The regular season has come to a close and the NBA Playoffs are about to tip-off. During playoff time, NBA ticket prices usually increase over regular season prices. That is the case this season, especially on the secondary market. While there’s a premium on the average price ticket, select teams have NBA playoff tickets on the secondary market cheaper than the least expensive face price value.
Washington tops the list with Wizards playoff tickets 52.35 percent cheaper on the secondary market than buying it at face value. That’s actually not as surprising as you’d think. The average price of a Wizards game during the regular season was the second cheapest amongst the 16 playoff teams at $65.54. But during the postseason that number has climbed 172 percent to $178.18. The cheapest ticket at face value is now $73.45, almost ten dollars more than the average during the regular season.
Of the seven playoff teams with face value get-in price of at least $50, six have cheaper tickets available on the secondary market. The only exception is Raptors playoff tickets, after a surprisingly successful season and a market in Toronto that is usually expensive to begin with. On the other end of the spectrum, only two teams with a face value get-in price below $50 have cheaper tickets available on the secondary market.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the data is two of the four teams with the biggest price decrease from face value to secondary market are teams with face value prices below $50. Pacers playoff tickets and the Spurs playoff tickets have declines of 45 and 31 percent, respectively. This lends to some of the best deals on the secondary market with get-in prices at $12 for the Pacers and $21 for the Spurs.
Meanwhile the Golden State Warriors have the most expensive face value get-in price at $108.50, and only see a 12 percent drop for the get-in price on the secondary market.
Obviously the cheapest available tickets in each venue will not be for the best seats in the house, but for fans wanting to get in on the experience it’s a rare deal for tickets that usually see a high premium around the playoffs.
The full list for price change from cheapest face value to cheapest secondary market ticket is available below:
