The door is quickly closing on the Cleveland Cavaliers' championship hopes after two lopsided losses to the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. Victims of the highest point-differential in NBA Finals history at 48 points through the first two games, the Cavaliers will need to go back to the drawing board if they hope to give the Warriors a series. It appears that faith is waning in Cleveland, too, as NBA Finals tickets are plummeting in price on the secondary market.
According to online aggregator TiqIQ, the average resale price for Cavaliers Finals tickets across all three games at Quicken Loans Arena is now $1,142. That marks a 6.7 percent drop from the Cavs' $1,224 average at home prior to the start of the series. All three potential games in Cleveland have experienced a drop in average price since June 1.
Game 3 Wednesday night now owns an average price of $802, 33 percent lower than the $1,190 average posted at the beginning of the month. If looking to just get past the gates at the Q, the cheapest ticket for Game 3 is now $242. Game 4 owns a $1,165 average (down 9.3 percent on average over the last week) and $379 get-in price. Should the Cavs extend the series to a Game 6 next Thursday, tickets are averaging $1,566, a 6.5 percent dip from the $1,674 average on June 1. Tickets start from $630.
Despite the declining Finals ticket prices in Cleveland this season, LeBron James' pursuit of the city's first NBA title is still garnering major interest in terms of historical value. The above graphic provides ticket data for the six straight Finals that James has appeared in. His trips as a member of the Cavaliers in 2015 and 2016 have been the most expensive on average, with 2013 being his only year in Miami that posted an average price exceeding $1,000 on the secondary market.
Those prices hold no flame to the Warriors 2,500 miles west, however. With the team just two wins away from repeating as NBA champions, Warriors Finals tickets are averaging over $2,000 across all four potential home games at Oracle Arena in the 2016 NBA Finals. Games 1 and 2 both surpassed the $1,500 average. If the Cavaliers claw back and force the series back to Oakland, a potential Game 5 currently sits just under the $1,800 average. Game 7 is far off, but should it come to fruition, tickets are now averaging over $3,000.