If you’ve ever wondered what it costs to chase a G League dream, five teams have now put a price tag on it.
The Texas Legends, Motor City Cruise, Windy City Bulls, Raptors 905 and Grand Rapids Gold have all announced open tryouts for the coming season, with entry fees ranging from $168 to $300 depending on the team and how early players register. In a league built on opportunity, these workouts remain one of the clearest paths for unsigned players to get in front of a pro staff.
Texas is charging $300 for its tryout, with sessions set for Sept. 19 and Oct. 3 at Prestonwood Baptist Church. Players can attend both, but doing so will run the total bill to $600.
The Motor City Cruise will hold a one-day, two-session tryout on Sept. 20 at Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center, and the deadline to apply is 5 p.m. on Sept. 19. Their fee is $250.
The Windy City Bulls will stage their tryout on Sept. 26 at Chicago Hope Academy Fieldhouse, also for $250. Chicago’s affiliate said it will cap the field at 100 participants.
Raptors 905 is set for Sept. 12 at the OVO Athletic Centre. The early bird rate is $225, with an Aug. 15 deadline. After that, the price jumps to $275.
The lowest price among the five belongs to the Grand Rapids Gold, who will host tryouts on Aug. 30 at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Pre-registered players pay $168, while walk-ups and day-of registrants will pay $200.
Tryout clips have already shown what these events can look like. Footage from the Motor City Cruise’s 2025 open tryout recently went viral, with Bleacher Report sharing the moment online.
There’s also a real example of how far one of these auditions can take a player.
Jonathon Simmons went undrafted in the 2012 NBA Draft and later played in the American Basketball League in 2013. That same year, he paid $150 to attend a tryout with the Austin Toros, the Spurs’ D-League affiliate at the time. He earned a training camp spot and then made the opening night roster.
His first season didn’t make much noise, but the second one did. In 2014-15, Simmons averaged 15.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.4 blocks per game, and he was named to the NBA D-League All-Defensive Third Team.
From there, the climb got steeper. He impressed the Brooklyn Nets’ Summer League team in 2015, then joined the Spurs’ Summer League squad and helped them win the title while earning Championship Game MVP honors.
That performance led to a two-year, $1.4 million contract with San Antonio. Simmons mostly came off the bench over those two seasons before reaching free agency.
He then landed a three-year, $20 million deal with the Orlando Magic in 2017. His NBA path later took him to the Philadelphia 76ers in Feb. 2019 and then to the Washington Wizards in June that same year.
The Wizards waived him before his $5.7 million salary for 2019-20 became fully guaranteed, leaving him with $1 million from that deal. He never played in the NBA again.
Even so, Simmons still made $14.7 million in NBA salary, according to Spotrac. Over four seasons in the league, he averaged 8.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.2 blocks per game.
Afterward, he spent time in the G League with the Santa Cruz Warriors and then played overseas in China, the Philippines and Lebanon. The 36-year-old now plays for the Houston Rig Hands in the BIG3 and serves as co-captain.
That’s the kind of path these tryouts are built to uncover, and the question now is whether 2026 will produce another story like Simmons’ from one of these open runs.
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