The Los Angeles Lakers are the hottest ticket in town as LeBron James moves closer to NBA history

(CNN) Any other season, it wouldn’t be too difficult to get tickets to see a team languishing in 13th place in the NBA’s Western Conference.

But even as the Los Angeles Lakers continued to fail on the field in Saturday’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, LeBron James’ quest to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer means Lakers games are no longer ordinary events.

With another 27 points in that loss to the Pelicans, James is just 36 points away from beating Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 total.

The 38-year-old is now likely to break the record against either the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday or the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, meaning ticket sales for the Lakers’ next two home games have gone through the roof.

According to ticket resale company StubHub, the Lakers have been the best-selling NBA team on the company’s website over the past two weeks, selling as many tickets as the next three teams — the Knicks, Warriors and Celtics — combined.

The Lakers are struggling on the pitch this season.

Ticket prices for the Thunder game are on average 50% higher than the Lakers’ season average, StubHub said ahead of Saturday’s loss to the Pelicans, while tickets for the Bucks game are 70% higher.

“The anticipation of a sports icon hitting a historic milestone often boosts ticket sales dramatically, allowing true fans to say, ‘I was there when,'” said Adam Budelli, a spokesman for StubHub.

“With LeBron James nearing the NBA’s all-time regular-season record, the Lakers are the hottest ticket in the NBA — their games against the Thunder and Bucks are the two best-selling NBA games of the week.”

Ticket prices start at $284 for the Lakers vs. Thunder game and $495 vs. the Bucks.

At Viagogo, another resale company, Lakers vs. Thunder tickets start at $188 and Lakers vs. Bucks at $156, while at Ticketmaster they start at $194 and $599, respectively.

James will surpass the score set by Abdul-Jabbar 36 years ago.

The NBA scoring record is undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements in sports.

Abdul-Jabbar has held the crown for 39 years and set the final total in the year of his retirement 34 years ago. It’s a record that has only changed hands once since 1966, when Abdul-Jabbar passed Wilt Chamberlain on April 5, 1984. That was before James was even born.

Given that James is averaging exactly 30 points per game for the season – and 27.2 per game for his career – it’s almost certain he’ll break the record this week.

“It was never a goal. It was never a journey,” the four-time NBA champion told ESPN’s NBA Today. “The stressful part for me is fighting every single day to try and bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy [NBA championship].”

However, James is surprised that he is close to breaking the goalscoring record and being in the top five on the all-time assists list.

“It’s crazy that a person is close to being the all-time leading scorer in NBA history and also being in the top five all-time in assists, and he’s not a point guard.

“It’s really remarkable that that’s been accomplished, but it makes it weird for me to think that it’s actually me doing it.”

The upcoming Lakers schedule

February 7th: Thunder at Lakers, 10pET on TNT

February 9: Bucks at Lakers, 10pET on TNT

February 11: Lakers at Warriors, 830pET on ABC

Wayne Sterling contributed to this report.