Ben Johns Trade Shocks The Pickleball World And Raises Questions

I was initially going to include this as a part of the weekend’s recap, but ended up writing enough to make it stand alone.

In the middle of the weekend’s event in St. Louis last weekend, the Major League Pickleball world was shocked by the biggest trade in the history of the league. Ben Johns, the No. 1 Draft pick in the 2024 player disbursal draft and who cost his team $840k at the time, was traded in a complex three-team deal.

Here’s the inter-connected moves we saw over the weekend:

• LA picked up Brandon French off waivers to fill the contract-terminated Quang Duong’s sport on their roster.
• Carolina Hogs trade Ben Johns & Etta Tuionetoa to LA Mad Drops for Brandon French, Danna Funaro, and cash.
• Then, LA trades Tuionetoa to Utah, getting bench player Mehvish Safdar and cash.

Post moves, here’s the rosters of the three teams involved:

• LA Mad Drops: Ben Johns, Hunter Johnson, Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto, with Mehvish Safdar and Wes Burrows as bench players.
• Utah Black Diamonds: Etta Tuionetoa, Connor Garnett, Tyler Loong, Allyce Jones, with Genie Erokhina and Yates Johnson as bench players.
• Carolina Hogs: Roscoe Bellamy, Tammy Emmrich, Liz Truluck, Martin Emmrich, with Danna Funaro and Brandon French as bench players.

Quick thoughts here. Johns was clearly languishing on a second-division team, and even previous roster shakeups (dropping Collin and trading for his old partner Etta) didn’t move the needle enough. This move certainly does. LA, who received “credit” for their 2025 acquisition of Duong, probably sent a massive amount of money to Carolina to “buy” Johns here and really re-shape the landscape of the league. These dollar figures of “cash considerations” are never revealed, but rumors are that the maximum amount of money that can be included in a deal is $200k.

How good is LA now? Pretty darn good. Johns pairs with the improving doubles player Johnson and will improve their chances to win in Men’s. Parenteau & Kawamoto are 15-4 in Women’s doubles right now, one of the best teams in the league. Now, Johns will play alongside one of the best ladies in the business in Mixed, and will represent a very tough out for whoever Mixed No. 1 matchup he gets. Lastly, the Mad Drops are now inarguably the most dangerous DreamBreaker team in the league, boasting three top 4 ranked singles players on their roster. Are they now favorites to win the league? I wouldn’t go that far, but I also wouldn’t want to match up with them in the playoffs. They currently sit 6th, and probably could get up to 4th if they win out.

Meanwhile, Tuionetoa was surplus to requirements to LA, despite being a top player. The Mad Drops couldn’t keep her, so they flipped her to Utah to recoup some of the cash outlay sent to Carolina. Moving to Utah makes a ton of sense for Etta, who is based in Utah (along with fellow teammates Loong and Allyce) and gives them a real hometown feel of players. It also certainly improves Utah, who has been starting Erokhina all year with limited results (she’s 11-29 overall and just 4-16 in Women’s).

Lastly, Carolina, who showed flashes of competence to jump from 16th place to 11th place in the standings last month, now joins SoCal and NY as one of the weakest teams in the league.

Not everyone was a fan of this move. Early last week, the league moved its trade deadline, and the timing of that decision and this trade seems convenient. Shock owner Chaifetz was a bit more blunt, posting on twitter “Let’s call this trade what it is. Orchestrated collusion.” He later softened/clarified that take, but the frustration is real. the Mad Drops now have a roster that would have cost more than $1.8 million to put together at the beginning of 2024, nearly double the original salary cap, and it seems highly unlikely that Carolina recouped even the 50% retainer cost of Johns in this transaction, meaning the Mad Drops got a sweetheart deal to add the top male player in the sport.

At the end of the day, moves like this may be liked by some, disliked by others, but overall increase the engagement of fans across the sport, which is never a bad thing. For neutrals, the prospect of a fourth team being added to the mix for title favorites is never a bad thing.