A fan who spent hundreds of dollars for tickets to what he thought would be one of LeBron James’ final NBA games is looking to recoup the money in small claims court after it turned out “The Second Decision” teased by the Lakers superstar had nothing to do with his retirement.
Norwalk resident Andrew Garcia filed a claim Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court that states that James owes him $865.66 because of “fraud, deception, misrepresentation, and any and all basis of legal recovery.”
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Garcia told The Times that he spent that amount for two tickets to the Lakers’ game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 31, 2026, at Crypto.com Arena, thinking it would be the 40-year-old NBA icon’s final game against the team that drafted him in 2003.
He and other basketball fans were under that impression after James posted Monday on X and Instagram that he would be announcing “the decision of all decisions” the next day. The post included a video clip teasing “The Second Decision,” a clear reference to 2010’s “The Decision,” in which James famously announced he was going to “take my talents to South Beach” to play for the Miami Heat.
Garcia said he purchased the tickets within 10 minutes of James’ social media post.
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“I was like, ‘Holy s—, LeBron is going to retire! We’ve got to get tickets now,'” the 29-year-old Garcia said. “Like, literally, because if he formally makes this announcement, you know, there’s gonna be some significant price changes, right?”
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Garcia is a huge fan of the Lakers and James, as well as an avid basketball fan in general, so he thought it would be cool to see the NBA’s all-time leading scorer play for the last time against the team he started his career with and brought its first title in 2016 after his return from Miami.
“Moments like that, I understand the value,” Garcia said. “There still may be some moderate value [to the tickets], however it’s not the same without him retiring. I remember Kobe’s last year, it was kind of what this would have been, per se, where every ticket was worth a lot. Every game had value. …
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“I missed out on that. I was a little bit younger at the time. I obviously wasn’t in a position to where I could just buy tickets unfortunately at that age. I believe I was like 18 or 19 at the time. And that’s one of my biggest regrets as a sports fan. I really wish I could have gotten to Kobe’s last year. So I see this as a potential to kind of make up for what I lost with Kobe.”
But “The Second Decision” ended up having nothing to do with retirement. It was merely a Hennessy ad.
So now Garcia wants his money back.
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“There is no circumstance absent him saying he’s gonna retire that I would have bought tickets that far in advance,” Garcia said. “I mean, I buy tickets, but I don’t buy tickets five months in advance. I’m the kind of person that buys tickets five hours in advance. It was solely, solely, solely based on that. So that’s why I was really thinking, ‘You know what, this might be grounds for a case.'”
A trial date has been set for Dec. 1. The Times reached out to an attorney said to be working with James related to the claim but did not receive an immediate response.
Garcia apparently wasn’t the only person who wanted to be sure they’d be in attendance for what they thought was about to become a James retirement tour. According to Victory Live, which analyzes verified ticket resale data across the secondary market, sales for 2025-26 Lakers home and road games were 25 times higher Monday after James’ teaser post as compared to the daily average for the previous five days.
Also on Monday, the average sold-ticket prices for Lakers games increased from $280 to $399. Victory Live reported that by Wednesday tickets sales and prices for Lakers games had normalized. As of Thursday afternoon, Ticketmaster’s lowest price for a March 31 Cavaliers-Lakers ticket was $141.
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Not everyone was fooled, though. Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters at practice Tuesday that the organization hadn’t been at all concerned about the meaning behind James’ post the previous day.
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“We all knew it was an ad,” Redick said.
Garcia said he didn’t care what others might think about him jumping to the wrong conclusion or his effort to recoup the funds he spent after doing so.
“If I was the type of individual that was bothered by people’s comments or reactions, would I have filed a small-claims lawsuit against LeBron James?” Garcia said. “I’m getting reactions. I mean, have you read some of these social media comments? I don’t care. I am a very chill guy. … I’m getting set to take on one of the most famous people in the world. I know what comes with that.”
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In light of everything that has happened this week, though, Garcia said he’d still be willing to pay the same amount of money to see James play during his eventual retirement tour.
“Of course,” Garcia said. “I would probably spend more, because life is all about memories and experiences.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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