The 2016-17 season is officially underway, and all 30 teams will be looking to put their stamp on the league over the next six months. The defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers enter as heavy favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2017 NBA Finals, while the Golden State Warriors hope to avenge their 3-1 series collapse from a season ago.
The Warriors will have extra firepower this season after adding highly-touted free agent Kevin Durant, and his presence is Oakland alongside Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson is sure to pack Oracle Arena at each home game. And while the Warriors will be the most expensive team to watch this season, they’ll be giving fans the best run for their money through the winter and spring months.
On TicketIQ, a ticket search engine that pulls tickets and data from over 90 percent of the secondary market, Warriors tickets at Oracle Arena are averaging $406 across all 41 home games. That is the most expensive average resale price in the league, but that exorbitant price tag may not necessarily be a bad thing for fans headed to a game this season.
Enter the TicketIQ NBA Value Index, which gives each team a definitive number in relation to average resale price at home and championship odds. The equation is simple: average resale price multiplied by VegasInsider.com championship odds divided by 1,000. The lower the number, the better the value is for fans, and the Warriors own the lowest index in the NBA.
How great is the value for Warriors tickets this season? With a .27 index, their value can barely be seen in the above graph, attesting to the favorable championship odds they own (2/3). The Cavaliers follow closely behind with a .44 index (13/4 odds) while the Spurs, Celtics and Thunder round out the top five.
On the other end of the value index sit several teams that are projected to struggle in their respective divisions. The Nets, who along with the Suns own the worst championship odds in the league at 1,250/1, are posting the worst value in the NBA at the beginning of the season with a 233.43 index. The team’s $187 average ticket price at home is nothing to balk at, either, which places them last on the TicketIQ Value Index this season.
Among other teams posting league-low ticket value this season include the Lakers, Suns and Nuggets. The Lakers enter full rebuild mode this season in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s retirement and are again likely to stumble in the Pacific division. The team owns the third highest-priced ticket in the NBA ($277 average) and poor championship odds (500/1), giving them the second lowest value in the league. The Suns and Nuggets also post indexes above 100 on their respective home courts.
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