There is an obvious reason the tickets are so expensive. This game could be a part of history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Knicks, riding a five-game winning streak<\/a>, host the Lakers on Sunday in what could possibly be LeBron James\u2019 last game at Madison Square Garden<\/a>. <\/p>\n He is set to be a free agent after the season and has not yet committed to anything \u2014 to playing another season, to rejoining the Lakers, to going elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n The average purchase price on secondary markets is $912, according to TickPick \u2014 making it the most expensive NBA game since Kobe Bryant\u2019s final game in 2016. The lowest get-in price is $455.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two prominent Knicks know the experience of being part of LeBron teams. Josh Hart played one season with him on the Lakers, and Mike Brown coached him for five seasons during LeBron\u2019s first stint with the Cavaliers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (R) and New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby (L) try and control a loose ball in the first half at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA, Saturday, February 1, 2025. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n \u201cIt was cool,\u201d Hart told The Post. \u201cObviously, learned a lot in terms of on the court, how to execute. But also how to take care of your body, make sure your body is built for an 82-plus game season. If it is [his last game at MSG], obviously a historic career. Hopefully he doesn\u2019t go crazy in front of the city and MSG.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Hart has one ask for Knicks fans in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cObviously,\u201d he said, \u201cthey should give him a good ovation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Brown and LeBron reached an NBA Finals together in the 2006-07 season, but were swept by the Spurs. They failed to return as a pair, losing in the second round to the Celtics, in the conference finals to the Magic and in the second round to the Celtics again the subsequent three seasons. Brown was fired after the 2009-10 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brown also has experience with the Lakers, leading them for one-plus seasons \u2014 he was fired just five games into his second season in charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n LeBron James and head coach Mike Brown of the Cleveland Cavaliers talk on the sidelines during the game against the Utah Jazz at Quicken Loans Arena on November 14, 2009 in Cleveland, Ohio. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s gotta be, if he\u2019s not, the smartest guy that I\u2019ve been around, in terms of feel and all that stuff,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely top three. Unbelievable talent, unbelievable human being. He\u2019s done a lot for the community, he\u2019s done a lot for the NBA.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n LeBron, now 41 and in his 23rd season, has called MSG his \u201cfavorite playground,\u201d dubbed himself the King of New York and long dominated the World\u2019s Most Famous Arena. He\u2019s played 32 games there, owning a 24-9 record.\u00a0<\/p>\n There was a 50-point showing in 2008, a triple-double in 2010, a 52-point outburst in 2009, another triple-double in 2023 and plenty more memorable performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t say this is the same as any other road game,\u201d LeBron said earlier in his career. \u201cBecause this is the Mecca.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers talks with Josh Hart during the game against the Portland Trail Blazers on October 18, 2018 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n On Wednesday, LeBron was emotional as the Cavaliers honored him with a tribute video ahead of what was possibly his last game in Cleveland. After Cleveland and Miami, MSG is the most notable road venue in which he could be making his swan song this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Uncertainty over his future has hovered over this Lakers season. They continue to fluctuate between looking like true contenders and something less than that. Luka Doncic has largely taken over as the face of the franchise. In fact, LeBron has become their third leading scorer, with Austin Reaves ahead of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, LeBron is averaging 21.9 points, 6.6 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game. Not bad for a 41-year-old.\u00a0<\/p>\n And MSG will surely excite him to turn back the clock.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s earned the right to play as long as he wants and he\u2019s definitely doing it,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s doing it at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is an obvious reason the tickets are so expensive. This game could be a part of history.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,327,4034,1698,300,4044,185,251,150,4033,4043,3357,6,191,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-573785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-josh-hart","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-lakers","12":"tag-lakers","13":"tag-lalakers","14":"tag-lebron-james","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-losangeleslakers","19":"tag-mike-brown","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-new-york-knicks","22":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}