Las Vegas sells out for first time for Lakers-Celtics summer league Saturday

ByOhm Youngmisuk ESPN logo
Saturday, July 8, 2017

LAS VEGAS -- The hype surrounding Lonzo Ball and the Lakers-Celtics rivalry has led to Las Vegas Summer League history as Saturday's session sold out by noon on Friday, according to Warren LeGarie, Las Vegas Summer League executive director.

While there have been sellouts on the day of in seasons past, this marks the first time in the 14 years that the NBA summer league has been held at Las Vegas that an entire day session at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion sold out of tickets in advance.

The $30 general admission tickets for Saturday's game have been selling on ticket resale sites for $250 each.

There was plenty of buzz among NBA types in the crowd in anticipation of Ball's summer league debut on Friday night when the Lakers played the Clippers.

Lakers fans packed Thomas & Mack last year during summer league to see D'Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram go up against Ben Simmons and the Sixers.

Fans clearly wanted to make the drive to Las Vegas to see the team's second overall pick in the draft play the Celtics and third overall pick Jayson Tatum. The game will be televised on ESPN at 8:30 ET.

Thomas & Mack's capacity will be at approximately 15,000 with Cox holding another 2,500, according to the NBA. The most expensive seat runs $400 for courtside. But the majority of the seats are not assigned and will be first come, first serve.

A pair of VIP courtside tickets to Saturday's summer league, with a combined face value of $800, sold for $5,150, including fees, on StubHub.

"We will try to find a way to always accommodate," LeGarie said. "It is a fan-friendly event. We may have to push TVs outside and let [the crowd that doesn't have a seat in Thomas & Mack] see it that way."

ESPN's Darren Rovell contributed to this report.