The American Pickleball village has just received a big shock when the Los Angeles Mad Drops team, the former team of the Dong Quang Duong, announced the recruitment of Ben Johns, the legendary player is considered the number one history of this sport.
The deal is like a “blockbuster” not only because of the name of Ben Johns, but also by the context that it happened immediately after Quang Duong was eliminated from the professional tournament system in the US.
Not long ago, Quang Duong was deleted by the US Pickleball Federation (UPA) from the rankings and banned competition at the Major League Pickleball (MLP) system because of violating exclusive contracts when not attending tournaments in the US but it was attended at an event in Khanh Hoa (Vietnam).
This caused Los Angeles Mad Drops to urgently find a replacement and they did not hesitate to carry out a large -scale exchange with Carolina Hogs.
In this deal, Mad Drops received Ben Johns and female tennis player Etta Tioneta, while Carolina Hogs had the Brandon French and Danka Funaro duo, with compensation up to 200,000 USD each. This is one of the “most frantic” contracts in MLP history.
Ben Johns is 26 years old, currently holding the world's No. 1 position in the men's double content and ranked 6th in the application content under the PPA Tour rankings. He owns a series of 108 unbeaten matches in the single content, the longest in history, and more than 80 titles at the PPA system, including up to 15 “Triple Crown” (champion all three men, men and women couple in a tournament). Ben Johns also won the MLP championship with the BLQK Bears, Seattle Pioners and Chicago Slice.
The presence of Ben Johns immediately turned Los Angeles Mad Drops, the team currently ranked 6th season, into a top champion candidate. He will pair with Hunter Johnson in men's doubles, next to teammates Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto, Wesley Burrows and Thomas Wilson.
Meanwhile, Quang Duong is still in Vietnam and according to information from Mr. Duc Duong (his father), the family is promoting legal procedures with Upa and affirming that Quang Duong “no need to play in the US anymore”.
The 8th week of MLP 2025 will take place from 24 to 27/7 in Dallas, Texas, where Ben Johns will have debut in the new shirt.