Las Vegas' A.J. Koller Advances From 2025 Super Sub To Starter

Las Vegas–based A.J. Koller used a June 2025 emergency insertion to turn a substitute role into a resume that puts him squarely in starter conversations ahead of the MLP draft on Feb. 27, 2026. When Dekel Bar suffered a rib injury in June, Koller stepped into Brooklyn’s rotation and finished the regular season as part of the team that placed fourth, going 7-7 in men’s doubles with Riley Newman and 10-4 in mixed with Rachel Rohrabacher.

Koller’s Brooklyn run capped a two-year stretch that began with a 2024 draft snub after an injury and extended through 2025 when he again missed being selected. The 2024 skip and the 2025 oversight pushed him into a waiver-wire and onsite substitute role, a route that included covering suspended Andrei Daescu for the AZ Drive and filling in for Thomas Wilson on the LA Mad Drops when Wilson went to injured reserve in 2024.

Koller’s path to a potential 2026 starter spot is rooted in his longer MLP history. He was among the original 16 men drafted for the league’s inaugural 2021 season and captained the now-disbanded Chimeras alongside Kyle Yates, Lee Whitwell, and a very young Anna Leigh Waters. That Chimeras squad reached the first MLP final before falling to the Ben Johns-led Team BLQK, and Koller continued as a starter through the 2022 and 2023 seasons on rosters that included the Mad Drops, Jack Rabbits (now Bay Area Breakers), SoCal, and Utah.

The league’s roster mechanics have shaped Koller’s recent arc. UPA-contracted players must meet minimum event requirements, and non-MLP drafted players can collect “event credits” by serving as onsite substitutes, a system that kept Koller available for teams traveling with replacement players. Those mechanics, plus his on-court versatility, are central to the pitch that could win him a starter slot as teams reshuffle; at least 12 starting men’s positions were projected to be available in the Feb. 27, 2026 draft because of promotions and contract-related drops.

Pundits have already given Koller's 2025 surge a label. Media coverage and analysts dubbed him the “Super Sub” after his Brooklyn stint, a framing that highlights both the setbacks he overcame and the production he delivered. Koller captured the team-side comforts he found in Brooklyn in his own words: “Brooklyn is a great team. The ownership group cares and they want to win, they take care of the players, cover team dinners, they book hotels for you. The hope is always to end up on a team like that.”

Beyond the court, commentators have used Koller's journey to underscore adaptability and strategic positioning. A profile of his arc framed those traits as business and leadership lessons - resilience, continuous improvement, and the value of being ready when opportunity arrives. With the draft looming, Koller's 2025 numbers with Newman and Rohrabacher, plus his original-16 pedigree from 2021, give him a concrete case to convert the “Super Sub” label into a full-time starting role, even as some observers note it remains uncertain whether a franchise will sign the veteran.