Paddle of the Year 2025 Awards | Best Pickleball Paddles (First Annual)

RPM Friction Pro, Honolulu Pickleball J2NF, Ronbus Quanta R2, Six Zero Coral, Pickleball Apes Harmony, Franklin C45, Luzz Cannon, Gearbox GX2 Power, Bread & Butter Loco…these are the paddles that defined 2025.

0:00 – Intro & What Defined 2025
1:03 – Setting the Stage: The Year in Paddles
2:03 – Best Power Paddle: Runner-Up
2:59 – Best Power Paddle: Winner
3:40 – Best Power Paddle: Community Pick
4:12 – Best All-Court Paddle: Runner-Up
5:13 – Best All-Court Paddle: Winner
5:52 – Best All-Court Paddle: Community Pick
6:49 – Best Control Paddle: Runner-Up
7:29 – Best Control Paddle: Winner
8:17 – Best Control Paddle: Community Pick
8:45 – Best Value Paddle: Runner-Up
9:25 – Best Value Paddle: Winner
10:06 – Best Value Paddle: Community Pick
10:36 – Most Underrated Paddle: Runner-Up
12:11 – Most Underrated Paddle: Winner
13:06 – Most Underrated Paddle: Community Pick
13:37 – Wanted to Love But Didn’t: Runner-Up
14:43 – Wanted to Love But Didn’t: Winner
15:29 – Wanted to Love But Didn’t: Community Pick
15:50 – Best Elongated Shape
16:55 – Best Hybrid Shape
17:39 – Best Widebody/Standard Shape
18:42 – Best Bag: Runner-Up
19:35 – Best Bag: Winner
20:34 – Paddle of the Year: Runner-Up
22:06 – Paddle of the Year: Winner
23:48 – Paddle of the Year: Community Pick
24:11 – Outro & Thank You

After testing over 200 paddles this year, I’m breaking down the best pickleball paddles across 8 categories: Best Power, Best All-Court, Best Control, Best Value, Most Underrated, Wanted to Love But Didn’t, Best by Shape, and Paddle of the Year. For each category, I’m sharing my runner-up and winner, then revealing what over 1,000 of you voted as the top community pick at mattspickleball.com.

This year, full foam cores went from experimental to legitimate. Brands like Ronbus, Vatic Pro, and Bread & Butter proved you don’t need to spend $300 to get elite performance. And paddles like the J2NF and Friction Pro showed that power and control don’t have to be a trade-off.

Whether you’re looking for the best elongated paddle, best hybrid, best value under $100, or just want to see if we agree on Paddle of the Year – this episode covers it all.

Use code **MPB** at checkout to save on any paddle mentioned in this video (except Selkirk, use code INF-MPB).

Starting January 1st, live voting for 2026 Community Picks opens at mattspickleball.com – vote for your favorites and help shape next year’s awards.

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🔥 PADDLE DISCOUNTS (Code MPB works on most)
→ ←

Selkirk (INF-MPB) →
JOOLA (10% OFF) →
CRBN (10% OFF) →
Franklin (10% OFF) →
Diadem (10% OFF) →
Ronbus ($20 OFF) →
Six Zero (10% OFF) →
Vatic Pro ($10 OFF) →
Bread & Butter (15% OFF) →
Pickleball Apes (10% OFF) →
Mark Pickleball (10% OFF) →
Spartus (10% OFF, code MPB) →
11SIX24 (10% OFF) →
Chorus (10% OFF) →
Thrive (10% OFF) →
Maverix (15% OFF) →
Neonic (10% OFF) →
Reload (10% OFF) →
FORWRD (KTCHN, 10% OFF) →
Honolulu Pickleball (10% OFF) →

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