A fan who spent hundreds of dollars on tickets to what he thought would be one of LeBron JamesNBA Finals Looks To Recover Money In Small Claims Court After Reveals 'Second Decision' Was Teased Lakers superstardom had nothing to do with his retirement.
Norwalk resident Andrew Garcia filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court saying James owes him $865.66 for “fraud, deception, misrepresentation and any cause of legal recovery.”
Garcia told The Times he spent that amount on 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 last game against the team that drafted him in 2003.
He and other basketball fans had that impression after James posted on Monday on X that he would announce the “decision of all decisions” the next day. The post included a video clip teasing “The Second Solution,” an apparent reference to 2010's “The Solution,” in which James famously announced he was going to “I'll 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.
“I was like, 'Oh my God, LeBron is retiring!' We need to buy tickets now,” said Garcia, 29. “Literally, because if he officially makes this announcement, you know there's going to be a major price change, right?”
Garcia is a huge Lakers and James fan, 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 one last time against the team that started his career with and brought him his first title in 2016 after returning from Miami.
“I understand the value of moments like these,” Garcia said. “There may still be some moderate cost [to the tickets]however, without his retirement, things will be different. I remember Kobe's last year, it was kind of like what it would have been like on its own, where every ticket was so expensive. Every game had value. …
“I missed out on that. I was a little younger at the time. Unfortunately, at that age, I obviously wasn't in a position to just buy tickets. I think I was 18 or 19 at the time. And that's one of my biggest regrets as a sports fan. I would have loved to have won the Kobe Trophy last year. So I see this as an opportunity to make up for what I lost with Kobe.”
But the “Second Decision” ultimately had nothing to do with retirement. It was just a Hennessy ad.
So now Garcia wants his money back.
“There was no circumstance unless he said he was going to retire that I would have bought the tickets that far in advance,” Garcia said. “I mean, I buy tickets, but I don't buy tickets five months in advance. I'm one of those people who buys tickets five hours in advance. It was solely, solely, solely on that basis. That's why I really thought, 'You know what, this could be grounds for a case.'”
The Times reached out to an attorney who was reportedly working with James in connection with the lawsuit but did not receive an immediate response.
However, in light of everything that happened this week, Garcia said he would still be willing to pay the same amount of money to see James play during his possible retirement tour.
“Of course,” Garcia said. “I probably would have spent more because life is about memories and experiences.”
