Kobe fans plan to flock to The Peake
Tickets are in high demand for the final road game of Kobe Bryant’s career Monday in OKC.
Six days before Christmas, NBA fans in Oklahoma City waited for their gift to arrive from Los Angeles.
Kobe Bryant came, but he was postmarked “fragile,” sitting out with a sore shoulder. It was a disappointing day for those wishing to see the future Hall of Famer play one more time.
For other Bryant diehards, however, it was only a precursor to the final road game of his career, Monday in Oklahoma City. When Bryant announced Nov. 30 that he would retire at the end of the season, it sent his most rabid fans scrambling for tickets and planning pilgrimages to Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Richie Mills didn’t hesitate.
The 28-year-old Norman resident estimates he’s seen Bryant play at least 15 times, “three times at Staples, a few times in Dallas, mostly in OKC.” So he knew what kind of ticket demand to expect when jersey No. 24 is involved.
“Luckily for me, I bought tickets right before he announced he was retiring,” Mills said.
For both games. For the April 11 game, Mills got a season ticket holder to sell him two tickets in Section 114 — behind the Lakers’ bench — for $300 total.
For the first game, Mills bought one ticket about a week before for around $150. Mills wasn’t too upset Bryant sat because he knew he had a second chance at seeing him in April.
This time, Mills is taking his fiancée … unless he gets a knockout offer.
“If someone wants to really go to the game that bad and they want to pay $2,000 for two great tickets … even though I consider myself a big Kobe fan, I’d sell.”
Kobe Bryant’s NBA career started two years before Casey Bohannan was born.
Bohannan is 17. He just graduated a semester early from high school in March. He’s never seen Bryant play in person.
The Dallas resident was searching for tickets on Stubhub.com mid-week for one last shot at seeing “arguably the greatest player of all-time.” By the end of the week, Bohannan was still trying to figure out how he and his friend, driving from Arkansas, were going to afford tickets.
Bohannon, who’s been to Thunder home games before, says this one is “definitely more expensive.” Bohannan’s watched games from high up in Loud City. He’s sat in the lower levels. He doesn’t care where he’s sitting Monday.
“I’ll probably just get the cheapest ticket I can,” he said. “I just want to be in the atmosphere. Every time … it’s just something about it. It gets loud in there.”
Josh Adrian is a 24-yearold senior at Texas Tech, one month away from graduating.
The Altus native is missing two days of class to see Bryant one last time.
With homework in tow, Adrian will get off work and drive straight from Lubbock to OKC on Sunday. Adrian is a Thunder fan, but his roommate, Derrick Garcia, is just as big of a Bryant fan. They’ve been to Staples Center in L.A. for a Lakers game, so a six-hour road trip didn’t seem like a big deal.
Adrian’s cousin, a season-ticket holder in Section 110, hooked him up with two tickets.
“I’m not a giant Kobe fan, but you can’t not like Kobe,” said Adrian. “He’s one of the greatest we’ve ever seen.”
As a film director, Brent Ryan Green, 28, is used to socializing with celebrities.
“If I’m in L.A., they’re taking me to stuff,” the Oklahoma City native said. “So if they’re in OKC, I’m taking them to cool places around town to shed light on the city.
“We usually try to give them a good experience, show them a good time in OKC.”
One of Green’s go-to hospitality moves is his suite at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The longtime season ticket holder has two friends coming in from New York and two from Los Angeles for Monday’s game.
Any time there’s a big game, Green said, he’ll undoubtedly get a call. He’s received plenty leading up to Bryant’s road finale.
“Everybody wants to have one more look before he goes,” Green said. “Everybody wants to see a legend. And obviously with KD and Russ, that’s another factor as well.”
Jordan Rutherford, 20, grew up in Houston as a Lakers lover, his dad turning him on to the Kobe and Shaq dynasty of the early 2000s. Then Jordan grew to 6-foot-7 and became a starting forward for Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond.
Before Bryant even announced his retirement, Jordan was plotting ways to get tickets to at least one of the Lakers’ games in OKC. He couldn’t make the Dec. 19 game because OC was on the road in Austin, Texas.
Rutherford’s girlfriend, Michaela Brown, was plotting, too.
“I knew how bad he wanted to go,” said Brown, 20. “I kept looking and looking until I found some that weren’t that bad of a price.”
Michaela’s only regret was that she didn’t get the tickets earlier. After Bryant announced his retirement, prices jumped significantly. She made Jordan walk away before she revealed how much she’d spent.
Otherwise, she said it worked out perfectly. Two tickets in Section 110 behind the goal — One for Jordan and one for his dad, who’s flying up from Houston for the game.
When Michaela told him the good news, Jordan’s eyes welled with tears.
“There’s probably going to be some tears shed at the arena after that game.” he said.
“It’s worth it because I get to see the end of an era.”