The confluence of the New York Knicks beginning their title defense on opening night of the 2026-27 season while hosting LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers has put the game on pace to set an all-time record for ticket prices to an NBA regular-season game.
The get-in price for tickets to Tuesday night’s game at Madison Square Garden spiked to $2,168 by midday, according to TicketData.com. That was up from $1,754 at 7:44 a.m. ET and represented a 106% increase over the past three days.
“The closest historical comparisons are the Lakers’ first game following Kobe Bryant’s death in 2020 and Kobe’s farewell game in 2016. Both saw get-in prices break $1,000 at one point, but ultimately softened and ended below that. Some other games have seen big surges but ultimately came down even further by game day, such as some of the games in 2023 when LeBron was closing in on the all-time scoring record as well as LeBron’s return to Cleveland in 2014.”
The Knicks will raise the banner for their first NBA title in 53 years. Meanwhile, James will play his first regular-season game with a star-studded 76ers team that includes Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown, who was acquired from Boston in the offseason.
The get-in price for Tuesday’s game hit $1,363 in the hours after tickets were released to the public in September, a figure that was already higher than the get-in price for any regular-season game during the 2025-26 season.
The average get-in price for the Knicks’ 41 scheduled regular-season home games is currently $228. That is more than double the average for any other team, with tickets to get into Los Angeles Lakers home games averaging $109, followed by the Boston Celtics at $92.
At the other end of the spectrum are the Charlotte Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies, at an average get-in price of just $19.
