Game-Changing D.C. Pickleball Team Swap: In April 2025, a rare ownership swap took place between two Major League Pickleball teams: the Brooklyn Aces and the D.C. Pickleball Team. The Brooklyn Aces, previously owned by Boardroom Sport Holdings’ Rich Kleiman and NBA player Kevin Durant, are now run by the group that once owned the D.C. team.
In return, Kleiman and Durant now own the D.C. Pickleball Team. The trade came together after a phone call between real estate investor Al Tylis and Rich Kleiman. Both sides agreed the swap would help each group better connect with their home markets and strengthen the sport’s growth.
“When you say it, it does sound kind of cool to think about. And I think the idea of it, when you own a team in an emerging league like this, it’s all very new as you’re doing it. … To be able to be making a move like that, it was fun. The idea of it was fun.” – (Kleiman told ESPN)
Why the Ownership Swap Happened
Rich Kleiman and Kevin Durant first bought the Brooklyn Aces in October 2022. At the time, Kevin Durant played for the Brooklyn Nets, and Kleiman liked owning a team in New York. But Durant is originally from Washington, D.C., and does a lot of community work there through his foundation, Thirty-Five Ventures.
Al Tylis, who grew up in Coney Island, New York, called Rich Kleiman two months before the deal with an idea: switch team locations. Kleiman said, “I wasn’t expecting that call, and I didn’t necessarily know how possible that was. But as soon as I heard it, it instantly made sense to me and was something that I wanted to pursue.”
Tylis’ group, which includes NFL player Odell Beckham Jr., former NBA players Rip Hamilton and Shawn Marion, MLB pitcher Justin Verlander, and sports executive Sam Porter, all have strong ties to D.C. and Brooklyn. They found themselves hosting more and more events in D.C., but since most of them live in Brooklyn, they wanted a team in their home city.
Al Tylis explained, “Every time we would be doing events in the Washington, D.C., area, we would say, jeez this is great, we’re getting so much fan engagement, so much interest in the community. But how much more can we even do if it was in our backyard?”
“When you’re trying to build from the ground up in a grassroots way, feels like there’s no substitute to being physically in market for the vast majority of the year as opposed to traveling to market and eventually coming back.” – (Tylis TOLD ESPN)
Kevin Durant’s Strong Ties to D.C.
Rich Kleiman has managed Kevin Durant since 2012 and is also his business partner at Thirty-Five Ventures. When Kleiman first told Durant about the idea, Durant was happy about it. Kleiman said, “Kevin flashed a big smile on FaceTime and said: ‘Yes, let’s do this in D.C.’”
Kleiman added, “I love the entire DMV area and I’ve got so comfortable over my career working there. I know the area very well. But, of course Kevin’s affinity for his hometown, his mom and dad being there, running his organization and the amount of work that we do and continue to do in the community. It was like a no-brainer once that was presented to me.”
After getting Durant’s approval, Kleiman reached out to his business partners, investors, and sponsors. He said it was “a little bit of a process,” but everyone supported the idea. Kleiman and Tylis also play pickleball together often, which helped them build trust.
They took the proposal to the board of the United Pickleball Association, which runs Major League Pickleball and the Professional Pickleball Association. The board approved the swap.
Al Tylis said, “I think everybody quickly realized, as I was sort of saying at the outset, this is a win for Kevin, Rich and their crew. It’s a win for us, and it’s a win for the league.”
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Looking Toward the Future
Major League Pickleball began in September 2021. The league is still new, and both groups see this move as a chance to grow their fan bases. Al Tylis said, “We’re taking [an] extended view of this. And over the rest of the nine-inning game, us being able to grow our fan base in New York, in Brooklyn in particular, is going to be far greater for the rest of this than it would be if we were in D.C. And I think the same is true for the now D.C. team.”
Right now, Major League Pickleball hosts games in different cities. Teams do not have their own home courts yet. But Al Tylis hopes that changes soon.
He said, “I do believe that at the pace we’re growing and the interest in the sport and the growth in it that we’re going to get to a point where we all do have home facilities and courts. And that’s an incremental reason why being able to do something in your backyard where we could someday build our own stadium that houses the Brooklyn pickleball team but also does other events pickleball related or otherwise in the community.”
With his background in real estate, Al Tylis believes he can help build a stadium for the Brooklyn team. Rich Kleiman, meanwhile, is focused on helping grow the game in the Washington, D.C., area and introducing the sport to new fans through Kevin Durant’s foundation and community ties.
News in Brief: Game-Changing D.C. Pickleball Team Swap
Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman traded ownership of their Brooklyn Aces pickleball team for the D.C. Pickleball Team with Al Tylis’ group. The move helps both sides connect with their local communities. The deal, approved by the United Pickleball Association, could shape the future of pro pickleball.
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