As LeBron James chases scoring record, Lakers tickets in high demand

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is only 63 points away from breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time league scoring record and it seems increasingly more likely that he’ll be breaking that record on his home court.

James, who is averaging around 30 points per game this season, has an away game Saturday against the New Orleans Pelicans but will return for a two-game homestand next week.

The Lakers will face off against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena, followed by a matchup with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.

Despite an up-and-down season for the Lakers and James, much attention and fanfare has been devoted to LeBron’s pursuit of history and it appears inevitable that the NBA will have a new all-time leading scorer by the end of next week.

Lakers fans, LeBron’s legion of devotees and sports fans who want to be in person to witness history are already making plans to attend one of the King’s upcoming games.

Data from StubHub, the online event ticketing platform, found that prices for Tuesday’s game against the Thunder are currently trending 50% higher than the average Lakers game this season.

The following game against the Bucks, who boast a significantly better record than OKC and are led by their own all-time great player (who happens to play the same position as LeBron), has even higher demand. According to StubHub, the average ticket price for that game is more than 70% higher than the average Lakers game this season.

Both games are the top-selling tickets of the week, according to the ticket retailer.

Tickets for the Thunder game start around $285, and admission to the Bucks game starts around $500. There are 4,000 available for the former and less than 3,000 for the latter.

If you hope to get closer than the nosebleeds to see LeBron break Kareem’s record in-person, expect to spend even more. Tickets for the lower bowl will probably cost you several hundred, if not thousands.

Adam Budelli, a spokesperson for StubHub, said the desire to be in “the room where it happens,” is significantly driving interest in both games.

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“The anticipation of a sports icon accomplishing a historical milestone often dramatically boosts ticket sales so real fans can say ‘I was there when,’” Budelli said. “With LeBron James closing in on the NBA’s all-time regular-season scoring record, the Lakers are the hottest ticket in the NBA.”

If, for some reason, James fails to score 63 points in his next three games, he’ll still be in California for the fourth game with a chance to break the all-time record. That game would happen in San Francisco and would come against one of his greatest on-court adversaries, Stephen Curry.

At this time, it’s unclear if Abdul-Jabbar will be in attendance for any of the upcoming Lakers games, but most pundits expect him to at least make the trip to Crypto.com to see the history-making feat in person.