. In the case of an injury during an event, a Premier Level team can use their bench player of the same gender as an injury replacement.

In this scenario, the injury replacement must play in all team matches for the remainder of that day, in addition to all team matches on the following day (i.e.: a player serving as a mid-match injury replacement on Thursday must also play all Friday matches, but the originally injured player is eligible to be in the team’s Saturday and Sunday lineups, if applicable).