Yes, even the Golden State Warriors get San Francisco sticker shock.
Warriors guard Jacob Evans’ welcometoSan Francisco moment came in late August.
While calculating his expenses, he realized that, between utilities and rent, he will spend about $7,900 each month on housing. That might not seem steep for someone set to earn $1.9 million this season, but Evans grew up in a threebedroom, twobathroom house in Baton Rouge, La., that cost $575 a month.
“You hear about the crazy prices out here,” said Evans, who leased a twobedroom apartment in San Francisco’s Rincon Hill neighborhood. “But until you actually see those numbers add up on paper, it doesn’t feel real.”
Reality set in for dozens of Warriors employees in recent months. To be close to the team’s new Mission Bay headquarters inside the $1.4 billion Chase Center, everyone from frontoffice executives to video interns scoured the country’s most expensive
housing market for affordable places to live.
They found that avoiding traffic on the Bay Bridge requires concessions. As forward Glenn Robinson III put it, “You’re paying more for less.” And he would know. While with the Pistons last season, Robinson said he rented a threebedroom “mansion” outside Detroit for $3,500 a month. Now, fresh off signing a twoyear, $3.9 million deal with the Warriors, he pays well more than twice that for a fraction of the space.
That hasn’t deterred the Warriors, whose season began Thursday, in their search for short commutes and easy access to the practice facility. Thirteen of their 14 players have moved to San Francisco, with Stephen Curry, who bought a $31 million estate on the Peninsula, the exception. Nine of the new San Franciscans signed with Golden State this past offseason. The other four moved from the East Bay, where prices were much cheaper.
The median monthly rent for a onebedroom apartment in Oakland is $2,320, compared to $3,690 in San Francisco, according to rental website Zumper. That’s roughly 30% higher than the median for a onebedroom in New York City and 105% more than the census median in the U.S.
Those in the organization looking for a more longterm commitment were forced to navigate a market in which the median price for a house or condo is $1.35 million, according to the San Francisco Association of Realtors. Center Kevon Looney considered buying a house in San Francisco after he signed a threeyear, $15 million extension in July, only to decide that he was better off waiting a couple seasons.
“Got to let those paychecks pile up a little more,” said Looney, who is renting a threebedroom row house near Fisherman’s Wharf. “I told my dad, who’s from Tennessee, about the housing prices out here and he was just like, ‘You can’t pay that. You’d be nuts.’ ”
Apartment hunting has been a popular topic among the Warriors’ nine players on contracts at or near the league minimum, which starts at nearly $900,000.
It wasn’t that they struggled to afford homes in San Francisco, where residents making nearly $200,000 a year are considered middle class. Thanks to an influx of wealthy tech employees, luxury apartments in San Francisco are at a premium, leaving some players to tour numerous places before landing a lease.
The Warriors’ front office helped connect prospective renters with realestate agents. Because most players didn’t touch down in the Bay Area until late August or early September, they had limited time to find a place to live before training camp opened Oct. 1.
In one day, Robinson looked at six apartments near Chase Center before settling on a twobedroom next to Salesforce Tower. He was surprised his complex required a short bio and a rental recommendation.
“I’ve never had to do anything like that before,” said
Robinson, whose previous stops in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Michigan hadn’t prepared him for San Francisco’s housing crunch. “I was just like, ‘Is this really how competitive it is? That’s crazy.’ ”
Curry, who has three young children, chose to live in the suburbs because he wanted — needed — a big yard. But by staying 30 miles south of Chase Center, he runs the risk of getting stuck in rushhour traffic on Highway 101. Before a preseason game on Oct. 10, Curry arrived 25 minutes late to the arena, forcing him to adjust his pregame routine on the fly. He still scored 40 points.
Most of Golden State’s younger players prioritized proximity to Chase Center. Rookies Eric Paschall and Alen Smailagic, as well as secondyear forward Omari Spellman, live in a highrise apartment complex just a few blocks from the practice facility.
After asking Paschall for recommendations, forward Alfonzo McKinnie signed a ninemonth lease in that same complex that would take him through the season. Last week, the Warriors waived him to clear a roster spot for center Marquese Chriss. McKinnie, who signed Monday with the Cavaliers, must pay a sizable fee to break his lease.
“That was brutal,” Paschall said of McKinnie’s situation. “Lease agents out here aren’t too forgiving.”
The move to San Francisco has signaled a lifestyle change for some players.
Because his new apartment doesn’t have the space he enjoyed at his old house in Sacramento, center Willie CauleyStein gave his 2018 Chevy Silverado and $150,000 lake boat to his brother in rural Kansas. Robinson is relying on Uber until he finds a place to park his Porsche Panamera. Paschall and Smailagic, neither of whom has a driver’s license, have taken to walking tours of the city.
“Where I used to live, you could live there for three years for the price it takes for one month’s rent here,” said Smailagic, who grew up sharing a onebedroom apartment in Belgrade, Serbia, with his parents and younger sister. “But at the same time, you can see why it’s so expensive out here. It’s beautiful.”