With Game 1 of the NBA Finals starting in just a few hours -- TMZ has learned two Los Angeles Lakers fans will be sitting courtside at the Staples Center ... on Ron Artest's dime. The two $9,000 tickets were given away this morning in a contest on Power 106 radio in L.A. -- but the winners had no idea that Ron paid for them out of his own pocket. We called Ron to find out why he shelled out for the seats and he told us, "Most of my fans can't afford the ticket prices to come to any of the games, let alone the Finals. I wanted to treat a fan to something they would normally never have access to, so they could feel like one of the stars for the night." Ron added, "I feel like just a regular person at the end of the day, and I wanted to be able to share my first Finals experience with one of my regular fans." http://www.tmz.com/2010/06/03/ron-a...s-tickets-courtside-boston-celtics-nba-finals
Ron has always seemed like a very cool guy. Nice gesture to buy the tickets. He's a bit nuts at times, but probably just to cover some insecurities. You take away the Detroit incident and he is most likely considered a strangely charming guy.... to most people. But that brawl follows him all the time.
most courtside seats are going for much more than that maybe Ron was able to get a discount from the season ticket holder who actually owns them
thats awesome, ron is a very interesting character, he is almost surreal, he does seem to have a good heart, but yeah the detroit thing will follow him forever. im really rooting for the celtics in this series but if the lakers win i hope ron has atleast one good game where he comes up big or just an all around decent series to help put the 'malice in the palace' behind him...
That's awesome. Just for reference, Ron's the 5th highest paid guy on the team. For 2010, that's less than half of Bynum's, almost 1/3 of Gasol's, and almost 1/4 of Bryants. These guys should be buying tickets by the thousands for actual non-bandwagon fans.
I'd much rather have the $9,000 than a courtside seat, even if it is the Finals, it's only one game for a couple of hours. I wonder if either of the fans are trying to get the cash instead.
dude don't be jelouse man...what if the Houston rockets ere in the finals?I'll choose to watch the game bc I'm a true fan!
I'm a fan of Artest but if he keeps this stuff up he'll be second on my list behind Rasheed Wallace of Active NBA Players Likeliest to Go Bankrupt Within 5 Years of Retirement.
Nice move by Ron! But he should've bought less expensive tickets and give away like 20 of them so more of his fans could enjoy.
Artest should be a Rocket giving out Finals ticket at the Toyota Center now if Yao Ming wasn't out fo the season.
