We’ll see the latest chapter of the storied rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers play out in less than a week’s time on Saturday. Both teams have rosters chock-full of superstars. However, it seems fans will have to shell out a ton of money to watch the duos of Luka Doncic and LeBron James battle Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

A Boston Celtics fan account, GreenRunsDeep, pointed out on X that the ticket prices for this game have risen to maddening amounts. “Cheapest ticket to get into next Saturdays Celtics vs Lakers game at the Garden is $525 per ticket,” they wrote. But even in the few hours since this post, their information is obsolete.

Why? Well, the ticket prices for this game have gone up even more. At the time of writing, the cheapest ticket on Ticketmaster for this game stands at a staggering $580. And the most expensive tickets? Well, all of them are sold out. But if you’re willing to go through the resale route, then one VIP ticket will set you back a cool $2,777.

Don’t you think those prices are insane for a ticket to a ball game? But if you were interested in seeing the Lakers vs Knicks game earlier this year, you’re probably not surprised. The cheapest ticket for that game set fans back by $420. But now, even that pales to the amounts fans will have to shell out for the Lakers-Celtics game.

However, all this makes sense when you remember a couple of things. The most prominent factor? This is LeBron James and Luka Doncic taking on the reigning NBA champions. Of course, it’s expensive to watch this game. Moreover, Luka just set an incredible TV record in his appearance during the Lakers’ game against the Dallas Mavericks. Keep scrolling if you wanna know more.

TNT registers record-setting numbers during Luka Doncic’s first game against the Dallas Mavericks

The anticipation for Luka’s first game against the Mavs was sky high..“Will Luka show Nico Harrison and the world that trading him was a mistake?” “Is Luka going to crumble under the pressure of playing against his former team?” and many more questions plagued our minds.

However, Luka answered those questions and then some by putting on a scintillating display against the Mavs. A performance that was capped off when Luka shot an off-balance three-pointer, scored, then proceeded to look directly at his former GM. Well, TNT Sports reports that around 2.9 million people tuned in to watch this game. That’s more than the number of people living in Luka’s native Slovenia!

2.9 million was the peak viewership for this game. But don’t think people tuned out of the game after watching for a bit. Nope! The average viewership for this game was an astounding 2.5 million. Clearly, a lot of people were interested in Luka Doncic playing against his former team. And Luka did not disappoint these viewers as he registered his first triple-double for the Lakers.

Well, maybe the people who wanted to see Luka lose were disappointed. But life’s too short to worry about haters! In that vein, watching the upcoming Celtics vs Lakers game on TV might not be the worst idea. That’s unless you’ve got an extra $500 lying around somewhere!