Basketball fans are being asked to pay more to get through the door than for any NBA regular-season game in history, with the cheapest tickets for the New York Knicks' opener against LeBron James’ Philadelphia 76ers having climbed past $2,000.

TicketData.com put the get-in price for the game at $2,168 by midday.

That marked a 106% increase over the past three days, having stood at $1,754 at 7.44am ET.

"I think it is pretty safe to say that this will go down as the most expensive regular-season NBA game ever, short of an extreme price collapse later today, which is not expected, unless you are willing to miss the banner-raising ceremony and really wait till the last minute," TicketData.com's Keith Pagello told Field Level Media.

"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 occasion carries extra weight for the home side, who will raise the banner for their first NBA title in 53 years.

James, meanwhile, will be playing his first regular-season game with a 76ers team packed with stars. His new side includes Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown, who was acquired from Boston in the offseason.

Demand was already evident in September, when the get-in price for Tuesday's game hit $1,363 in the hours after tickets were released to the public.

That figure was higher than the get-in price for any regular-season game during the 2025-26 season. Across the Knicks' 41 scheduled regular-season home games, the average get-in price currently sits at $228. That is more than double the average for any other team.

Tickets to get into Los Angeles Lakers home games average $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.