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What does professional basketball look like in the Bay Area, from semi-pro to the G League, NBA and WNBA?

By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM · Certified WNBA player agent · Former certified NBA agent

Published October 24, 2026. Last updated October 24, 2026.

This is Part 4 of a four-part series on Bay Area basketball. Part 1 maps middle school and high school leagues. Part 2 covers AAU and club basketball. Part 3 covers community college and Division I, II and III programs. This part covers the professional levels, from semi-pro to the NBA and WNBA.

Is there semi-pro basketball in the Bay Area?

Yes, though it is thin and seasonal. The SF Bay Area Pro-Am is a six-week summer league at Kezar Pavilion in Golden Gate Park, with eight teams in 2025, and its players are overseas pros, Bay Area college players and local amateurs, per the San Francisco Examiner. A former NBA referee founded it in 1979, rosters are open and fans attend free, per the Richmond Sunset News.

The Examiner reported in 2025 that those games might be the last at Kezar before a renovation of about two years. A player should confirm the 2026 schedule and venue with the league before planning around it.

The Basketball League, a national minor league, had no Bay Area team in its 2025 or 2026 rosters, per Wikipedia. Semi-pro pay varies by team and is rarely published, and the guide to ABA pay shows what the sourced figures look like at that level.

Where does the WPBA fit in Bay Area women's professional basketball?

The Women's Premier Basketball Association is the Oakland-based development league for women. Its eight teams are the Alameda Wolves, Bay Area Phoenix, Bay City Blaze, Berkeley Royals, Hayward Reign, Oakland Swish, San Francisco Riptide and Tech City Titans, per KALW.

The 2026 season opened June 13 and ran through an August 16 Tournament of Champions, with 12 players on each of the eight teams, per Valkyrie Nation. A March combine for graduating seniors fed the 2026 rosters.

The Bay Area Phoenix won the FIBA Women's Basketball League Americas title in Santiago, Chile in October 2026, beating Sportiva Italiana of Chile 87-82, and Rosemarie Julien was named MVP after scoring 18 in the final, per FIBA.

For transparency, the author counts the league's founder as a friend. The league is covered in depth in what the WPBA is, how the Phoenix reached the FIBA tournament and why women's basketball needs development leagues.

How does the Santa Cruz Warriors G League path work?

The Santa Cruz Warriors play at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz in the G League, the NBA's development league. The 2026-27 season starts with a Tip-Off Tournament on Friday, November 6, 2026, the team opens at Stockton on November 7 and the home opener is November 13 and 14 against the San Diego Clippers, per the team schedule release.

Each team plays at least 50 games, a 14-game Tip-Off Tournament plus a 36-game regular season, and the top eight teams per conference make the playoffs. Games air on NBC Sports Bay Area, per the same release.

Among the routes the league lists onto a roster are two-way contracts, affiliate players, local tryouts, the G League Draft, draft-rights players and NBA assignees, per the G League. Each team may invite up to three tryout players to training camp. The Santa Cruz open tryout date for 2026 was not posted when this was written, so a player should watch the team's tryout page.

Pay is modest: the standard G League salary is $45,000 for 2025-26, rising 3% a year after that, and a player on a G League roster all season with no NBA compensation also receives a $5,000 enhanced minimum salary payment on top of salary, per the NBPA.

Two contract types link the G League to the NBA, and each has its own guide: the two-way contract and the Exhibit 10 contract. A player weighing the G League against college should also read whether G League players can still play college basketball.

How do Bay Area players reach the Golden State Warriors and the NBA?

Through the draft, summer league, the G League or a two-way deal. The Warriors play at Chase Center in San Francisco's Mission Bay, which holds 18,064 for basketball and opened September 6, 2019, per Wikipedia, and practice at the Oracle Performance Center at Chase Center, per Oracle.

The California Classic Summer League was played at Chase Center on July 3, 5 and 6, 2026, with the Warriors, Lakers, Heat and Spurs, per the NBA.

The 2026 draft calendar shows the steps. The early-entry deadline was April 24, the combine ran May 10 to 17 in Chicago and the draft was June 23 and 24 in Brooklyn, per CBS Sports.

The 2026-27 salary cap is $164.961 million, per the NBA, and a zero-year player's minimum salary is $1,357,763, as the NBA minimum salary guide explains. Eligibility rules are in the NBA draft eligibility guide.

The Warriors' Oakland years still shape the local game. The team moved to the Bay Area in 1962, played in Oakland from 1971 and played their first regular-season game at Chase Center on October 24, 2019, per Wikipedia, and the arena in Oakland was named Oracle Arena from 2006 to 2019, per the arena. The Warriors won titles in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022, per the same Wikipedia page.

Stephen Curry was born in Akron, Ohio, went seventh to the Warriors in 2009 from Davidson, won the MVP award in 2015 and 2016 and holds the NBA record for made three-pointers, per Wikipedia. Draymond Green went from Michigan State to the 35th pick in 2012, a second-round slot, and won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2017, per Wikipedia.

Players raised in the Bay appear across the league. Damian Lillard went from Oakland to Weber State and the sixth pick in 2012 and was back on the court for Portland in October 2026 after a long recovery, per OPB.

Jason Kidd went from St. Joseph Notre Dame in Alameda to Cal, the second pick in 1994, a 2011 title and the Hall of Fame in 2018, per Wikipedia. Gary Payton, an Oakland native from Skyline High, won the 2006 title with Miami and now coaches at College of Alameda, per Wikipedia. The SF Bay Area Pro-Am has also drawn former players with Bay Area ties, per the Examiner.

How do Bay Area players reach the Golden State Valkyries and the WNBA?

Through the WNBA draft, free agency, overseas play and development leagues such as the WPBA. The Valkyries play at Chase Center, which holds 18,064, and 2025 was their first season. They went 23-21, finished eighth overall and lost their first-round series 0-2 to Minnesota, per Wikipedia.

Joe Lacob and Peter Guber own the team and Natalie Nakase was named the 2025 Coach of the Year, per Wikipedia. The Valkyries also set a WNBA season attendance record of 397,408 with 22 sellouts, per Just Women's Sports.

In 2026 the Valkyries went 32-12 and earned the No. 2 seed, per the WNBA. They swept the Las Vegas Aces 3-0, clinching with an 87-77 overtime win on October 9 to reach their first WNBA Finals against the Atlanta Dream, per KQED.

The series was tied 2-2 after Game 4 on October 24, with Game 5 set for October 26 at Chase Center, per NBC Sports Philadelphia, so the final result is not covered here. Their practice facility is in downtown Oakland, a 31,800 square foot building with two full-size courts and 17 hoops, per the Valkyries, and the 2026 training camp roster had 21 players, per the team.

The 2026 WNBA draft was held April 13 with 45 picks over three rounds, per NBC Sports Bay Area. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the league minimum is $270,000 for rookies and rises to $300,000 for players with 10 or more years, per Front Office Sports.

Local ties run through Stanford: in 2025, Lexie Hull played for Indiana, Kiki Iriafen for Washington and Alanna Smith for Minnesota, per Sports Illustrated, and Sabrina Ionescu of Walnut Creek went first in the 2020 draft, per SI. More detail on the franchise is in why the Valkyries are the most valuable WNBA team, with pay in WNBA salaries in 2026 and who is eligible for the WNBA draft.

What are the odds, and who can help a Bay Area player go pro?

The odds are small and the NCAA says so. In the 2024 drafts, 43 of 58 NBA picks and 30 of 36 WNBA picks were NCAA athletes, and an estimated 1.0% of men's and 0.8% of women's college players reach the NBA or WNBA, per the NCAA.

Counting every professional level, including overseas, the NCAA estimates 21.8% of men and 9.1% of women. Because overseas play is part of the pro picture, how overseas contracts work belongs in every plan.

An agent is a regulated role. The NBPA certifies agents who represent NBA players, and its 2026-27 application window runs September 22 to October 30, 2026, per the NBPA. The WNBPA certifies agents for WNBA players, per the WNBPA.

California adds its own law, covered in what California requires of sports agents. From an agent's seat, a Bay Area player who has film from three levels of competition, a school record and clean academics is easier to represent and easier to place than one with a single highlight reel.

What should Bay Area players do next?

1. Build a film library from high school, club and college play, with full games, not only highlights.
2. Watch the Santa Cruz Warriors tryout page and the WPBA's announcements for dates, and plan around the verified calendars above.
3. Decide how the next two seasons build a professional résumé: college level, junior college, G League or overseas.
4. Learn how agents are certified before talking to anyone, using who a young player should trust and how to play professional basketball.
5. Keep the full path in view by returning to Part 1, where the series begins.