{"id":426911,"date":"2026-01-25T06:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T06:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/426911\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T06:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T06:19:13","slug":"how-winter-storm-nbas-no-refunds-policy-affected-fan-turnout-for-latest-luka-mavs-bout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/426911\/","title":{"rendered":"How winter storm, NBA\u2019s no-refunds policy affected fan turnout for latest Luka-Mavs bout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bobby Ayala Sr. and his son, Bobby Jr., couldn\u2019t believe their rotten luck when they saw the ominous weather forecast.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ice? Why, of all winter days, did it have to happen on the Saturday for which they months ago shelled out $1,500 to watch Luka Doncic<\/a> return with his Lakers to face the Mavericks<\/a> in American Airlines Center?<\/p>\n

\u201cI hoped they would change the game to another date,\u201d Bobby Sr. said. \u201cThat was a lot of money to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worse, the Ayalas live in Wichita Falls, 125 miles northwest of Dallas, where the icy conditions were even more dicey.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

Be the smartest Mavericks fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

The NBA\u2019s longstanding no-refunds policy left the Ayalas with three options: Attempt to make the trip and hope for the best; eat the tickets; or try to sell them.<\/p>\n

They opted to make the drive and, fortunately, arrived in American Airlines Center<\/a> about an hour before tip-off. A trip that usually takes two hours took the Ayalas three hours.<\/p>\n

Bobby Sr., 40, wore a blue Mavericks Cooper Flagg<\/a> jersey. Bobby Jr., a 16-year-old junior at Wichita Falls Memorial, wore a Doncic Lakers jersey.<\/p>\n

\"Bobby<\/p>\n

Bobby Ayala Sr. (right) and Bobby Ayala Jr. made the trip through a winter storm from Wichita Falls to Dallas to see Luka Doncic and the Lakers face the Mavericks on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in American Airlines Center<\/p>\n

Brad Townsend<\/p>\n

\u201cNo way we were going to miss it,\u201d Bobby Jr. said.<\/p>\n

The Ayalas counted themselves fortunate. Many other fans weren\u2019t as fortunate, and took to social media to air frustrations.<\/p>\n

Mavericks and American Airlines Center officials did what they could to ensure fan safety,<\/a> but as of the 7:30 tip-off time, it was clear the weather had a chilling effect on attendance. AAC was roughly 90% full.<\/p>\n

Longtime Mavericks fan Jeff Lampkin used the situation to his advantage, albeit reluctantly. He estimates that for the past decade-plus he attended about 20 games a year, but he had not been in American Airlines Center since the Mavericks traded Doncic last Feb. 1.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m only here tonight because he\u2019s here,\u201d said Lampkin, pointing toward Doncic as he warmed up. \u201cAnd the storm hit and I could get a seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lampkin said he paid $600 for his seat, about 20 feet behind the Lakers\u2019 bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the storm, ticket prices dropped like three times what they would normally be when he\u2019s here,\u201d Lampkin said. \u201cLike, I had stopped. I wasn\u2019t going to give Dallas any more money, but when I could get this close for this price to see my boy . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Lampkin is well known among Mavericks fans for the videos he has produced through many years of sitting near the court, during which he became familiar to Doncic and friendly with Doncic\u2019s trainers.<\/p>\n

After Doncic was traded, nearly 15,000 fans viewed Lampkin\u2019s 10-minute YouTube video<\/a> titled \u201cI Was There For His First Basket, His Last & Many In Between. Farewell Luka Doncic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Lampkin did not wear Mavs or Lakers colors Saturday, but, rather, a T-shirt with a photo of Doncic and Kobe Bryant.<\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/p>\n

Jeff Lampkin, donning a t-shirt with Kobe Bryant and Lakers star Luka Doncic, was among those who braved the elements to see Doncic’s return to American Airlines Center on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Brad Townsend<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no team,\u201d Lampkin said, glumly. \u201cLike tonight people are asking, \u2018You pulling for the Lakers?\u2019 No. \u2018Mavs?\u2019 No. I\u2019m only pulling for Luka.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work in Austin during the week and people were like, \u2018You need to come to a Spurs game.\u2019 Went to a couple and stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the weirdest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike many, though, at least Lampkin, the fan without a team, got into AAC to watch his favorite player. On an icy night in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bobby Ayala Sr. and his son, Bobby Jr., couldn\u2019t believe their rotten luck when they saw the ominous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[2322,196,5047,147,5278,5,8667,2291,4,43,197,42],"class_list":{"0":"post-426911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-american-airlines-center","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallas-stars","12":"tag-dallasstars","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-luka-doncic","15":"tag-mavericks","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-stars","19":"tag-weather"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115954290877590742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}