As the West Region Champions of the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the third season in a row, the Silicon Valley Panthers are packing their bags in East Palo Alto, California for another trip to the bright lights of the ABA Championship Weekend in Atlanta over April 10-12.

So why should you root for the Panthers?

The Team

The Silicon Valley Panthers are owned by Shahbaz Mahmood, who also serves as their president. Doc Jones is the head coach, and he is assisted by Jerry Showers. Team colors are black and red, which is a recurring theme in this year’s Championship Weekend, as three of the four teams wear black and red!

For those who are unfamiliar with West Region geography, Silicon Valley is the nickname for the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. Palo Alto is the home of, among other things including a lot of technology companies, Stanford University. East Palo Alto is, as you might guess, on the east side of Palo Alto. It is its own city with roughly 30,000 people living there.

As with the Buffalo eXtreme and Austin Bats, the Silicon Valley Panthers are repeat customers. They were in St. Louis with the eXtreme and Bats for the 2024-25 Championship Weekend, eliminating the eXtreme in the semifinals before coming up a little short in the title game.

This will be the Panthers’ third consecutive trip to Championship Weekend. In 2023-24, when Championship Weekend involved 8 teams instead of 4, the Panthers were eliminated in the quarterfinals. In 2024-25, they finished as Championship Finalists.

Now as back-to-back-to-back West Region Champions, can the Panthers take the next step and bring home the whole enchilada? It certainly seems to us that they are quite capable.

This team is a juggernaut on both offense and defense. They opened the regular season by dropping 200 points on their opponent. Throughout the regular season and playoffs, they consistently scored in the 140s, 150s, and 160s, which is very impressive — even in the ABA, where the game is designed to be high-scoring and fast-paced.

As prolific as their offense was, their defense was even more formidable. Again, because of the way the ABA is structured, holding an opponent under 100 points is quite difficult. The Panthers, however, did it six times this season. In a seventh game, they allowed 101 points. In an eighth game, they allowed 102. To summarize, their defense is GOOD.

It was not surprising at all, then, to watch the Panthers pile up the wins — even against ranked teams — and finish the regular season a perfect 20-0, taking over the #1 spot in the ABA Power Rankings along the way, where they stayed for the rest of the season. Three playoffs wins later, the Panthers are 23-0 overall.

In their semifinal game, the Panthers will face the Austin Bats (22-1) out of Austin, Texas on April 10 at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT in Atlanta.

What Impressed Us

From what we’ve seen in game videos this season, we are impressed by the Silicon Valley Panthers’ balance. They are really solid on both sides of the ball. This is going to serve them well as they battle with the best of the best in the ABA over Championship Weekend.

Another aspect of the Panthers’ balance is evident in their season-long statistics.

Looking at their defensive stats, no one jumps out as having a zillion rebounds or a jillion blocks. Everyone contributes and contributes just as lethally as the next guy up.

Same thing on offense. Their leading scorer stands out a little bit, but the #2 through #6 scorers on the squad are separated by 50 points. Over 23 games. So, about 2 points per game.

The same pattern occurs across just about every offensive category. This is unlike anything we’ve seen around the ABA and involving the other teams in Championship Weekend. How do you defend against that?

Three Guys to Watch in Atlanta

Michael Kirkland (#13) led the Panthers’ scoring assault this season with 331 points in just 10 games. At somewhere between 6’6″ and 6’9″, depending on the source of information, Kirkland has range, too, hitting 50-of-100 three-pointers and leading his team in treys.

He’s also Top 5 on his team in rebounds, assists, and steals.

Michael began his college career at Sacramento City College before transferring to Wallace Community College in Alabama, then to Notre Dame College in the Cleveland metropolitan area, and finally back west at Benedictine University in Mesa, Arizona. At Benedictine, he was named Second Team All-Conference.

Michael joined the Panthers this season, and he played international ball in Armenia for a few months in the middle of the Panthers’ campaign, which is why he only suited up for Silicon Valley for 10 games.

Despite only playing half a season, Kirkland was named 2025-26 First Team All-ABA. He’s going to be a formidable threat to Panthers’ opponents in Atlanta.

Not only do opponents need to worry about Michael Kirkland, they also need to plan for Ismail “Ish” Ali (#8). Ish was the third-highest-scoring Panther during the season with 223 points (about 16 PPG), but he was without question the team leader in assists with 111 apples.

He didn’t stop there, though. Ali collected the third-most rebounds (92) on the Panthers squad and led the team in steals (38) and blocks (16). Oh, and he’s listed as 6’1″.

All of those assists, rebounds, steals, and blocks while “only” 6’1″ tell us that Ish is a basketball brainiac. He is seeing plays develop before they even develop. He’s accurately tracking the ball and striking at just the right time. We love basketball brainiacs.

After a high school career at San Leandro (CA) High School, Ish played a couple of years at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California where, in his sophomore year, he led the team in assists.

Ali then moved over to Bowling Green State University to play Division I ball in the MAC. He did well. In his junior season, he led the Falcons in assists with 130 of them. In fact, he was ranked #7 in the entire Mid-American Conference that season in assists per game.

His senior year? Same story, fourth verse. He handed out assists like Halloween candy and stole or shot down anything he could get his hands on.

So what we’re saying here is that not only is Ish a basketball brainiac, he’s been one for quite a long time. Throw in a little international seasoning in Mexico, and it’s no wonder he’s a vital part of the Panthers’ roster and so much fun to watch.

Besides having a super cool name, Kellen Sweetwyne (#22) is another Panther we’ll be keeping an eye on in Atlanta. He could be easily overlooked by opponents who only examine this year’s statistics.

Kellen only played the second half of the season with the Panthers, so his totals don’t jump out at you, but look back at past seasons, and you’ll discover a 30-point-per-game threat, hitting treys with impressive accuracy and displaying a stout all-around game on both offense and defense. We’re suckers for versatile players like Sweetwyne.

Kellen led his alma mater, Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, to the NAIA Elite 8 and then played in the PBAL and overseas in Portugal and Cape Verde, Africa. He knows how to hoop.

Despite only 8 games’ worth of stats logged in this season with the Panthers, Kellen was still named Second Team All-ABA if that tells you anything.

Sweetwyne is going to make some noise in Atlanta, especially if opponents forget about him. He could definitely end up being the difference-maker for Silicon Valley.

Do the Silicon Valley Panthers have the players and firepower and balance to win an ABA title this year? We certainly wouldn’t bet against it, and we can’t wait to see them in action in Atlanta!

Where to Find The Silicon Valley Panthers

This is the third of a four-part series highlighting each team in the 2025-26 ABA Championship Weekend. You might also be interested in Everything You Need to Know About Championship Weekend because it will tell you how to get tickets to see the Panthers in person or how to purchase the PPV to watch them from home.

Also check out:

• Why You Should Root for the Buffalo eXtreme
• Why You Should Root for the Austin Bats
• Why You Should Root for the Nashville Aces