Major League Pickleball announces blockbuster trade between Orlando Squeeze, Phoenix Flames

Alex Lantz

Director of Written Content

Last Edited

Feb 11 2025

Updated team rosters

Orlando: Federico Staksrud, Dylan Frazier, Lacy Scheemann and Vivienne David.

Phoenix: Andrei Daescu, Tyson McGuffin, Meghan Dizon and Jessie Irvine.

Proton Sports recently bought a controlling stake in the Phoenix Flames at a valuation north of $10 million. The new ownership group includes the Arizona-based paddle brand as well as former NFL quarterback Jake Plummer and financial pro Jeff Tsao.

Dizon has been a Proton sponsored player for more than a year, so it makes sense that the new ownership group would target her in a trade to pair with fellow Proton player Daescu.

Phoenix finished 8th in the Premier League standings in 2024, while Orlando finished 9th, so both teams were looking to shake up their rosters ahead of the 2025 season, which starts in April.

As Major League Pickleball announced last month, teams are able to make trades until Feb. 15. This is the third trade we've seen since the trade window opened in January.

Every team will be also required to drop at least one player from their 2024 season-ending roster by the keeper deadline of Feb. 16.

After teams have made their keeper selections, there will be Premier and Challenger Level free agency operated by dynamic bidding for each selection slot (minimum bid amounts to be shared at a later date). 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 three and six players (depending on how many players they keep) during a free agency draft on Sunday, March 2.

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