[2] Prior to the start of the 2016 season, Billy Berger's name no longer appeared on the team's website as CEO or minority owner.
[3] James Blake, who played for the team as a wildcard in 2015, was assigned by WTT to Aviators as a designated player.
They chose Shelby Rogers with their first-round selection, leaving 2015 amateur and winner of the 2015 US Open boys' singles title, but now turned professional, Taylor Fritz unprotected.
On July 15, 2016, the Aviators announced the signing of Ryan Harrison as a roster player to fill the spot created by Evans's departure.
While the teams did not have any history as geographic rivals, the franchises did meet in the 2005 WTT Finals with the Sportimes earning the title with a 21–18 victory over the Newport Beach Breakers.
The two franchises also boasted the best regular-season records in WTT over the past two seasons with the Aviators achieving the feat in 2014, and the Aces doing so in 2015.
After the players each held serve in three of their four service games, Steve Johnson secured a 22–20 victory for the Breakers by winning a tiebreaker over Harrison.
Rogers and Harrison won the women's and men's singles, and Klaasen and Jurak followed with a set win in mixed doubles.
"[9] Following the series with the Breakers, the Aviators opened a four-match home-stand by hosting the expansion New York Empire on August 5, 2016.
Klaasen teamed with Darija Jurak to take the final set of mixed doubles, 5–3, and seal a 24–18 victory.
[11] Gulbis opened the Aviators' match that evening against the five-time defending WTT champion Washington Kastles by taking the men's singles set, 5–2.
Harrison won the final set of men's singles, 5–3, to seal a 23–20 victory, the fifth straight for the Aviators, and improve the team's record to 7 wins and 2 losses.
Players appearing in that 23–15 overtime loss to the Washington Kastles for the Sportimes were Anna-Lena Grönefeld, Robert Kendrick, Květa Peschke and Jesse Witten.
[16] On August 13, 2016, the Aviators signed Nick Monroe as a substitute player to fill in for Harrison in the final match of the regular season.
[17] During their final regular-season match against the Philadelphia Freedoms, the Aviators clinched the best overall record in WTT, when the Washington Kastles defeated the Orange County Breakers, 25–19 in extended play.
Being the top seed in the WTT Finals resulted in the Aviators being treated as the home team and having the option to set the order of play.
[19] The Aviators met their new rivals, the Orange County Breakers, in the WTT Finals on August 26, 2016, at Forest Hills Stadium in New York City.
Shelby Rogers followed by beating 2016 WTT Female Most Valuable Player Nicole Gibbs in women's singles.
Dennis Novikov won a tiebreaker against Harrison in the final set of men's singles to send the match to extended play with the Aviators leading 24–13.
However, Harrison, who won a US Open qualifying match earlier in the day to secure a spot in the Grand Slam tournament, held serve in the second game, giving the Aviators a 25–14 victory and the 2016 King Trophy.
It was the first time in franchise history that the Aviators finished with WTT's best regular-season record and followed up by winning the league championship.
References:[2][17] Notes: Players are listed in order of their game-winning percentage provided they played in at least 40% of the Aviators' games in that event, which is the WTT minimum for qualification for league leaders in individual statistical categories.