NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Faces Scrutiny Over Cost Of His Game 3 NBA Finals Ticket

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will be in attendance at Game 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals on Monday evening.

The Knicks are leading the Spurs, 2-0, heading into Game 3. The get-in price for Game 3 was north of $4,000 earlier on Monday. There were a handful of face value tickets sold through the Knicks and other vendors, though more than 500,000 fans were in a queue for them on Sunday morning.

Mamdani, who took office earlier this year, appears to have lucked out, though. He told the media on Monday that he paid $1,000 for his standing room only ticket. Mamdani claims to have purchased his ticket directly through Madison Square Garden.

Some are speculative, though.

"I bought my ticket for nearly $1,000 from Madison Square Garden. I will be going to tonight's Game 3; I will be standing for the duration of the game."

U.S. President Donald Trump will be in attendance, too, however Mamdani said that he will "be in a very different section of the stadium (than Trump)."

Fans are skeptical of Mamdani's ticket price

Some are skeptical of Mamdani's ticket claim, as it was very, very hard to get face value tickets.

"Where can the public get that discount? 😂 Mayor Mamdani says this like he's spending so much on his ticket. Yesterday the cheapest ticket I saw directly from MSG was for like 3,700!" one fan wrote.

"No. Not even close. He can't even be honest about something as silly as an overpriced Basketball ticket," one fan added.

"No I need to know what queue number you were at," one fan shared.

"Imagine believing this," one fan added.

Others, of course, disagree.

"Extreme hot take: I think it would be fine for the mayor of a city to receive free tickets to a major sporting event involving that city," another added.

It'll be quite the scene inside of MSG on Monday night.

Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. E.T. on ABC.

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This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 8:14 PM.