2026 MLP Draft Preview: The Top Available Players, Ranked by DUPR

The 2026 MLP Draft is taking place at 10am ET on Friday, February 27th. There will be a reaction show that airs on pickleballtv, Sunday, March 1st, at noon ET, involving Dave Fleming and others.

The Dink will have a draft recap article ready a couple hours after the draft concludes on Friday and I am sure Zane and Nico will discuss the draft in detail on the PicklePod podcast. They will also be doing a rapid reaction video right after the draft as well.

General rules of the draft

First, every team must have at least four roster spots filled before any teams can start bidding for their fifth or sixth player. 

There are 28 draft slots in the “first round” of the draft - 16 women and 12 men. The first round meaning all of the draft picks to get all teams to at least four rostered players.

The second round will consist of 38 more draft picks so every team can get to six total rostered players. The minimum bid in the first round is $10k and the minimum bid in the second round is $1k.

Next, the draft is a dynamic bidding process. In the draft room, teams can see what other teams are bidding and how much the bids are going for. Remember that the bids are for a specific draft slot - not a player. So teams are bidding on a slot, and then once they win it, they choose a player.

Where does the money go? The money goes back to the league. Remember the teams do not pay their players’ salaries, the UPA does. So the money derived from the draft slots and then in later years, the keeper costs, go to the league.

So who will get drafted?

As previously mentioned, there are 16 woman draft spots available in the first round and 12 male spots, for a total of 28 picks.

Here is a breakdown of what every team needs to get to four rostered players:

• Atlanta Bouncers: One woman
• Bay Area Breakers: One woman and one man
• Brooklyn Pickleball Team: One man
• California Black Bears: One woman and two men
• Carolina Hogs: Four roster spots taken
• Chicago Slice: Two women
• Columbus Sliders: One woman
• Dallas Flash: One woman
• Florida Smash: One woman
• LA Mad Drops: Four roster spots taken
• Las Vegas Night Owls: Four roster spots taken (and they have a fifth)
• Miami Pickleball Club: One woman and one man
• New Jersey 5s: One woman
• Orlando Squeeze: One man
• Palm Beach Royals: One man
• Phoenix Flames: One woman and two men
• SoCal Hard 8s: Two women and two men
• St. Louis Shock - One woman
• Texas Ranchers - Two women
• Utah Black Diamonds - One man

For a full breakdown of each team’s roster and their most glaring need, check out our article after the keeper deadline:

Usually I would do a draft big board, but this is my first year being a General Manager of a team (the California Black Bears), so I can’t really give away too many of my opinions of players. Instead, I asked DUPR to give me the top 20 men and women available in the draft. Here it is.

Top 20 available men & women, by DUPR:

Tune in to The Dink’s email newsletter on Friday to see which players were picked by which teams and for what price.