A fan who spent lots of of {dollars} for tickets to what he thought could be one among LeBron James’ last NBA video games is seeking to recoup the cash in small claims courtroom after it turned out “The Second Deicision” teased by the Lakers famous person had nothing to do together with his retirement.
Norwalk resident Andrew Garcia filed a declare Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom that states that James owes him $865.66 due to “fraud, deception, misrepresentation, and any and all foundation of authorized restoration.”
Garcia informed The Occasions that he spent that quantity for 2 tickets to the Lakers’ sport in opposition to the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 31, 2026, at Crypto.com Area , pondering it might be the 40-year-old NBA icon’s last sport in opposition to the workforce that drafted him in 2003.
He and different basketball followers had been below that impression after James posted Monday on X that he could be asserting “the choice of all choices” was coming the following day. The put up included a video clip teasing “The Second Choice,” a transparent reference to 2010’s “The Choice,” by which James famously introduced he was going to “take my skills to South Seashore” to play for the Miami Warmth.
Garcia mentioned he bought the tickets inside 10 minutes of James’ social media put up.
“I used to be like, ‘Holy s—, LeBron goes to retire! We’ve received to get tickets now,’” the 29-year-old Garcia mentioned. “Like, actually, as a result of if he formally makes this announcement, you understand, there’s gonna be some important value adjustments, proper?”
Garcia is a large fan of the Lakers and James, in addition to an avid basketball fan generally, so he thought it might be cool to see the NBA’s all-time main scorer play for the final time in opposition to the workforce with which he began his profession.
“Moments like that, I perceive the worth,” Garcia mentioned. “There nonetheless could also be some reasonable worth [to the tickets], nevertheless it’s not the identical with out him retiring. I bear in mind Kobe’s final yr, it was sort of what this may have been, per se, the place each ticket was value loads. Each sport had worth….
“I missed out on that. I used to be a bit of bit youthful on the time. I clearly wasn’t ready to the place I might simply purchase tickets sadly at that age. I consider I used to be like 18 or 19 on the time. And that’s one among my greatest regrets as a sports activities fan. I actually want I might have gotten the Kobe’s final yr. So I see this as a possible to sort of make up for what I misplaced with Kobe.”
However “The Second Choice” ended up having nothing to do with retirement. It was merely a Hennessy advert.
So now Garcia needs his a refund.
“There isn’t a circumstance absent him saying he’s gonna retire that I’d have purchased tickets that far upfront,” Garcia mentioned. “I imply, I purchase tickets, however I don’t purchase tickets 5 months’ advance. I’m the sort of individual that buys tickets 5 hours upfront. It was solely, solely, solely based mostly on that. In order that’s why I used to be actually pondering, ‘You already know what, this is likely to be grounds for a case.’ ”
The Occasions reached out to an legal professional mentioned to be working with James associated to the declare however didn’t obtain a direct response.
In gentle of all the things that has occurred this week, although, Garcia mentioned he’d nonetheless be prepared to pay the identical of cash to see James play throughout his eventual retirement tour.
“In fact,” Garcia mentioned. “I’d most likely spend extra, as a result of life is all about recollections and experiences.”
